Page 131 of Don't Let Me Go
What the hell happened?One second, we were zooming through black starlit tunnels. The next, we’re screaming and crashing.
Did we hit something? Or did something hit us? I remember our rocket-shaped carriage shaking uncontrollably right before things went sideways, but I thought that was part of the ride.
Something wet and sticky trickles down my face. I don’t need to see it to know it’s blood. I wonder if I have a concussion. The searing pain in my head is growing worse.
“Hello?” I shout. “Is anyone there?”
Again, there’s no answer, only more groaning.
I have no idea if anyone’s coming to help, and I don’t want to waitaround to find out. Despite my entire body aching like it’s been tackled by ten linebackers, I try to stand. But when I go to draw up my legs, I find I can’t move. My legs won’t budge. A tight, viselike grip is holding them down.
Trying not to panic, I fish my phone out of my pocket. The screen is cracked, and I can’t get a signal, but the flashlight still works. I aim the beam at my legs, and suddenly it makes sense why I’m having so much trouble moving.
It’s our crashed rocket coaster. Its heavy overturned frame is lying across my legs, pinning me to the floor with its crushing bulk. I don’t know how I didn’t feel it before. I must have been in shock.
I try to pull my legs out from under the coaster, but it hurts too much to move them. I then try to lift the rocket. All I need is an inch to free myself. But I can’t budge the massive weight. It’s too heavy. And my arms are too weak.
I’m trapped.
Chapter 54
Riley
“They’re not picking up,” Audrey growls as she stares at her phone in frustration. She’s tried calling Duy, Jackson, and Caleb more times than I can count, but no one’s answered. Not that I thought they would. That would mean that they’re safe. And today no one is safe.
Even so, my heart surges with hope every time a bruised and bloody park guest staggers out of the base of the crumbling pyramid. Some of the traumatized stragglers are limping. Others are crying and clinging to loved ones for support. All their faces are twisted in disbelief and terror, but none of those faces belong to my friends.
“Keep back! Everyone, please keep back!” a park employee barks at the large crowd gathering to watch the grisly spectacle. More of the pyramid collapses in on itself with a horrifying crunch, and another entire floor disappears. At this rate, it’s only a matter of minutes before the entire building implodes.
“What happened?” a woman asks in a stunned voice behind me.
“I don’t know,” another woman answers. “I heard someone say something about a total structural collapse.”
“What does that mean?”
I know what it means. It means Jackson and Duy and Caleb and anyone else who doesn’t make it out in the next few minutes will be buried alive. Assuming there’s anyone inside who’s still alive.
Why didn’t we listen to Jocasta?
She told us something like this would happen. She fuckingwarnedus.
As soon as I saw Jackson walk through the park gates, I should’ve run in the opposite direction. I should never have let him convince me to get back together. We knew what would happen. We knew the universe would try to kill us.
Except...
Except the universe isn’t trying to killus, is it?
Jackson’s the one in danger. He’s the one about to be crushed under twelve stories of roller-coaster rubble. Not me. I’m safe.
How is that possible?
In all our past lives, whenever we died, Jackson and I always diedtogether. I thought that was the rule. I thought that was the whole point. We die together and then we come back together. But if Jackson dies and I don’t, what happens then?
A chill creeps down my spine, turning my blood to ice.
Jocasta said that the reason Jackson and I were allowed to remember our past lives this time around was because the universe wanted us to understand what would happen if we didn’t break the cycle. She thought it was giving us a choice: We could stay together and die or break up and live. But maybe she was wrong.
Maybe this is the choice.
