Drowning

Chapter 5

Kiara wasn't sure where she was going but she followed a feeling that seemed to be tugging her in the right direction. Her body felt numb except for the gaping hole in her chest that radiated pain. Not being able to remember her past life, all she knew was right now and right now she was following the current to something that seemed to be calling her name. Eventually she got to a spot and sat down, then looked up. A long dock stretched out into the water above and a boy sat dangling his feet in the water, his tear drops falling into the water that seemed to eat up every drop. Kiara could feel the sadness radiate off him as she sat there looking up at him, if she wanted to she could reach up and pull him into the water. Standing up slowly she kept watching the boy as he cried on the dock, he looked no older than sixteen. Torn clothes wrapped around his wrists, his body covered in black fabric, Kiara could tell without hesitation was about to jump in. Reaching up her fingers grazed his feet which he did not move, probably just thought it was a fish.
"It's her!" The sound was distant but Kiara paid no mind to it.
"I told you"
Hunger filled Kiara's body, she felt like she had been starving for months when it had barely been a week. With swiftness she grabbed the boys ankle and dragged him into the water. The panicked look almost made her hesitate.... Almost. The water turned red and slowly enveloped the two as Kiara satiated her hunger. With every part that slid down her throat a surge of happiness shot through her body, she was only halfway done when she finally remembered who she was and stopped. Looking at the lifeless eyes of her kill, pure disgust surged through her and she backed away. As soon as she let go of the boy the two other sirens dived in, their shrill screams of excitement for food rang through Kiara's skull. She swam away from the girls who acted like sharks in the water and kept swimming until the haunting thoughts weighed her down too heavily. 'What did I just do?' 'How could I?' 'I'm a monster!'
A shrill shriek ripped from Kiara's throat as she sat on her knees, her hands digging into the wet sand below her. This wasn't her, but the blood on her lips tasted so sweet. She could remember each bite and the ecstasy she felt with every bite. It felt so good but she was horrified at what she had to do to feel that way. Collapsing into the sand she let the full feeling wash over her and accepted it, she didn't want to fight anymore. Slowly she closed her eyes, the full feeling was making her tired and right now rest was well welcomed after being awake for a week trying to fight the hunger. She would worry about what she had just done later, for now she needed to sleep off whatever this feeling was.

For the first half of the year Kiara and Luke avoided each other, though stolen glances and secret smiles given to each other across the cafeteria was all the luxury they could afford. She didn't know how it happened, one day they were best friends who spent every day together. The next you were strangers with only your memories to clutch onto. After the first half of the year Luke got into a huge fight with another school that was our schools mortal enemies. Both schools neck and neck in sports. One year one school would come in first the next year it would be the other school. Kiara couldn't say she was sad that he got expelled and was forced to go to another school, in fact she might have been happy. Now she wouldn't be pained to see him everyday and not be able to talk to him. To see him and feel the pain in her chest remembering that he wanted nothing to do with her.

The first day of summer was always the best, Kiara had many expectations. The first one was waking up at 10 am, being able to sleep in and not have an alarm clock to wake her up. Her next expectation was the completely empty apartment as her mother and brother were off to work and she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted. What she wasn't expecting was the phone to go off that morning or who was calling her the first day of summer vacation.

"Hello?" Kiara asked as she answered the ringing phone.
"Hey.." Lukes voice had deepened in the last year.
"Ugh.. hi" Kiara said nervously when she realized who it was.
"Want to come over? Smoke some weed, play some videogames?" He asked, the invite sent a chill down her spine in excitement but she had to contain it.
"Yeah, sure. Got nothing else to do" Kiara said trying to be as cool as possible.
"Cool see you in a bit"
"Yeah, Bye" as soon as she hit end on the call Kiara almost jumped for joy. In a chaotic rush she ran around her house, looking for her favourite outfit. Sitting at the dining room table she straightened her hair using a decorative mirror her mother had hanging on a wall before rushing to the bathroom to steal her mom's eyeliner. Kat had taught her to do a perfectly thin cat eye look that made her blue eyes pop. It took every ounce of power in her to calm down as she slipped on her flip flops and walk over to Luke's building. She wanted to take her time to show that she wasn't excited but her feet took her over faster than she hoped. As she walked up to his building she instinctually looked up to his balcony, she wasn't expecting to see anyone up there but low and behold a shadowy figure was leaning on the railing. She averted her eyes to the ground in hopes he didn't see her looking up at him. Her fingers danced across the buzzer as she put in his number, she never forgot it. It was almost like muscle memory at this point. The door buzzed and she let herself in, giving her a pep talk in the elevator.

The elevator doors opened and Luke was there, leaning against a wall with his half smile that always made her melt when she it.
"Hey" he said pushing off the wall.
"Thought I'd get lost?" Kiara joked, this was the first time he had been waiting for her, usually he just left his front door open.
"Well it has been a while" he said, looking away from her as if he were ashamed of the fact.
"Well I hope your ready to get high as fuck" Kiara said whipping out a bag of weed, she had brought an excessive amount in hopes of impressing him.
"That all you brought?" He asked, whipping out a bigger bag. Kiara'a eyes widened as she saw it but a mischievous smirk danced across her lips. The was going to be a good summer.

Every day they spent together. She would wake up, get ready and go to Luke's house as soon as his parents had left the neighbourhood to go to work. They would smoke weed, play grand theft auto four and eat grilled cheese for lunch before cleaning up his house and heading down to the creek where they would spend the rest of the day playing in the water, sitting on big rocks and smoking or just laying on the grass and looking up at the clouds. This was the old friendship she had missed and craved so much. They were exactly how they used to be and she was dreading the day summer ended and they had to go back to school.