A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

In an instant, Emily pushed the man away in utter disbelief. "What did you say?" she asked.

"I said, I am Jack." Jack responded slowly, but his voice was firm. "It's me this time, not... It's not Jacob. It's really me..." he said.

"How could it be you? You are lying to me again, aren't you?" Emily refused to believe what Jack was claiming. After all, this wouldn't be the first time he tried to pull something like this. She pulled the tall grass covered his face, in order to have a closer look under the faint moonlight.

Much to her surprise, the face of the man lying in front of her was Jack's, no doubt.

Amused by her startled expression, Jack laughed bitterly and said,"Disappointed? I am so sorry that I came to your rescue one step before Jacob."

"You... Why did you... save me?" she asked.

Emily looked at Jack's face with scepticism, wondering if all this was real. The warmth from her body abandoned her quickly, leaving her shivering with doubts.

All of a sudden, frigid tears trickle across Jack's face, as he coughed violently. Emily immediately, patted his chest. However, when she looked at her hand, she smelled a metallic stink lingereing in the air... blood!

At the beginning Emily was too shocked to understand, but now she could see the urgency in the man's features. His skin prickled with pain, and his chest ached with the pounding of his heart...

The wounds inflicted by the big black bear were showing all over his body... But he did not show any signs of suffering before, even when he carried her and swam her across the river. Although washed by the river water, his wounds were still fresh and bleeding profusely.

Under a black sky leached of starlight, the moon above them lit up brightly. Awash in white light, Jack's bleeding wounds stood out in perfect detail.

"Why do you look so sad?" he asked. Jack used the last of his wanning strength to raise the corners of his lips and said,"Is there something wrong with my face? After all, my handsome face is my strongest attribute."

"Stop talking." Unimpressed, Emily disregarded his intentional garble, as she helped him take off his tattered shirt to wrap up his wound. Unfortunately, nothing prevented the blood from permeating the layers of cloth.

if you take off my clothes, you need to be responsible for

"Shut up!"

Jack. It

to shut the hell up! Save it for when we go back! I don't want to listen to anything right

even when she

I can bother you a little more, Emily," Jack quipped.

Emily bit her lip tightly, unwilling to humor him. She

Jack stopped caring about everything else. He seemed to have been brewing something in his mouth for a long time before he finally said,"Emily, for a

countenance turned rigid almost instantaneously.

would rather die than see

the black bear attacking Emily, Jack felt like his heart was going to leap out of his throat. He was afraid that if he didn't intervene the bear would have mauled her to death! Jack couldn't

heart with shock, she continued,"No matter what you say, I will

forgiveness either. I understand why you hate me and the situation I am in today is because of my own fault. Look at me! Look at how

recalled the moment in the water, when he kissed her. The shortlived moment of peace that his soul enjoyed

love for this woman all along. Sadly, by the time he understood that, the damage

her voice was hoarse, as she continued,"Whatever it is you want to say, can wait until we

am afraid I am running out of time..."

with fear. She promised,"You won't! Don't you think I don't know what you're doing! You want me to feel guilty for

Will you feel sad, if I die?" asked Jack.

out. Emily could not hold back her tears any more. At last, they rolled down her cheeks like beads of white pearls. "Don't think you can run away from what you have

and hurting her feelings. She wanted Jack to pay for all the