She is not bad

Chapter 80 : Constellations

The third day was beginning. It was midnight. Cassandra had been on the boat for ten hours now. She didn't sleep. She couldn't. She wanted to keep her eyes wide opened to see even the tiniest trace of Jane's presence here. The men with her were very invested, it was reassuring her. Sadly, they just found garbage in the ocean, but no trace of Jane there. They had a powerful light enabling them to light deep under the water.

Some waves farther, the young brunette was half-conscious on a piece of wood floating on the water, the half of her body under water. She couldn't feel her feet anymore. Or her legs. And it was close to impossible to move her arms. She didn't know how she could still be alive. She didn't know why she was still alive. She was in the middle of nowhere with the moon as a company. She looked at the stars and tried to see the constellations, but her eyes were dry, it was becoming harder for her to see clearly. So she was imagining them. She even invented some. It was her only companies. And, like that, she wasn't thinking about letting her frozen body sinking under water like Jack in Titanic. She had never seen Titanic. But she already knew the entire story, so why losing three hours by watching it? She didn't want to be a Jack.

She wanted to see her aunt again. She wanted to tell her how much she was loving her, how important she was for her, and that without her she would probably be a skinny junkie hobo searching for drugs for entire days. She would be dead without her.

She wanted to see Constance. She wanted to tell her how empty she was feeling since they took her away from her. She wanted to tell her all the progress she made in school and in socialization. She had friends now! She was even a godmother. She was feeling important for them.

She wanted to see Mallory too, and little Mallory, of course. Mallory had always been there for her. She supported her when she was the most unbearable brat. She always opened her door for her, even when she was waking her up after a long and tiring night at the bar. She would have slept more often outside without her kindness. She should thank her for this.

She wanted to see Beverly. All those moments she had spent with her helped her to see her shitty life with another point of view. Talking about it with her completely freed her of a weight. She became another person thanks to her. She met new people thanks to her, people who really wanted to help her, who were here for her.

And, of course, she wanted to see Max. One of the reasons she was still waking up every day. Even if they did everything the wrong way, and even if their first date ended in a catastrophic way, Jane had spent a good night with Max. And the redhead seemed to have had lots of fun. Well, before her stepfather threw her date over the bridge. She was hoping she was okay. She wished she could take her in her arms to tell her she was okay.

Was she? For now, it could be worse. But there was no one on the horizon. No one, except this boat honking. Jane lightly raised her head from the piece of wood and saw a tiny yellow point on the horizon. She couldn't miss her.

- "Hey..." she weakly called.

She was feeling empty of every form of energy. But she had to try. She raised her weak arm to wave and yelled:

- "HEEEEEEY!"

But they were too far. It was her last chance. So, she took her chance. She let go the piece of wood and began to swim in direction of the boat. Sadly, her body was completely numb, and the girl was struggling to keep her head out of water.

- "HEEEEELP!" she repeated multiple time.

There was no chance for the boat to hear or see her. She shouldn't have let go that piece of wood; it was her only chance to survive. Her left arm was the only member of her body able to move. She kept swimming, but only her hand was above the water. She was too weak, too tired, too cold. The light of the moon was disappearing. Her body was sinking under water, her left arm still in direction of the sky. She was out of air. She closed her eyes. It was the end.

But something wrapped her arm and raised her out of the water. The second after, she could see the moon again with her blurry vision. She coughed and took deep breathings while someone was wrapping her body with tons of towels.

- "Jane, Jane! You're alive!" Cassandra stated with tears in her eyes.

- "Cass'?" Jane weakly asked.

- "Yes, yes, it's me, my baby, it's me. It's over. It's over."

- "I knew you would come..."

Jane felt her body becoming weaker and passed out. The doctor examined the young girl while Cassandra was trying to warm her niece up. The brunette was in hypothermia, hypoglycemia, and out of energy. Her pulse was very weak, so Cassandra began to heart massage her to keep her alive while the doctor was giving her some air with a pump.

The boat went back to land as fast as possible. An ambulance was waiting for them and drove Jane and Cassandra to the closest hospital. When all the doctors took Jane in charge, the woman collapsed in a chair and burst into tears, exhausted, relieved, and worried at the same time. She was hoping hard that Jane would survive. After long minutes, she remembered that other people were searching Jane too. She grabbed the walkie-talkie and connected to channel 11.

- "Hopper? Hopper, it's Cassandra," she sniffed.

- "Cassandra? Is everything okay?"

- "I hope so. We found Jane. She...she was still alive...We're at hospital now, the doctors are taking care of her."

- "Thank you for telling me."

- "Thank you for everything you did for her."

Cassandra told him the address of the hospital so he could join her. The man must have driven very fast as he arrived less than an hour later. Or he wasn't far. He wasn't alone. Joyce was with him, as usual. The two adults took their friend in their arms, both relieved to know where and how Jane was.

A few hours later, a doctor went to them to tell them that Jane was out of danger. Cassandra cried of relief. The three adults followed the doctor who guided them to Jane's room. When they entered, Jane was awake but seemed very weak. At least she was alive, it was enough for them. The woman quickly went next to Jane and grabbed her hand.

- "Hey, my baby."

- "Hey. I'm sorry for scaring you," Jane said.

- "You don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault, none of this was your fault. I...I love you."

- "I love you too. I lost my shoes and my jacket."

- "Actually," Hopper intervened, "we found them."

- "Oh, cool. Cool. I'm tired."

- "Take some rest, my Jane. Now you can," Cassandra softly said.

- "Don't go."

- "I'm not going anywhere."

Cassandra kissed her niece's hand before standing and kissing her niece's cheek and sitting again. The brunette weakly smiled before closing her eyes and finally resting. Cassandra couldn't stop crying. She couldn't believe that Jane was still alive. She knew Jane was a fighter, but now she was a survivor too.