ZOE’S POV
Not long after my confrontation with Caroline, I was lost in my own world of madness. Caroline finally faced the truth of the past and that was the best karma she could get for whatever she did. And me, of, I was facing my fate since a very long time, but now, I was relieved from the burden of it until my phone’s notification rang.
I was aghast seeing the video of my confrontation with Caroline go viral and more than that, I was dumbstruck realizing that now, the whole High school knew!!! Wait a sec, holy smokes, what about Zack????
That shocker was all it took to make the earth disappear from beneath my feet. Was this all real or my hallucination??? Did Caroline's fake pregnancy news flash in front of the whole town?? And was Jake’s truth also revealed?? Rather than Caroline’s case, what worried me the most was Jake’s truth being revealed and somehow, that was not there in the video. Whatever it was, that was a play of fate but what about Zack?? How was he and what was he going through??
I immediately called up Mike and from him, I got to know about whatever that happened in the gym. Those events made me feel only one thing, the past was finally being repeated again and this time, the victim was Zack!!!!
Without any other thought, I got into looking for him and in about an hours' time, I had been throughout the town with Mike in our car searching for Zack wherever possible. The night had fallen and we had left no place unchecked except for the beach. So, beach is definitely going to be the last spot!!!
The way he walked through the beach was noticed by Sarah, Jennie and Lisa. They had started to gossip about his and Caroline’s breakup, me being the reason and all. They had their mouths busy on the hot topics and that was the worst time to fall in their web even by mistake!!!!
If Zack had indeed come to know that truth, then I was able to easily imagine what he was going through. And I wanted to be with him if he was suffering all alone. I wanted to comfort him, support him, hug him and assure him that he wasn’t at all alone in this world because I loved him more than anything in the world. I knew that my love would have been devastated and all these were the least I could do for him at this moment!!!
The one and only thing I wanted was for him at this moment was to not to go through what I had been through. This very thought made me fear that after what all happened, he could take the wrong step. That was something none would ever wish to happen. At least not for me because I couldn’t afford to go through the same pain of losing someone so valuable again. Well, this time too, I was able to sense the same history being repeated and that was why I was so hell bound in stopping it!!!!
I wanted to avoid that history from repeating. I wanted to save him. Not knowing where I could find him, I decided to go and look for him in all our usual spots and so first, I went to the tree house but he was not there. Every passing second, my heart raced to pound faster and that made me want to run to reach him. However, even in this terrible situation, I was bound by my condition and promises which didn’t allow me to do so!!!
This whole time I was hunting for him, the promise I had made to dad was killing me bit by bit. The only fateful thing happened to me in this moment was that I knew where he would have been if not in the tree house. This made me want to run my life to him but my legs kept going in the pace it was trained to walk maximum in such emergency situations. I tried my best to reach him as fast as possible but I had noway, no option. but once again, fate blessed me by giving me a choice. I was well aware of the forest and its shortcuts and so, if at all I couldn’t run to him, I could take the shortest route to reach him!!!!
Following that, I took the fastest route and in no time, reached the beach. Not wasting even, a second's time, I started walking toward the lighthouse. But this time, luck put me in a very darn position and the plastics noticed me and to spice up their hot gossiping, they hindered my way.
“Where do you think you are going weirdo. Why do you come in front of us to spoil our precious time?” Jennie started mocking me out of nowhere.
“Don’t you have any shame oogling over the lover of your friend, bitch. We're sure that they would have broken up only because of you. If you weren’t involved with him, poor Caroline wouldn’t have even thought about going so overboard. No wonder why we saw our prince charm in such a terrible condition” Lisa ridiculed me furthermore.
Their mocking and words were really pissing me more than before however, what I only cared about now was Zack!!! And what they blurted out in their mocks were what I was craving to find out.
“Have you seen I go to the lighthouse? Are you sure?” I asked them hastily forgetting how they behaved with me.
Why would I ever think about them trying to help me in the first place?? Because, when I forgot all their shitty attitude, they got on to ridicule me more like senseless idiots and now it was time for me to show them who I really was!!!
“Never ever think about opening your mouth again to mock me or Zack ever again” I raged at Sarah and held her neck.
My rage and attack had thoroughly shaken the core of the girls who had never expected that from me. They were extremely taken aback and had went pale in shock and terror. It was pretty good to see them be terrorized of me like this and gosh I was not going to let this opportunity go out of hands. Not only that but also seeing the brave gossip plastics who grilled gossips like tigers became rats seeing someone outrage at the like this. This was pure savage!!!!
I snarled at Jennie and she pointed toward the lighthouse and again warned me that he was in a terrible condition. My heart skipped a beat and I had no other choice remaining at that time. By walking so much during this whole while, my legs had already started to hurt. Still, I let go of all the strings that kept me bound and I ran with all my might towards the lighthouse.
My head was blank and my heart was pounding because of fearing the worst again and again. Jennie said that he was in a devastated state and him being lost for so long simply pointed at one thing and it was him taking the worst step of all time. I had no strength remaining to see one more death of a beloved and that thought kept repeating on my head. No, I will not let that happen and this time, I’ll do what I had failed to do last time.
I somehow reached the gates and the one thing I saw and which froze me to hell was seeing Zack stand on the rails as if he was ready to jump. Was I late??
I ran up the stairs at my top speed even when I was out of breath and exhausted. I didn’t think of myself nor my family. All that mattered to me now was Zack. I had no time to think of how my brave act would affect me afterwards. What to do, I had broken my promise and had to bear the results. While running up the stairs I had a sudden flash of all what had happened to me and Jake in the past because of Caroline. Her one immature act had taken a precious life and until I was alive, it wasn't going to happen again. I had to do it somehow because, Zack deserved a chance. A chance that now only I could give him!!!!
I had to save her him if not for a second chance, then for my love for him. Yes, I loved him. The way he saw me, the way he understood my silence, the way he accepted me as myself without any change even though it was as a friend, the way he stood for me in front of others.... I just fell truly, madly, crazily and deeply in love with him as he was, with all his flaws. Nope, he was flawless and he was a perfect person just like his dad.
Running my way up had by now made me breath heavily as if my lungs was ready to burst if I took one more step. I was gradually falling unconscious; and my heart was now beating as it was a bass blaster. Luckily, I reached the top and saw him lean forward. It was a matter of second which I had in my hand. I was pretty exhausted; It seemed like I would pass out even before I could hold him. That fear made me reminisce Jake’s last words which rang in my head like a mantra.
“Thank you for always being with me as my best friend Zoe. Now, it's time for me to go alone” I imagined how Jake had taken his last dive after bidding me the worst goodbye ever.
This hallucination had strangely given me the courage and strength I required to act as fast as I could. Right in front of me, just a few steps ahead were my love at the verge of death, and only I could save him. It was not because I was any superhero or something, rather it was because only I was there with him in this horrible moment of his life.
With all my leftover consciousness, I crawled over to Zack, caught hold of his jacket and pulled him back with all the force I could gather in me. My tiny pull was all that was enough to make him fall on his back and suddenly, he was extremely shocked of what was happening. Yes, I had saved him but I was half conscious. Worse than me, Zack looked at me aghast as if his soul was already dead and had no more strength. I closed my eyes to calm my spinning head down and then looked at his fragile face. He was pale as snow and I knew there was no soul left in him.
I couldn’t help myself and so, I pulled him to my chest so hard for a hug that he rested himself upon me. This was literally our first real hug and my god, I felt I was in some kind of seventh heaven. It was so realistic and emotional that it gave both of us a great deal of consoling!!!!
Even in this beautiful moment of my life, I was only sub conscious. To be exact, I was blacking out. Zack started to cry so bad that he squeezed me tight and didn’t let go of me. Having him in my arms like this without letting him get even a tiny scratch was all I ever wanted in my life. I was at peace and let him have and take all that he wanted from me in the moment to get back to his senses.
“It’s all okay Zack. You're not alone. I’m here for you. Let it all out” I muttered to him into his ears. Zack tightened his grip on me.
“No Zoe. I’m not. Why did you save me? You shouldn’t have done it” he whispered back to me in his devastated tone whilst crying.
“it’s all right dude. You'll thank me later” I chuckled with an aching heart.
“I lost Zoe. I lost my everything today and have no reason to live anymore. I’m so fucking done” Zack poured his heart out and I patted his head like consoling a baby.
“Do tell me this tomorrow too because until I’m alive, you’re not fucking die so miserably” I replied to him with a smile.
It did take him more like half an hour to get back to his senses. And as that happened, it became our moment, our precious moment. Happiness and joy which I got from saving him did have a strong effect on my heart but it was no fairy tale for me in which I would get miraculously saved. With that what I meant is that, I had started losing myself to my body’s calling.
Not wanting to let go of this freaking precious blissful moment of mine, I held Zack for some more time. The effect of the love I had over him gave me what I prayed for in the situation. I slowly started gaining breath, strength and consciousness. I was able to hold myself a bit longer and Zack suddenly laid on my lap which appalled me a lot. My hands trembled from even daring to touch his face or caress his hairs and the next thing what happened was him pulling my hands down to hold it.
“it’s all okay Zack....it's all okay” I smiled and let go off my shock to caress his head.
This was a dream come true for me but what my heart feared the most was this moment being the last dream of my life........