Forever by Janie Crouch

Chapter Fourteen

Sixteen Years Ago

Ethan - 8

Jess - 5

Ethan wasin so much trouble.

He was supposed be home with Skywalker before the rain came. But he and Jess had been having so much fun playing with the dog that he couldn’t do it. And then Skywalker had seen a rabbit or something and run away. Ethan and Jess had run after him.

Ethan had spent enough time in the woods to know where they were, but he didn’t know where Skywalker was. They’d been looking for him for more than thirty minutes now. The rain was starting to come harder.

He looked over at Jess. “Maybe we should just go home.”

Jess grabbed his hand. “Not without Skywalker. We’ll find him. Don’t worry.”

They kept walking and calling for the dog. Ethan should have never let him off the leash. After a few more minutes, he knew they were getting too far away from everything. It was time to turn around and go back home.

Ethan couldn’t stand the thought of his dog out in a storm like this, but he had to think of Jess. It was more important to keep her safe. She trusted him. And they were almost to the part of the woods that led up from the river embankment. Dad said they weren’t allowed to go there without adults. It was too dangerous.

He reached out a hand for Jess to stop. “It’s time to go home. We can’t go any farther. We’ll have to look for Skywalker later.”

Her eyes were wide. “But—”

“Hey, are you kids looking for a dog?” Ethan spun around at the sound of a man’s voice behind them.

He immediately took Jess and pulled her so he was between her and the man. Ethan wasn’t scared of strangers, but if this person was bad, he wanted to be able to protect Jess.

But the guy didn’t look bad. He had on hiking gear and had some hunter’s weapons. They got a lot of hikers and hunters around here.

“Yes, sir,” Ethan told him. “Our dog, Skywalker, ran away, and we’re trying to find him.”

The man pointed farther up the hill. “I saw a dog up there a few minutes ago. You can probably catch him if you hurry.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

The man turned the other way and began walking. That made Ethan feel better. He was just trying to help them. There was no need to be afraid.

They weren’t supposed to go up that hill, but if they were this close, he had to try to bring Skywalker home.

“You stay here, and I’ll climb up the hill and see if I can find him,” he told Jess.

She shook her head rapidly. “No, I want to go with you. Don’t leave me here, please, E. I’ll be scared.”

Ethan studied her with narrowed eyes. Jess did not tend to get scared even in situations where someone should be scared. But he didn’t want to leave her behind either. “Okay, but let’s hurry. This rain is getting worse.”

They scurried up the embankment the best they could. The soil was much looser here, and there were pebbles sliding from farther above them, slippery from mud. This was part of the reason Dad had always said this place was off-limits. The ground could get too loose and cause landslides.

But what would a landslide do to Skywalker? He wouldn’t know to get out of the way.

“Skywalker!” Ethan yelled. Jess joined him, also calling for the dog.

Another fifteen minutes passed and still there was no sign of him. Ethan glanced around and realized they were in trouble. They’d come up too far, and the rain was too hard now. Going back down the way they’d come wasn’t an option. He reached over and grabbed Jess’s hand.

“We’re going to have to go up a little farther. There’s a cut-through on the side of the hill where we can take shelter. We’ve got to get out of this rain, Jess.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m cold.”

They both had on jackets, but they’ve been out in the rain so long they were soaked through. They hadn’t expected to be out this long.

“Come on, we’ll get to the cut-through. It’ll be warmer, and there won’t be so much wind. Okay?”

Jess nodded her little head. “Okay.”

Ethan tried to hurry, but at the same time he was very careful. More and more of the rocks and dirt were sliding as they stepped. He kept hold of Jess’s hand. He didn’t want to fall.

They almost made it. He could almost see the cut-through when Jess let out a little scream.

“Rocks, Ethan. Rocks!”

He spun and saw the rocks farther up the hill, not rolling, but sliding down in mud that had loosened. There was no way that they were going to be able to get out of their path. Ethan put his arms around Jess and pulled her up against him as the mud began to slide under their feet.

They fell. He protected her with his body as much as he could, trying not to cry out as the rocks hit him in his back. But he couldn’t stop the scream that fell from his lips as a large rock rolled onto his ankle and stopped there.

“Ethan, Ethan, are you okay?” Jess scrambled away from him when the mudslide stopped.

Ethan was trying just to breathe. There were a bunch of rocks on his legs now. None as big as the one on his ankle. The pain rolled over him in waves, and he was afraid he was going to throw up. He couldn’t move his leg at all.

Now what was he going to do? What was Jess going to do? She didn’t know how to get home. How were they going to get home?

He started to cry.

Jess threw her arms around his neck. “No, Ethan. Don’t cry. I’ll help get the rocks off your leg. I’ll help you.”

She moved all the little rocks she could manage, and he forced himself to be quiet, even though it hurt really bad. But when it came to the big rock, there was no way she was going to be able to pick that up. Ethan couldn’t do it either. And even if he could, he didn’t think he was going to be able to walk. He was breathing hard just sitting there. He lay back down.

“Jess, I need you to keep going up the hill a little bit to the cut-through. It will be dry in there, and you can get warm.”

Her big bottom lip started to quiver. “But I don’t want to go by myself.”

“You have to. I don’t think that I can get up.”

“Then I’m staying here with you,” she whispered.

He couldn’t let Jess stay out in the cold. He sat back up and using every bit of strength he had, he tried to move his leg from under the rock. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t move it.

And a second later, he couldn’t keep everything around him from turning black.

* * *

Jess tried not to cry.She tried not to cry most of the time, even though her mom had told her it was okay to cry sometimes.

Crying was for babies. Jess may only be five years old, but she wasn’t a baby. It was better to think of a way out of a problem than to sit and cry about it.

But Ethan was taking a nap. Ethan never took a nap, and the big rock was on his leg, and he was hurt bad. And she was so cold, she wanted to cry. She didn’t, but she wanted to.

“Ethan, please wake up.” She knelt by his head and touched his cheek. “Please wake up.”

She needed to find some sort of branch that she could use as a lever for moving the rock. Mrs. Pearl had made her study and build one in school when she’d gotten bored.

But there weren’t branches around, and she didn’t want to leave Ethan. What if a rock fell on his head like it had his leg?

So she stayed. She yelled for help as loud as she could, hoping the man who’d seen Skywalker might hear her and come back. She wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers, but she would if that man could get Ethan out. But he didn’t come back.

She covered Ethan when small rocks slid their way and tried to keep his face dry in the rain.

“Jess, you have to go.” He said the same thing every time he woke up.

She said the same thing too. “I’m not going to leave you. I’ll never leave you.”

Eventually, Jess did cry. She was cold and hungry and tired and Ethan wouldn’t stay awake very long. She knew that wasn’t good.

And she cried because she didn’t know what to do. She was smarter than almost everyone—Mama said being smarter didn’t make her better, and that being smart was a responsibility—but she couldn’t figure out what to do.

But mostly she cried because what if Ethan died here? She couldn’t live without her Ethan.

She was lying next to him when she heard someone calling their names. At first she thought she was dreaming since it was a woman.

“Mama?” It didn’t sound like her. She couldn’t see anybody in the rain.

“Jess! Keep yelling, sweetie. I’m going to help you. Can you sing the alphabet really loud?”

Uh, yeah, she could do it backward just as easily. She started singing.

“You’re doing great, kiddo. Keep going.”

Jess saw the woman a few minutes later. Short with blond hair. “You’re not my mommy.”

“Yeah, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m Ray.”

“Uncle Dorian’s girlfriend.” She didn’t talk much. But Uncle Dorian didn’t talk much either.

“Yeah. I’m his girlfriend. I’m here to get you back to your mom.”

Good. “Ethan’s hurt bad.”

“He’s going to be okay.”

She almost started crying again. “I’ve been trying to keep the rain off of him as much as I could while he was sleeping. I wasn’t strong enough to move the rocks. And I didn’t know my way home to go get help. And I’m afraid Skywalker is hurt.”

“No, Skywalker made it back to Ethan’s house. That’s how we knew you guys were in trouble. And you did the right thing staying here with him. He might’ve been scared without you.”

Skywalker was safe, and she’d done the right thing. And Uncle Dorian’s girlfriend with the boy’s name was going to help. That was all that mattered.

Jess was tired and cold and wanted to go home. “This cave has a cut-through to the other side. Ethan was trying to get us there when the rocks fell.”

“How long has Ethan been sleeping?”

“He wakes up and talks to me but then goes back to sleep.” She wanted her Ethan to wake up and talk to her.

“I’m going to move some of these rocks you couldn’t lift, and we’re going to take Ethan out through the other side of the cavern, okay?”

Jess nodded. “But you’re hurt too.” She pointed at Ray’s face where her nose was bleeding. Maybe rocks had fallen on her too.

Ray winked at her. “Just a nosebleed, nothing to worry about. Let’s focus on Ethan.”

Ray started moving rocks, and Jess tried to help but her hands were so cold she couldn’t even hold the rocks.

“You know what?” Ray winked at her. “Let’s get you inside the cavern, and I’ll get Ethan. I think that will be the easiest way.”

She didn’t want to leave Ethan, but she was smart enough to know she was slowing Ray down, so she nodded, and they went inside the cavern. Being out of the wind and rain felt so good.

“Be careful of the rocks,” Jess said as Ray turned to go back out. “I knew I had to protect Ethan from the rocks.”

“I’m not going to let any rocks get your boy.”

Jess nodded. Uncle Dorian was amazing, and he would have a girlfriend who was amazing too. She would help Ethan.

And Jess would never let anything happen to him ever again.