Move On

The Deal

And then, there was light.

No, not the kind that blinds you at the end of a tunnel. The kind that blinds you alright, but the kind that you never wanted, because you were on the quest for darkness.

Nah, I'm just being overdramatic. My foggy vision cleared to reveal a sterile white ceiling, with its paint chipped in places. A beeping monitor and white linen notified me that I was in a hospital room, lit up by cheap neon lights. My head felt heavy, weighing me down into the pillow.

Someone saved me. The thought gave me no joy. I laughed bitterly at how annoyed I was.

It wasn't hard to figure out who did. There was a girl sleeping on a low, dirty brown couch in one corner of the room, her head resting over her arms, and long hazelnut brown locks obscuring her face from view. She stirred, let out a yawn and stretched. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she yawned again, and proceeded to scoop up her unruly hair into a messy ponytail.

Mid-way, she realized she was being watched and looked up, eyes widening in surprise.

"You're awake.", she said, lips curling into a soft smile.

Propping the pillow onto the wall behind me, I sat up, racking my brains, trying to remember what happened. My mind drew an absolute blank.

I must've been washed onto the river banks, and she must've spotted me and brought me here.

It wasn't her fault, but I was irritated, if anything. Why did she have to be the Good Samaritan? Couldn't she just have left me to die? Aargh.

It was clearly not a well-to-do hospital she had brought me to. The room was furnished with the bare minimum equipment, a small bed and the couch which she sat on. The paint had abandoned the walls in several places, and the overhead fan was in desperate need of oiling. But who was I to complain? She was spending the money out of her own pocket presumably, and I certainly wouldn't be able to repay her if I had been admitted to an expensive upscale hospital.

"Where did you find me?" I asked her, looking outside the small square window on the wall opposite my bed. It didn't offer much of a view- just the stone wall of the adjacent building.

She got up from the couch and propped herself on a rickety chair by the bed, laughing. It was pleasant laughter- soft and musical. The kind that prompts you to laugh along. The happy, feel-good kind. Contagious, even.

But I was in no mood to laugh. Her happiness irked me.

"Sorry!", she apologized, pursing her lips. Eyes dancing with amusement, she explained, "You didn't fall into the river. I caught your leg and you kinda lost balance in fright. And you toppled over to this side of the bridge and smashed your head on the pavement. You wouldn't open your eyes! I thought you had a concussion, so I brought you here." She spoke animatedly, gesturing enthusiastically with her hands- I found that fascinating, for some reason.

"Speaking of which.." She leaned in towards me, eyes narrowing. "Are you mental? Why would you do that!"

I immediately stiffened. Sharing my sob story with a stranger wasn't to my liking. "Its none of your business." Gruff, cutting off conversation.

"Not that, you dimwit." Eye roll. "Why the river?"

'Stunned' quite aptly described what I was.

"I mean, do you know how to swim?"

I nod, not comprehending.

"Then Einstein dearest, didn't you realize that your body would automatically shift into panic mode and struggle to save your blessed soul? Moreover, that section of the river isn't even deep! When you are committing suicide, why can't you bother to plan and execute it properly?", she scoffed.

I was positive a fortunate fly had established its empire in my agape mouth by now. Can you blame me? What is this girl!

She leaned over and shut my jaw closed. Sorry fly.

Her eyes suddenly flickered with excitement. "Say what, Einstein. I've been thinking about this the entire time you were knocked out. I have a proposition for you."

I unearthed my voice somehow and managed to squeak out a very bewildered "What?"

"You and me. A road trip. Cross-country. Two weeks. You want suicide, you'll get suicide. Two weeks will be plenty of time to plan one. And since you don't seem to be on the brighter side of the spectrum, yours truly shall be your guide." She finished with a flourish and a curtsy.

"Isn't that murder?"

"I'll work my way around it." Impish smile.

"Then why the road trip?", I asked exasperatedly.

"No one deserves to die discontented.", she said seriously. "You can die happy, and it'll all be okay in the end."

Those final words struck a chord.

"And anyway, I can bear all expenses, so you don't need to worry at all about that."

'Confused' was grossly insufficient a word for what I felt. "But what's in it for you?"

She smiled softly. "I'll tell you someday. "

"I deserve to know, don't I? What if you're some psychopath who's going to get me beaten up by a bunch of fellow-psychopaths in the wilderness? Or a mad scientist who's using me as experiment specimen? Or a murderer? Or..I dunno..."

"Aren't you trying to die anyway?", she asked, eyebrow raised.

Point.

"Okay, I'll tell you my reasons halfway through the trip. In exactly one week.", she quickly amended. "So done deal?" Her hand was raised, waiting for the handshake.

I didn't even know what to think. She was a complete stranger, a completely weird stranger. I didn't need the hassle, a bottle of poison would work too. Her reasons seemed suspicious enough. I knew nothing about her. Her whereabouts, what she did, where she lived. Come to think of it, I didn't even know her name! Why didn't I know her name?!

It was at that exact moment that the sunrays squeezing in through the tiny window hit her eyes. Green eyes. Beautiful green eyes, sparkling like a twin set of emeralds. Rare green, with tiny flecks of gold that enhanced its exquisiteness. I was blown away.

Before I knew it, my hand was in hers, in a firm handshake. "Deal!", she confirmed, satisfied.

She got up and half-walked, half-skipped to the door calling out "I'll see you later, Einstein!", and shut the door.

Then she opened it again. "Its Ivelle by the way." Soft smile. "Yours truly, Ivelle Summers. "