The Call
James was walking through the dark streets of Amsterdam, Oscar Winning Tears playing in his neon-green Beats. He was just about to step on the little bridge, leading to his houseboat, when his phone buzzed in the right pocket of his denim jacket. He pulled it out, making sure not to drop it into the river, and saw the message from… Cora. As if that wouldn’t have been surprising enough, she had sent him a picture.
Hey James, I know we didn’t talk since like 2 years, but I was packing my things to move out of my dad‘s house today, and I found your elephant.
Underneath there was a photo of a wooden, elephant-shaped statue. It was about as tall as the palm of his hand and he recognized it immediately. James hadn’t thought of it for years, he didn’t allow himself to, but now it all came back. His heart started racing as he stumbled forward, opened the door to his houseboat and sat on the ground. He could see it all. Even though he hadn’t been there.
London. The 3rd of December. Joe. The car. The broken glass. The sirens.
She didn’t expect him to answer, she knew he was trying to leave everything behind, but she kind of hoped he would respond. She couldn’t just throw the little elephant away. It had meant a lot to James, and also to herself.
Right now she was sitting on a park bench in St. James park, a coffee mug in her hand. This was the place where Joe gave the elephant to James. The three of them used to come here a lot. Cora always said it was the perfect place for James, because, well, it was called St. James. Here they made plans for the future. She would be a writer and James and Joe would have studied marine biology, after going to Africa, to see elephants, James favorite animals, in the wild.
But then everything went wrong.
James moved to Amsterdam to start a new life, and suddenly she had lost both of her best friends.
Last Wednesday, on her 18th birthday, she was kind of expecting Joe to at least text her. How stupid of her. But she was alright. She was moving into her own apartment. She was going to start her journalism study next week. She was doing alright. And she was assuming Joe was too.
Noah Kahan started singing in her headphones and she got up and started to walk towards the fountain, where she wanted to meet Gracie.
Gracie was there already, and her dog Mycroft was running around her, trapping her in his leash.
“Hey Cora!“, Gracie said. Cora picked up Mycroft and Gracie pulled her in a tight hug.
“How’s it going, Grace?“, Cora said laughing. “All right. Yesterday I went to Ikea to-“ She was interrupted by Louis Tomlinson, singing in Cora‘s little, green, handbag. She pulled it out, to see who was calling her. She stared at the display, shocked. She couldn’t believe that. She couldn’t move, or take her eyes of the name, she hadn’t seen written in such a long time.
Joe.
Marlene Styles-Tomlinson
Marlene Styles-Tomlinson is a famous actress and the daughter of Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. She is known to be a cereal killer and loves music. She can't juggle.
