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He fuood hold, I wasn’t prepared for how heavy he’d be, and I started skidding forward on rass and rocks gouged into ," he yelled "No Let go!"

But no way in hell was I letting go of hiress, but Oren was still so heavy and ony

In the distance, I heard Noel shoutingour way Help was almost there "Just a few more" I couldn’t finish the sentence, too strained and out of breath to finish

Oren gritted his teeth and tried to cli into the soil, it crumbled away under him

His face was red with strain, his eyes crazy with panic Through clenched teeth, he shouted "You’re not falling in with h tears of exhaustion and fear filled ht, Jack?"

Grief filled his face I thought he was going to cry, but he just shook his head, and an emotion that let me know just how he felt about me filled his face

"God, I love you," he said Then he let go of h I didn’t fall into the water, my sto in ed after Oren, trying to dive into the rushing river with him But an arm wrapped around my waist and jerkedto get back to Oren

I’d seen him hit the white, frothy water and watched it s hiet back to the edge and see if he was okay, if he’d gotten his head back above water, if he could raise his hand, give me a thumbs-up

But no, the daht it Noel’s voice calledforward, but I kept struggling against hih to stand and peer back into the water, but Oren still hadn’t come up, so I looked farther downstream, and then a little farther down A screas when I spotted hi froh the currents,at the surface again, right before it sla until I couldn’t see him anymore

"Oh my God Oh my God"

My limbs went numb as my head went dizzy I started to hyperventilate

I wanted to race after hiht my arm "We can’t reach him from here" He already had his phone pressed to his ear As he spoke to a 911 operator in a cal what had happened, I burrowed into ed him hard My head swa

He huggedto be okay," he murmured into my hair, but the shock told me this could in no way be okay

Noel continued to console ht’ve checked out for a while All I kneas that Noel was there, always right there, holding on tohis shirt and desperately needing his clarity, because I had none

At one point, I remember Aspen, and Brandt, and Colton, so we must’ve returned to the picnic, or maybe they’d come to the banks of the water Colton sobbed hysterically all over Aspen, and Brandt looked as if he’d peed his pants I just wanted to get back to the river and look for Oren We had to find Oren

I grew disoriented Though everyone see moved way too slow for my taste I must’ve tried to return to the waterfall, the last place I’d seen Oren--where he’d looked into o of my hand to save rasped ave me a hard shake as he yelled o back yet We need help finding him"

That’s when I finally heard the distant wail of sirens It still took the freaking police, a to arrive And then it took an extra inordinate aanize everyone and set them loose on their tasks

Noel and I ascended on the first police cruiser that pulled into the park We confused the hell out of the poor guy, both talking and trying to lead him to the place where Oren had fallen in Finally, he stopped in his tracks, lifted his hands and said, "Now stop One at a time First of all, what’s the name of the victim?"