We're Not Related Anymore...

Pull Them Apart

Joshua: Three Years Ago

I think I break about every single law there is about driving as I speed over to Tessa's lakehouse. The sky is darkening with each minute that passes and all I can think about is Jacob's frantic phone call. 

By the time I get to the lake, there are dozens of cars parked all over the place. It's a mission to find a place to park and it's frustrating. I just want to find my sister and get out of here. 

Eventually, I decide to park illegally and get out of the car. I rush into the lakehouse. Everyone's acting normal. There are kids milling around with drinks, talking and dancing and for a moment I wonder if Jacob's read the situation wrong. 

A few people look at me weirdly after storming into the place but I ignore them. I go into the first room I find, the lounge. I spot a head of red hair and beeline to the couch, hoping this is Tessa. 

It is. Someone junior is sitting next to her on the couch, holding out a glass of water to her while she complains about something incoherently. 

"What's wrong? Is she drunk?" I ask, shoving the kid out of my way so that I can get a better look at her. She looks up at me, her eyes unfocused.

"Josh! Where have you been?!" She asks excitedly, trying to push herself up from the couch. I not-so-gently push her back down and turn to look at the junior who's standing timidly by the weathered coffee table. 

"Hey! I asked you a question!" I bark, sliding my hand under Tessa's shoulder so that I can stand her up. I was going to leave her here and then come back but now that I think about it, I want to find Maddie and Jacob and get the hell out of here. 

"Uh... no. She can't be. There's like one keg of beer here," The junior tells me with wide eyes. He takes a step back so that I can walk past him with a drunk Tessa on my arm. 

"Why is she like this, then?" I demand and he raises his hands up defensively. 

"I don't know, man! I was just told to look after her so I did!" He explains. 

"Where's the guy who asked you to watch her?" I ask, guessing that it was Jacob who put him on babysitting duty. 

The kid shows me where he thinks Jacob ran off to and I thank him. I decide to take Tessa to my car for so long. I can't carry her around like this. 

Once I've strapped her in the seat, I make sure her legs are in the car before I close the door but it's hard with how she keeps moving. 

"Josh..." she whines, grabbing at me with her weak hands. "You need to find Maddie. That guy was being so weird with her..." She tells me. I stop trying to bat her hands away and she fists my T-shirt into her hands. 

"What are you talking about?" I ask, my voice quiet. 

"He kept trying to get her to drink more and then he wouldn't leave her alone. Maddie said I must call- oops!" Tessa smacks her face with her hand and giggles. 

"What? What did she send you to do, Tessa?" I ask, not caring that I'm being mean to her. She's drunk or on something. I doubt she'll even remember this in the morning. 

"I went to get Jacob but I forgot to tell him what happened," She hiccups and I close the door. 

Fuck. What the hell is going on?

Tessa's babysitter said he'd seen Jacob head to the boathouse through the window so I don't waste time and head straight for there. There's a crowd growing outside and I don't care that I have to shove people out of my way. 

I hear loud voices coming from the boathouse and take off running. What the hell is wrong with all of these idiots? There's literal shouting and all they can do is sway around the bonfire. 

I enter the boathouse and my heart drops. Lying on the floor is a barely moving Maddie. The world stops as I go to her, kneeling down to feel her pulse. She's still breathing but barely, and that's when I see the glass in her hair. Thick pieces of a beer bottle lay scattered in her hair and on the floor around her. I look up, and that's when I finally see Jacob. 

His face is covered in blood and he's shoved some guy up against the wall and is forcefully banging the asshole's head repeatedly against the rough wood of the boathouse. 

"Stop it!" The guy is screaming. "I already said I was sorry!" I can barely see who the guy is with all the commotion but I decide to remove Jacob from him before he does something he'll regret. 

Thankfully, not all the people outside are oblivious to what's happening, and once I've grabbed ahold of Jacob, I see a few bystanders peering through the door to get a front-row seat to the unfolding drama. I'm so distracted that I don't realize Jacob has released himself from my hold until someone shouts something almost indecipherable. 

But despite all the noise from outside, the out-of-key singing, and the laughter and loud chatter, I hear what the girl says. 

"Pull them apart! He's going to kill him!" I turn and see Jacob has found himself on top of the guy he was shoving against the wall, and is now smashing his fist into the guy's face. 

It takes me and two other guys to successfully pull them apart. When I'm holding Jacob with enough force that I know he won't try anything stupid again, I hear one of the guys speak. 

"I'm going to call the cops," he says. 

"We have to go, Jacob," I say, gripping his arm. "Help me get Maddie and let's go!" Maddie's name is what snaps him out of his anger. Within seconds, he's cradled her prone body into his arms and is following me out of the boathouse. We crash into people again as we try to find the car. All I hope is that it's too dark and that everyone is too drunk to put faces to names tonight. Otherwise, we'll be in serious trouble. 

Once we find the car, Jacob helps me get Maddie into the car and we speed off just before the red and blue lights of the cop cars illuminate the night.

I look to my side and see Jacob with his arms around Maddie. He's trying to pick out the pieces of glass still stuck in her hair. 

"What the fuck happened, Jacob?" I ask, stopping at the stopstreet. With cops this close, I really don't want to be pulled over for speeding. 

"I don't know I just went to the boathouse and he was all over her," Jacob says, swallowing thickly. There's blood all over his face. His own blood. "Josh, something is wrong with her. This is not how a drunk person acts," Jacob says and I see him put his fingers against her pulse. 

"I know," I say, driving again. Drunk girls don't have such weak pulses that they almost seem dead.