She is not bad

Chapter 77 : Leather jacket

Max went to the barrier, not believing what she just saw. It couldn't be true. Neil didn't thow Jane in the water. No, no, no, it couldn't be possible. She looked to the water, opened her ears, but she didn't see and didn't hear anything.

- "JAAAAANE!" she yelled.

But no one answered. She used her phone to light the water, but she was too far to see anything. A hand touched her arm. For a second, she had the hope to see Jane there. But when she met Neil's eyes, she lost it.

- "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY LIFE!" she yelled.

- "Maxine!"

- "NO! YOU SHUT UP! YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP! You...You ruined everything! She was my only one, why did you have to ruin everything!? I hate you! I hate you so much! I didn't leave the house for a tantrum! I left it because of you and your oppressive lifestyle! You'll go in prison now for this! Fucking asshole!"

Neil didn't seem to realize completely what he just did. Max began to cry and called the police to tell them what happened. Hopper arrived the first on the scene, asking questions to Max, arresting Neil, and ordering the troops to search the water.

Max collapsed on the ground, bursting in tears. It was dark and cold, and Jane was scared of water. She wasn't a good swimmer. She just swam in a pool, not in water with waves. If waves were not killing her, the cold would.

Hopper was about to leave when he noticed the redhead on the ground. He asked his lieutenant to take Neil to the police station before sitting next to the young girl. He wasn't good to comfort people, but he couldn't let her like that, alone.

- "Is there someone I can call for you? To stay with tonight?"

- "I...I don't know..." she sniffed. "Don't let her die..."

- "I won't, I promise. Six troops are taking boats to search her. It's just a matter of time."

Max sniffed and nodded. She tried to calm down, but it was too hard. She couldn't imagine her next days without her. Everything was finally fine. But, as usual, Neil ruined everything. She was so mad. She should have defended her more. Why did she freeze like that!? Jane didn't hesitate one second to place herself between her and Neil.

- "Do you want me to drive you back home?" Hopper proposed.

- "I don't know...I don't know what to do..."

- "Come on, I take you back home."

- "I should do something to help you..."

- "You did when you called us. Now it's our turn to take care of the situation. We'll call you if we have some news, okay?"

- "'Kay..."

Max didn't have the strength to fight. She accepted to follow Hopper to his car. The man drove in the town to Max's home before calling Joyce for some backup. He picked her up at her home before driving away.

- "What's her chance to survive?"

- "If we don't find her soon...I'm not sure she could survive," Hopper said.

- "I hope you're wrong."

- "Me too. Thank you for accepting to come with me."

- "It's normal. And I'm doing it for her too."

Hopper parked the car on a parking lot and went inside the building with Joyce. The two adults stopped in front of a door, took a deep breath, and knocked. When Cassandra opened the door, she knew immediately that something happened.

- "Where is Jane?" she weakly asked.

- "We need to talk," Hopper answered.

Cassandra let them in. They all sat in the couch with Mallory. Cassandra didn't know what she was preferring. Probably to learn that Jane was arrested. At least she would know where she was. But what Hopper told her was worse. She saw her world collapse again. Her heart might have stopped. Maybe. She wasn't understanding how it could have happened. Why someone would have done that to her niece? Hopper was still talking, but his words were not reaching her ears. Everything was blurry. It was painful.

Max was crying in her couch. She was barely realizing that the perfect night transformed into a nightmare. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't do anything. So she called Beverly to tell her what happened. A few minutes later, the two redheads were together in Max's apartment. Bev was pacing, trying to think of something to do.

- "Jane is a fighter, she will make it," Bev said.

- "She is scared of water, and it's dark and cold!"

- "But she has been fighting for months to heal, she fought her childhood traumas, her recent pain, and now she is gonna fight in this dark and cold water, I know that!"

- "I hope you're right..."

Bev didn't say out loud, but she thought "me too".

- "I can't stay here without doing anything!" Max said, standing.

- "What do you wanna do?"

- "I don't know! Following the current to see if Jane is somewhere! I know you'll try to dissuade me, but—"

- "I won't. I'm coming with you."

The two girls grabbed their coats and left the apartment. They walked the entire way and reached the edge of the canal. Hopper was there, giving orders to the other policemen. He joined the two girls when he saw them.

- "We can't just wait," Max said.

- "You come with me," he answered.

Beverly and Max nodded. They took the car and drove a few minutes before stopping. They went on the banks of the canal and began to search with their flashlights. Every time they were seeing a dark shape in the water, they always had the hope to see Jane there, swimming. But it was always garbage.

The night was now over. The sun was lighting their search. But the more time was passing, the more Jane's chances to survive were lowering. In the middle of the day, Hopper saw something. He yelled to his team before running to it. When he took it out of the water, they recognized Jane's leather jacket. Max thought she was going to collapse. She took the leather jacket in her arms and thought it was the end.