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CHAPTER THIRTEEN. IT'S LOVE ADJACENT
"OH, my god," Amelia whispered and there was dread and worry underlining her tone. Gemma had wandered closer too, to watch the disaster as it unfolded. The quietness in the room was pierced when Amelia's phone rang and they all jumped a little. She swallowed, finding it hard to tear her gaze away from the television screen, still she answered.
"Uh," she cleared her throat, "um, hello?"
"Amelia?"
The voice was unfamiliar. Amelia's eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah?"
"I'm May, Peter's aunt."
"Oh," Amelia said. She said oh like oh and the other two girls turned their heads to look at her. "May," she told them.
"Yes," May's voice sounded frantic and worried. "I was wondering if you'd seen Peter? The school called, saying he ran out of detention and he hasn't been home and then this ferry thing happens." Something tightened in Amelia's chest. "I ─ "
"May," Amelia interrupted, "uh, calm down. I'm sure he's alright, yeah?" Amelia tried her best to sound reassuring but that was becoming virtually impossible while also watching the live footage of him dangling mid-air.
"I've called him so many times," May fretted and something in her voice broke Amelia's heart. Anger flared in her towards Peter. How could he be so careless, so reckless? "He isn't picking up. I called all his friends. Nobody knows where he is."
"Okay," Amelia said and Gemma saw her put her Amelia Sóng mask back on. It was crazy how different both parts of her were. Amelia stood up, shoulders pulled back, a crease between her eyebrows. "Uh, do you want me to go look for him?" she asked May. "Any place he would go when he's ─ I don't know?" Amelia knew this was all pointless. She knew exactly where Peter was but she couldn't tell May that.
"I ─ There's ─ I don't know, I can't think. I ─ " May wasn't crying but she very well could have been. There was a twist in Amelia's heart when she heard her shaky voice. The voice just before someone was about to cry and Amelia knew it because of all the times she had heard her mother like that. There was a lump in her throat fighting her better instinct of not crying.
She shuffled away from the television, away from the center of the apartment, from the center of attention. Gemma slowly retreated towards the kitchen too, but Monika still sat cross-legged watching the news coverage.
Amelia glanced once outside through the window at the beautiful day. The midday sun shining at its peak. September weather drenched all the people walking down on the sidewalk ─ kids skipping and playing on a Sunday. Birds cooing and trees humming with the wind. Amelia sighed quietly and pressed the phone tighter to her ear. "Alright, May, May listen." And May quietened on the other side. There was nobody who could be spared of Amelia's persuasive voice. "He's just being a teenager, alright," she said, trying to sound light and reassuring at the same time. "He's probably at some corner shop buying Tic Tacs. He's okay." May chuckled quietly. "He's okay. He'll be home. He's just acting out." Amelia at this point didn't know if she was telling this to May or herself. She glanced over her shoulder at the television where she could no longer find the splash of red and blue. "Throwing himself head-first into danger without thinking just to show he's tough. He'll be back. You need to, uh, you need to worry a little bit less." When there was a long pause on the other end, Amelia's eyebrows furrowed. "May?"
