Chapter 7: No Turning Back


"Bye Momma!" Alanis shouted as she waved from the back window of the van. Laurie waved too. Alanis blew her mother a kiss before disappearing down the street and around the corner.
Zac couldn't keep his mind off what had happened the night before. Aundria had told him what was going on, but he didn't know her and he doubted she knew about Alanis. But how did she know?
Alanis was also wondering about strange people. She was wondering if Sam would return. She hadn't seen him in years.
'He may be dead' Alanis thought with sadness in her heart. Sam had taught her how to see the light of life. He had wiped away her tears when she had decided to run away. He had helped her find Taylor and save her best friend. But he had disappeared without a trace.
Both Alanis's and Zac's thoughts were interrupted by a wailing. It wasn't a baby, but a police car.
"I wonder what's happening," Zac said quietly as he tried to see over Taylor's head. But all he could see was flashing lights and the head of a police officer that was checking each car for something.
The police officer moved down the line of cars quickly. Zac didn't know what was going on. He couldn't see anything.
But Alanis could, and the face of the police officer filled her heart with fear. The closer the officer came, the more Alanis's hands shook. Her mouth became dry as the desert when he checked the blue Mercedes in front of them.         
All of the sudden, the back door of the van was thrust open and the police officer quickly scanned the passengers before grabbing Alanis's arm and pulling her outside.
"What the hell?" Zac said as he tried to stop the officer but he still managed to pull Alanis away.
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney…" the officer said as he began to handcuff Alanis.
Alanis felt weak and dizzy. She wasn't going back. Not to that hell, no way.
Alanis ripped herself away from the officer and began to run as fast as she could.
Alanis looked behind her. The officer was gaining. Alanis saw a bridge and ran for it.
'At last, safety' she thought as she put one leg over the side. Then she put the other. The officer was five feet away when Alanis said to him,
"Goodbye Daddy, you son of a bitch" then she jumped into the churning water below.
"Shit!" Alanis's father cursed as he saw Alanis's jean jacket disappear below the surface of the water. "I almost had the bitch, almost had her." He said then turned away to the other side of the bridge, but she wasn't there.
"Damn!" he shouted and hit the rail of the bridge in anger.

Alanis's world was blurry and it swirled around her eyes quickly. Alanis knew she couldn't hold her breath much longer. Desperate for air, she swam toward the surface of the water. Her lungs burned like fire as she made her way upward.

Alanis's head sprang above the cold water and she gasped for air. She began to swim for shore when she heard something. At first it sounded like screaming. Then it was roaring, and it was in the water right above her. Alanis looked at the water ahead. It looked like the earth just ended right there.

'WATERFALL!'
Alanis's mind screamed then she panicked and began to swim as fast as she could upstream.

"I'm sorry, but she just jumped." The officer explained to the Hansons. "I couldn't tell if she was still alive, she disappeared in the deep water. And it's so dark in the water too. She might have drowned."

Zac curled up in the long back seat of the van and began to weep bitterly.  He had lost her again. This time it may be permanent.

Alanis was a few feet away from the waterfall and her death when someone grabbed her arm. She looked up and there was her father. She screamed and wiggled loose. She wasn't going back. She felt the rocks scrape against her stomach as she plummeted over the edge of the falls. She screamed all the way down.