Pull (Push #2) Read Free Page A

water lapping against the cement retaining wall, but I get out of my Honda anyway to look up and down the shore for some sign of David. When I don’t see him, I lean against the hood of the car and take a cigarette out of my pocket. If that jackass left before I got here, or if this is some kind of joke, I’m going to lose my shit. The only thing that’s stopping me from getting back into the car and heading straight for his apartment is the panic I heard in his voice. It’s the reason I got into the car in the first place, and it’s the reason I’ll wait here for twenty minutes before I head back home to sulk about falling for his stupid joke.
    He told me to watch the bridge. For what, I don’t know, but I light my cigarette and alternate between watching the stars and the bridge. I wonder what the hell that man has up his sleeve.
    Then, just as I’m lifting my cigarette up to take another drag, I see Emma up there. She’s small and far away, but I know it’s her because the streetlights are making her red hair glow like a beacon. She has a green dress on, and she’s standing stock still right at the edge of the bridge. I hop up onto the roof of my car to have a better look, tossing my cigarette into the gravel as my foot hits the bumper. When I get to the roof, I turn back to face the bridge, and I see someone falling. Shit. I think it’s Emma. No…I know it’s Emma, and there is something on her feet. What the hell? Where is David? Is he already in the water? Did I miss it? My hand flies up to my mouth and mashes across the front of my lips. My heart sinks into my gut, and I start to count.
    I bend down, frantically pull off my shoes, and toss them down from the car. And then I see David. He steps forward toward the edge and watches Emma hit the water.
    “Jump in after her, you motherfucker! Jump!” I whisper. David doesn’t jump, though. Instead he drops to his haunches on the bridge deck and sinks his face into his hands. As my mind reaches the number five, I hear David scream. It’s primal and pained, and it pulls the breath right out of my chest. I reach the number nine and jump down off the hood of my car. As I run to the edge of the retaining wall like a goddamned madman, I look up to see David standing. In a split second he is off the bridge, and I watch him fall into the water. I keep counting in my head while my toes curl over the edge of the wall, and my fingers race to take off my shirt. I can’t see either of them, only the ripples in the water.
    Fear rises in my throat, and I pick up the pace of my count. I’m not waiting until I reach thirty. They are two hundred yards away, and I’m not watching this from a distance anymore. I toss my shirt onto the gravel, dive off the retaining wall, and swim into the darkness.
    As I approach the spot where I think they entered the water, my brain kicks into overdrive. What is happening? This isn’t David’s usual ape-shit-crazy stuff. This is messed up. What the hell did he talk her into? David can swim like a fish; I know he can. I’ve seen him swim across the river after a night of poker and a dare from Carl’s cigar-laden mouth. But I don’t know if Emma can swim. And what was on her feet?
    I stop swimming only long enough to look for them and call out their names. When I get no response, I put my face back into the water and keep swimming.
    The next time I draw my head up out of the water, I see something. I see the back of someone’s head only twenty feet from where I am. It’s David. His dark hair is wet and tight against his scalp, but I know it’s him.
    “David!” I shout, as loudly and clearly as I can muster. I swim toward him until I am nearly at arm’s distance. “Where is she? Where’s Emma?”
    He turns his head to face me. It’s dark, but the bridge lights allow me to see his face. His expression is of sheer and utter dread. He’s terrified out of his mind. His eyes are wide and his nostrils are flaring. His mouth is in a