Livia Dawn knew it was a bad idea to follow three guys, who were probably criminals, into the woods.
Mistake number 1...
Now, her once quiet life will consist of things she only read in her books. Secrets, Romance, conflict, and maybe, just maybe, s...
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~60~ Colby
I jumped after her.
The second I witnessed her frail body disappear beneath the edge, face tear-streaked and pale, I was running for her. My feet crushed dead grass, pushing dirt behind me as I bolted for the edge. Sam yelled for me, Jake and Corey tried to grab me, but I was already jumping head first before they could stop me. Their yells of anguish as I rapidly fell for the open water would live in my head forever, but I didn't care. Livia was down there, and I'd jump off the highest cliff for her.
When my body hit the water, at first I was shocked. The impact was rough, tearing through skin it felt like.
The freezing water was like a jolt to my heart and it took a quick second to understand that I was underwater. I figured it out real quickly, blurry eyes darting around the water in search of a drifting body. As bubbles fizzled from my view, I spotted her.
A blurry figure in the distance, sinking slowly.
I swam for her. My arms and legs pulling and pushing me forward at such a fast pace I didn't even register the whole trip until my numb hand met hers. I pulled her close to me by the waist and swam for the surface.
The violent waves pushed us back down, but to me, the waves were as weak as the wind. I pushed through them, feeling my lungs squeeze to keep me alive.
My body ached like nothing I've felt before, and the salty water irritated my burns so much I yelled through barred teeth as the currents pushing against me.
But then I broke through the surface, and all the sound came back to me. Fighting waves, stormy skies, my own rapid breathing, and spitting out of water. I coughed as I searched around for the shore. The messy waves blocked my line of vision everywhere I looked, but I spotted the shore further in the distance and made for it.
I kept Livia's head above the water above it all, even taking in water myself to make sure she didn't drown any further than she had. Her stringy black hair stuck to her sticky ash skin like glue. Eyelashes trapping droplets of water on them. But with a dark overcast, they looked like tears. With her cheeks flushed and her lips purple, you could tell she had been crying a lot. From now, earlier, and days prior. It pulled at my heart. But I had to get her to shore before anything else.
So I swam. I swam like my life depended on it. But it was Livia's who's depended on me now. And I'll be damned if our confession of love was the last thing I said to her.
I spotted Sam and Jake and Corey waving me down from the sandy seaside. Jake and Corey met me halfway with the water up to their knees before they pulled us out. My legs felt like jelly as Corey dragged me separately from Livia, who was held bridal style by Jake. Her head hung back, hand dangling oh so familiarly to the side.
Even when I was coughing up water myself, throwing up the salty remains of what I took in, I fought against Corey to get to Livia. Cursing at him for even moving me away from her. I was shaking, practically vibrating when I got to her.
