diamonds | river phoenix

twenty eight

I looked nervously at River. He motioned towards the phone, signalling for me to answer it.

I walked uneasily up to the phone, it was loudly vibrating on the bench. I picked it up, and it stopped buzzing.

"Hello?" I murmured, my voice cracking and only coming out as a whisper.

The other end of the line was quiet for a few seconds, until there were some muffled voices. I quickly pulled the phone away from my ear and found the speaker button so River could hear too.

"Hello?" I repeated. We listened carefully. The voices continued until there was a huge crash on the other end of the line. River and I jumped backwards in response.

Finally, someone spoke up.

"What are you doing in my house?" A deep, grumbly voice asked. It sounded painfully familiar. I looked uncertainly at River. He shot me a confused glance back, shrugging slightly.

"Who is this?" I asked. River stepped forward, so his head was level with mine.

"I asked you a question." The person said angrily. I could tell they were going to lose their temper very quickly.

"It's my house, thank you very much." I replied sternly. River nodded his head in approval. I waited anxiously for a response.

Someone whispered something to the person speaking, until there was another crash. I looked at River again, he mouthed something that I couldn't make out. I held the phone back up to my mouth.

"Tell me who this is or I'll ring the cops!" I ordered.

There was shouting at the other end. This went on for a minute, until a different voice spoke up. It was a lot lighter and softer, but still ridden with anger. It was sure it was a female.

"You really want to know who this is? Come to California, then you'll find out."

My stomach dropped. I felt faint and dizzy again. My mind was racing, a million thoughts per hour. My eyes blurred, and I couldn't see a thing. I knew exactly who was on the other end of the line.

I collapsed onto the couch and closed my eyes. I hoped this had been a dream. I opened my eyes again, and everything was still the same.

I looked up at River. He was pale and wheezing. I was pretty sure he had worked out who it was as well.

I swallowed.

"No way." I thought.

"No way, no way, no way."

"Oh no." River muttered. He fell down beside me. His face was complicated; it displayed a mixture of emotions and it was hard to tell what was going through that pretty little head of his.

I looked at him, tearing up. He looked painfully into my eyes, they were probably blotchy and red by then.

"It can't be, can it?" He asked.

I nodded sadly. As much as I didn't want to believe it, I had to. Everything lined up. It all made sense. Kate's behaviour, Joaquin's behaviour, my sickness, everything. I felt sudden anger build up inside of me.

You know how it feels when you find out someone's been pretending to like you all along, and really they hate you? That's how we felt right then.

We both knew that it had been Kate and Joaquin on the other end of the phone.