among the fallen leaves

Chapter Nine

Panic. That's all Aurelia felt as her foot slipped off the side of the cliff. The last thing she saw as her body went over the side of the rocky hill was Hunter talking to a man. A scream ripped through her chest as she felt herself falling, her mind praying over and over again that it was a dream, and she would wake up like she did this morning on Hunter's old grey t-shirt.

She didn't wake up. It wasn't a dream. She was falling—fast.

Instinctively, she covered as much of her head as she could as her body hit the water, bubbles rising all around her as the waves crashed onto the rocks she had been so close to hitting. Opening her eyes completely, she couldn't see much but the cliffside, brown and grey rock in front of her. Her eyes stung and she felt the seaweed and pebbles under her feet; she began trying to kick her body up. Aurelia had no idea how long she had been under, but it felt like an eternity as her head popped up from under the surface so she could take a deep breath, her lungs spitting up seawater while she gasped as much air as she could take.

Before she knew it, however, she was being tossed back under the water by a wave, the force pushing her down so far she didn't know how she would reach the surface again in time. With every ounce of strength the girl had in her, she kicked and kicked, eventually reaching the surface as the waves calmed momentarily. She cursed herself for getting so close to the edge of the cliff as she began to swim to a nearby rock. Lightheaded, she grabbed onto the hard surface as tightly as she could, her nails digging into the pebbles as their sharp edges cut and bruised her fingers. She could feel herself start to lose consciousness, realizing that she had hit her head on a rock when the waves pushed her back under.

Pushing herself further up, she leaned on the rock, using one hand to reach up to her head. Feeling nothing, she brought her hand back down. That's when she noticed blood lightly coating her fingertips. She rinsed off her hand, reaching back up, not believing that it was from her head. Sure enough, her scalp was bleeding, the water making it run down her cheek and arms in eerie pink streams.

From the top of the cliff, Hunter saw her struggle; just as he was about to run down and jump in, he heard sirens. As they got closer, the man let him go, telling him to stay put and let the doctors do their jobs. Hunter had never felt more useless; his friend was bloody and cold and scared and all he could do was watch as the paramedics ran down the hill towards her.

The hospital was stark white and cold; Aurelia was being checked over by one of the trauma doctors as Hunter explained what he knew happened. He had called the house, telling them to meet the two at the hospital about seven miles northeast of the house. Ines couldn't breathe properly as she raced through the glass doors of the hospital, a nurse stopping her to ask where she needed to go. Walking past the curtains, Ines laid her eyes on her only child, the reckless, adventurous, and curious little girl she watched grow up, now on the slim hospital bed with cuts and bruises, her forehead sliced open as the doctor was attempting to clean it enough to stitch it up.

"Oh my sweet baby girl, what happened?" Ines began crying almost instantly, the rock-solid composure she had flew out the window; she ran to her daughter's side, hugging her gently and kissing her cheeks.

"She took quite the fall; it's a miracle she's even alive. Luckily there was a man who saw it from his house and called the police to report it, otherwise, there's no telling if she would've survived. I'm just cleaning up her only massive injury and once we stitch it, I'll take her for a few quick scans to make sure there's nothing wrong internally. She'll have a concussion, though, but she's a tough one." The doctor smiled at Aurelia, who was half asleep from the pain medication they had given her. Hunter walked through the curtain just then, tears in his eyes as Ines hugged him tightly.

"Oh, Hunter, thank God you were there with her! Who knows what would've happened if she was alone when this happened and had to talk to a stranger, or worse if someone had come along and hurt her! Sweetheart, are you doing okay? You didn't get hurt, right?" She checked over him, the palms of her hands pressed on his cheeks as she turned his head to look for cuts.