That Night √

55» That Confession

Grace's POV
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"Mum? Dad?" A strained voice spoke up. It was merely a whisper, but I recognized it as Jack's voice. Because it was Jack, I knew it was him.

I blinked, breaking out of the sudden daze. Something felt heavy in my chest. I wanted to speak up so bad but the words were stuck in my throat.

Was it really Jack?

I looked up at Luca, my eyes all wide and tense. The way he returned my gaze pretty much told me that he recognized that voice too.

A small shuffle from the other end of the call made us both look back at my phone. Luca was frowning by the time I heard someone coughing on the other end.

Jack.

I could hear my racing heartbeat at that point. I didn't know what to say. There were so many things I wanted to say to Jack. I hadn't heard his voice since two years, and I wanted to know if he was okay. But something inside me prevented me from doing so.

I opened my mouth, blinking rapidly. Just when I was about to speak up his name, another loud shuffle interrupted me from the other end. It was louder than the previous one.

"Speak!" An unfamiliar voice hissed in the background and my gut clenched in fear.

I scrunched up my forehead and felt my breath picking up in speed. "Jack?" I spoke before the words got stuck up in my throat again. "Jack! Can you hear me? Jack, where are you?"

Luca held the phone in his hand, still frowning at it.

The loud shuffling came back and I heard more coughing.

"Jack?" My voice sounded strained this time, even more than Jack's.

He didn't reply, though. Jack didn't reply.

I found myself snatching the phone from Luca's grasp, looking at the ongoing call. The noise from the other end was making me anxious. I didn't like it at all.

"Jack, please say something." I pleaded. The sudden hope inside me was starting to wither away, and this all felt terrible. "Please."

I wasn't expecting to hear anything except those random shuffles. But then I heard a small painful sob on the other end, followed by a loud crash, and then the call ended.

All in all, it left me panicking.

"Oh my God." I whispered, still looking at my phone's screen. My heart had started beating so fast, my insides were edging with panic. "That was–That was Jack."

The expression on Luca's face was mixed in between concern, anger and maybe even sadness.

"You heard him, didn't you?" I tried calming myself down but it was so damn hard.

"Yes, Grace." He replied, dragging a hand through his hair.

I looked back at my phone, all the exhaustion fading away. I heard him, it was Jack. But he had sounded strange, almost scared.