Aria's POV:
"Yes, mom! Yeah, I know right! Well I was lucky since the mom tiger remembered my smell and got the other tigers to back off." I laughed at my mom. Apparently Justin felt the need to call my mom to tell her about the tiger incident. After she spoke to Justin, she called me. We've been talking about tigers for 30 minutes now, and she's currently rambling about how jealous she is that I got to pet wild tigers without her.
"Okay, but mom! Tyler is still there! We haven't found him yet, what if his hurt what if..." Mum cut me off, this sudden realization made my jaw drop. And I automatically started thinking about every worst situations that could accure.
"Baby, listen to me, okay! You can do this. I promise you that he'll be okay, and none of this is your fault. It's all on James." She said into the phone. I felt a few tears dripping down my cheek, so I quickly brushed them away.
"Thanks. I promise I will get him back unharmed." We said our goodbye's and hung up. I sat down with a sigh.
"Wow, was that a sigh I heard?" Turning my head around, I saw Brent leaning on the door, across from where I was sitting. I rolled my eyes, and waved at him to come and sit with me.
"I just... I'm just so worried that when we finally get the clues to where Tyler is. That it'll all be too late." I buried my head into my hands.
"Aria. I know that it's frightening and I get it. As an older sibling, I know. That you will do whatever it takes to make sure your younger siblings are all right. Which is why, you will dive into this head first, give it all you got. And it should be enough. Because as cheesy as this sounds, love is the biggest weapon, and a damn good reason do give it all." Brent said, placing his hands over my hands. I removed them from my face and looked up at him.
His green eyes looked a little sadder than they usually do, but they still had their twinkle.
"Tyler is a good kid. He might be a little rebel, just like his sister. But he also know exactly what to do to stay alive and not get into trouble, just like his sister." Brent pulled me into a hug.
"Thank you." I mumbled, and hugged him back.
To: Me
From: Unknown
All the princesses are back at the palace, I see.
Tyler says hi, btw.
Or at least I think that was a "high". He has taken some water over his head.
You have 5 hours.
"Okay, so we have five hours." I breathed, after reading the text out loud.
Everyone nodded and went back to what they were doing. Because truly, we can't do anything until I figure out where he's talking about. And the fact that I only have 5 hours to figure it out scares me.
Suddenly I remembered. Running out of the room, I managed to grab my keys to the bike. I ran out to the parking lot, when I heard someone scream for me.
"Ari! Please wait up." I instantly remembered that voice. I straddled the bike, but waited for him. He sat behind me and I started the engine. Chase wrapped his arms around my waist, and I relaxed slightly.
The drive to our house felt short, which for once was a good thing. I jumped of the bike, leaving it to Chase to park it.
Quickly, I unlocked the door and ran up the stairs to my room.
I opened the part of the wardrobe I don't use, I lifted out the boxes I've saved.
I sat down on my knees, and started emptying box after box after what I was looking after. I heard Chase come up the stairs and into my room.
But he didn't speak.
"I found it!" I exclaimed. I stood up and walked over to Chase who sat on my bed. In my hands, I held a small box.
"What's that?" I didn't answer, I just brushed away the dust from the little box, and opened the lid.
I took the small neckless between my fingers, and placed it in Chase's hand.
"He gave it to me. I used to wear it all the time. I have the heart, he has the key to it. I think the place Tyler is has something to do with this." I brushed my hair out of my face, and looked at Chase's face, when he examined the neckless.
"Maybe." He answered shortly. I frowned and took the neckless away from him.
"Dude! What the fuck is your problem? Every time I speak of him you get all jerkish and shit! What's up with that?" I shouted. I wasn't planning on saying this, but it just slipped out. And the shouting was unplanned also. I think that was just a thing I did because it felt right at the moment.
"I am a jerk, if you haven't noticed! And the reason I act that way might be because the fact that he treated you the way he did, makes me wanna light the dude on fire!" The tone of Chase's voice surprised me. Ah! It feels good to get under his skin again.
I shrugged.
"Okay." Chase raised an eyebrow at me.
"Okay?" I nodded.
"Yes, Okay." I turned around and sat down across the room on my office chair, just looking at the heart on the neckless.
"I swear to fucking god, you'll be the death of me!" I heard Chase mutter. But I just ignored him.
(Flashback)
"Here you go." I gasped when I noticed the perfectly wrapped gift, James was placing in front of me on the table.
"What is this?" I asked, picking the gift off the table, carefully shaking it.
"If I told you it would defeat the purpose of it being a Christmas gift, wouldn't it?"
I sighed, and started unwrapping it. I gasped once again, and looked up into James' eyes.
"Did you get me this?" He gave me a proud nod.
"But why? Wasn't this expensive?" He shrugged.
"Maybe, maybe not! But I have money, so the price doesn't matter." I stuck my tongue out at him, and picked the necklace out of the box.
"Can you put it on?" I asked James. He nodded and helped me put it on.
"It's beautiful. But it has a key hole, where's the key?" I asked. James then took out a similar necklace, but with a key at the end, instead of a heart.
I smiled and pulled him into a hug.
"See this as a promise. You are the only one for me, and as long as you're wearing my necklace, I know you feel the same." I nodded, biting my lip.
"So, basically this is your way to trick me into marrying you?" I joked.
"Oh! Of course it is! I was planning to have it arranged at the shore. You know that beach close to the club we usually go to?" He said. His tone wasn't as jokingly as it was before in the beginning of his sentence.
"Yeah, and we could have it in the cave! You know, the one where the tide covers at certain points of the day."
(Flashback over)
"I know where he is!" I shouted. Eve, Brent, Em and Chase jumped slightly. It's only about two hours left, and we've been sitting in silence since me and Chase came back with the necklace.
"I heard someone saying they figured it out!" Justin and Jayden ran through the door.
"Yes! You all know the beach by the fighting club?" They all nodded.
"Okay, so there's this cave that you can only see during certain points of the day. I think he's there! And if I'm not wrong, we only have a little less than two hours to get him, so let's go!" We all got our stuff, and split up into the cars. Me, Em and Justin in one car, and Brent, Jayden, Cece and Eve in the other.
Justin let me drive, because he knows I'm the best driver when it comes to getting somewhere fast. Unlike the bike ride to my house, this ride felt endless. It felt like every time we got closer to our destination, we ended up further away. When we finally arrived, I hurriedly killed the engine and started running down the shore.
I threw the car keys to Justin, and ran past the others.
"Hello, my love!" A shill went down my spine, and I instantly stopped running.
"Aren't you going to say hi?" he asked.
"Aren't you going to drop dead?" I said, walking closer to the figure.
"Still as rude as always. You know, there was this time when you only spoke with my permission. That was good times." I clenched my teeth, and he laughed.
"Just get the fuck out of here James, and let me save my brother!" He gasped dramatically, and held a hand over his heart.
"Ouch, Anna. You're breaking my heart."
"Well, James. You broke mine first!" I said. I felt the presence of my friends, and I could see how James narrowed his eyes at them.
"I see you brought some friends. Are you still incapable of cleaning up your own mess?" He let out a laugh, and I forced myself to take a few deep breaths.
"Can't you see, you're the only one who needs to clean up their mess?" I shot back. Lame comeback, but whatever, I don't have time for this.
I looked back at Justin, who I guess got the hint. I ran up to James kicking him in the gut. He grunted, but brought his finger to his lips, and whistled. Seconds later, 7 of his men came forward. I ignored them and focused on James. I know my friends can take care of themselves.
"Do you think you can beat me? You're just a girl! You couldn't beat me then, and you sure as hell can't beat me now." He said, I ignored him, and looked over to the cave, the water was getting closer and closer now, and I really don't have a lot of time left.
I looked back at James just in time to see him loading a punch to my cheek. I easily ducked it, and kicked the back of his knees, causing him to fall back on the sand. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Brent and Chase running up to me. All men except James, and three others were down.
"Go,Aria! Go get Tyler." Brent shouted. I looked back at James, who smirked, and at the water. I gasped when I noticed how high the water has gotten.
"Okay!" I shouted, running as fast as I could to the cave. I ran into the cold water, and dove in. The cold water consumed me, and if I wasn't in such an adrenaline rush, I could've had trouble moving.
The waves were high, crashing into the cliff. I heard the faint sound of someone screaming my name, preferably Chase.
When I finally entered the cave, I had water to my chest. The underwater streams were trying to get a hold of me, making the task of getting closer and closer to the back of the cave even harder.
"Tyler! Are you in here?!" I shouted into the darkness.
I gasped when someone grabbed a hold of my shoulder. I turned around to see Chase giving me and encouraging smile. Together we kept swimming\ walking closer and closer to the back.
I was close to giving up, when I noticed a mop of brown hair a bit further away. Without telling Chase I found him, I started swimming closer to where the mop of hair was.
The underwater streams were either getting harder, or I was getting more tired as the time passed. My skinny jeans were starting to feel uncomfortable and my hair fell as a curtain all the time.
I heard Chase screaming after me to be careful. When I finally caught up to the mop of hair I saw that it was infact my baby brother. He had water up to his chin, and in the pace the waters rising and the waves in the cave he doesn't have much time left. I took a deep breath and dived underwater. The water was mixed with sand so it was hard to see.
I swimmed closer to Tyler, and when I wrapped my arms around him I felt the ropes he was tied with. Diving down a little further I found where the end of the rope was tied. I tried tying up the nod, but I had to go up and breathe.
"Tyler, hang on okay! You will get out of here." I screamed, I don't know if he heard me since the water's making loud sounds every time it crashes against the cliff. I took another deep breath and dived again.
The rope felt rough between my fingers, and even in the water my hands were shaking. I give a massive thanks to the fact that I've been a free diver since I was 11 years old. I felt how the need to breathe became stronger and stronger.
When I finally managed to untie the knot, I quickly unwrapped Tyler from the rope. When I broke the surface, I made sure to wrap him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around my neck, and I made sure to hold him over the surface since he has too weak to swim by himself.
"I love you." I whispered into his ear. He nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but got caught off by him coughing up water. Panic washed over me. What if he can't make it out of here? A hand caressing my cheek woke me up. Chase looked into my eyes with his filled with worry.
"Get him out of here!" I shouted over the waves. I frowned as he shook his head.
"No fucking way I'm leaving you here! Are you out of your mind?"
"Yes, I am. I lost my mind ages ago. And I'm fucking insane! Now, save my brother! I can take care of myself." I shouted. Chase opened his mouth, but a wave flushing over us cut him off. Once we all crossed the surface, he once again opened his mouth to refuse.
"NO! Save him, I'll be okay." I swam closer to him, and placed my hands on both sides of his face. He nodded, and leaned his for head on mine. I smiled, and unwrapped Tyler's arms from around my neck, and gave him over to Chase.
"Just, please. Make sure he's okay." I whispered. For some reason my attention switched from Chase's eyes to his lips. He smiled and said something, but I was too busy looking at him, just taking in his features like it was my first time seeing his face.
Seeing Chase swim closer to where the opening to the cave used to be, and how water made it disappear completely, I realized how tired I was. I laid on my back in the water, just floating.
When I was laying there, I noticed how the roof of the cave was getting closer and closer. It was getting harder and harder to stay floating. But simply I didn't care anymore. Tyler was safe and that's all I care about.
I took a deep breath and dived one last time. It felt calmed now. The water has always been my escape, so if I were gonna die, I'm sure as hell gonna die where I feel free.
I swam closer to the bottom, and when I came down there, I sat down and just looked around. I looked up to see my hair move with the waves over me. I looked at my chipped purple nail polish and my painfully short nails. I looked down on my legs and on my faded jeans. They weren't black anymore, they had faded into a grey color. I also looked up at the surface. My head was pounding and I just thought back on my happy place.
Will I go to heaven, or will I just disappear? Where will I go when this headache is over?
My eyelids feels like cement, and I started blinking slower. I could see the bubbles from my nose in my eyelids. Closing my eyes, I opened my mouth. The headache stop, and I could no longer hear my own heart beats.
The last thing I remember was a shadow over me, and someone d¨grabbing a hold of the collar of my shirt. After that, everything was finally silence.
Hahaha! I hope this annoyed you, since that was the point. Okay, not really but still. Don't worry, this is not the final chapter. (Not that I think anyone was worrying) I'm planning on writing two more and I'm soon going to start posting on the sequel if is anyone's interested. I'll see you hopefully soon.
Goodbye my fellow Pandas.
- Panda_Bacon