unwanted

chapter fifteen

undead

She saw her dad. That's not who she would have ever expected to see in the afterlife and the fact that she did pissed her off.

He was standing on the bank of the river watching her. He looked the same as the last day she saw him.

Sad but determined. He raised his arm and pointed past her.

Kell was watching her from the other side of the river. Seeing him, she tried to swim towards him but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move. "Why did you do this to me?"

In the next moment, she felt that feeling in the pit of her stomach that she got when she was about to leap from one place to another then she was standing beside him. "Why didn't you come for me?"

Instead of looking at her, he was still looking at the her in the river. Now that she was this close, she could hear that he was shouting at her. "Jessalynn, think of somewhere else. Do it."

He turned and was so close that if she reached out, she could have touched him. Dream or not, this was as close as he's been in months and there was not one part of her that didn't feel his presence.

"Think of somewhere else before it's too late."

"I don't want to. I want to stay with you."

"Do it, Jessalynn. I'll go with you. Take me with you."

"Okay."

When she woke up, she didn't know rather to cry or not. She was soaking wet and still in the black dress and shoes.

She didn't know how or why but she knew that somehow Kell had come to her. As much as he could without physically being here.

He didn't want her to die. He had wanted her to fight. Had she been so close to dying that it affected him? Maybe the bond wasn't as strong as it once was, but it was still there. Enough that he had almost reached her through the distance.

Jess rolled over and looked up at the sky. It was late in the evening, so she must have been out of it for a while. Julian would be going crazy. Adrian would be worried, and she didn't even know where the hell she was.

Groaning and saying more than a few cuss words, she climbed to her feet and looked around.

Seeing the old oak tree that her mother was buried beneath, brought tears to her eyes. "Hi, mom. I miss you like crazy." Jess knelt so that she could lay her hand against the rock that marked her mother's grave site. "I wish I could visit longer but I have to get to Julian. Love you."

After her last jump, Julian had made her promise that if she ever got lost that she'd go back to the last place they'd been together. She still had tears in her eyes when he crushed her into his arms.

"I knew you were okay. I knew you were."

By the way he was holding on to her and the tremble in his voice, she knew he hadn't known she was okay. She held onto him just as tight. "I'm okay. I'm here, baby." She patted his hair and whispered all the things he needed to hear. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Take me away from here. I can't be here right now."
She took him to the outside basketball courts at their old high school. She was unsure how long he stood there holding her before he stepped back. With a smile and a wink, she disappeared and made a quick trip to his house for his basketball.

She'd barely blinked back in when she threw the ball at him. He caught it but let it drop and motioned her back into his arms.

"I'm so mad at you." He caught her face. "Why didn't you save yourself, Jess? Why did you almost let yourself drown before you got yourself out of there?"

"It isn't what you think. I swear I would never do that to you."

She got crushed back into his arms. "I swear you're trying to kill me."

Jess smiled softly. "I'm a handful, you told me that when we were ten but if you remember correctly, you also said that I'm worth all the trouble."

"You are. Every stubborn inch of your stubborn ass is worth the mountain of trouble you bring with you."

He smashed his lips to her forehead then to her lips. "You scared me to death. I tried to jump in after you and Adrian wouldn't let me. When I couldn't see you anymore, I tried to go after that crazy girl, but he stopped me from doing that too. There's no telling what I would have done to her if I'd got my hands on her."

"I'm glad you didn't hurt her. I have no idea what is going on with her, but I don't think she meant to hurt me." Looking over his shoulder, she made him look too.

The sky was washed in pinks, purples, and oranges. It was one of the prettiest sunsets she's noticed in a long time. "It's like the world doesn't know that it's broken."

"The world isn't broken. Us humans are battered and weakened but we're not broken either." He looked down at her. "I'm only broken if I don't have you. I couldn't do this without you, Jess."

"You just don't know yourself as well as I know you. You could do this without me. You're stronger than I ever was. You're better than I ever could be." She smiled trying to lighten the mood. "You would be bored out of your mind and probably go bat shit crazy within a week, but you could do it."

"Bat shit crazy sounds about right. Turn and let me help you get out of this dress. Why are you wearing this thing?"

She groaned and turned so he could get started on the laces. "It's a long story and I'm not even sure if I know all of it."

"Jess, if she wasn't trying to hurt you why else would she have pushed you in? I saw her, it was no accident."

"I plan on asking her that as soon as I see her again." She caught the dress before her breast were exposed and waited because Julian was already removing his shirt. "See I told you that you have a thing against shirts these days."

"I have something against my girl running around wet and cold. Babe, you look like a drowned rat."

She imagined she did. Once she was wearing his shirt, she put her hair up in a messy bun then she went to a nearby picnic table and laid the dress out to dry. Maybe someone would find it and the shoes. She had no idea what they'd need it for, but shoes like that should not go to waste.

Turning she watched Julian grin her way then swished a three-point bucket right off the bat. "Show off."

"You know it. You know watching me show off gets you hot."

What she really liked was watching him get to do something he enjoyed doing. "What use to get me hot was the itty-bitty short shorts you played ball in."

"Coach Flexor was a cruel man. Every year we would beg him for some normal shorts and every year I swear they got shorter."

"I was secretly paying him my allowance to make sure of it."

"You forget that I know where all your money went. Lollypops, lattes, and soda."

"Only an evil man would bring that shit up. I'm so thirsty for a coke right now that it's not even funny."

He made one more shot then watched the ball bounce away. "It's time, Jess. It's time we went back. No more putting it off."

"I told you we would, and I meant it. We're going to do it your way but give me some more time."

"Why Jess, give me one good reason."

"I'll give you two. I think Liam Hemsworth is alive. And I think Annie knows where Sin is."