Teen Romance Fantasy

Act 34 (Ty)

For a second I lost my breath. I did not know how to answer her question. Was it not obvious why I did not run away? I had nowhere to go. Besides, running away just because I could not stand my old man, seemed a little over the top. Siren however did not feel that way.

"I mean, it wasn't that serious, compared to what you're going through..." Silence. I should not have said this.

"Are you stalking me online?"

"What?! Why would you think that?!"

"You knew that I was Siren because of a painting. Whenever we play Seeker, you kind of try to incorporate my strategies and now you mention my family as if you understand what is going on. So?"

I had to give to her. I really did seem a little suspicious but was this really enough to declare me as a stalker. She knew that I watched her streams. Two out of three of her arguments were quite obvious to everyone that knew Siren. Still, this did not mean I had no stalking tendencies at all.

"I'm not actually a stalker. It's true, I'm obsessed with Siren but I haven't gone as far as to really stalk her." I tried to defend myself but the freak simply rolled her eyes. Guess this conversation was not really going anywhere. I should have known better than to start this argument.

"Let me guess, you're one of those idiots that wastes all their money on donations. Are yours the ones asking about how I am all the time?" I embarrassedly nodded. The freak could not hide her disappointment. She sighed before she inhaled some more of that disgusting smoke. Did she really care that little about herself?

"When did this conversation shift to me by the way? Just forget it. This is not a contest about who has had it worse. In the end, you have never been in my shoes and I have never been in yours. Neither one of us will ever be able to truly understand the other."

Was this really the conclusion? Was this how Siren felt about herself? All of sudden I saw the freak differently. Not as the freak but rather as Siren. The broken girl hiding behind a mask. The girl that drank her sorrow away. The girl that took pill after pill before she collapses. The girl that I had pitied all the time. She was right there. All this time, Siren had been right in front of me. Bruises covered her body. Blood rushed through her veins. Her eyes lost every piece of light that had ever burned inside of her. Siren was broken.

"Actually, can I have one after all?" I asked. For a second she stared at the cigarette package in confusion before she actually handed it to me.

"Thanks."

Red was supposed to be a colour that signalled danger and yet the package looked innocent. It did not frighten me and neither did it tell me that smoking was bad. In fact, it even invited me to give it a try. Just the thought of it made my mouth dry.

Siren offered me her silver lighter as well but I denied it, since I had no need for it. Of course Siren was surprised. How was I supposed to light the cigarette after all? Easy. The weather outside was great. The water was clear and calm and it had just been the two of us. Everyone would have loved to simply jump into the lake and enjoy the freshness of the nature. Everyone, even the cigarette package. With all my might I threw it into the lake. In an instance Siren jumped up and started shouting at me. She did not take off her clothes but instead just jumped right into the lake. I knew that she did not know how to swim but once I realised that she could stand, I stopped worrying.

As she struggled against the now wavy water, I took my time to empty her purse on the floor. I shook it until what I had been searching for fell down on the ground. Of course she brought it with her. A plastic bag filled with pills. Big pills. Small pills. Red pills. Blue pills.

"What the fuck you think you're doing?!" Siren shouted. She had gotten ahold of the cigarette package that had been drenched but now she had been too far away from the shore.

"Are these all?" I asked her, as I held up the plastic bag with the pills inside.

"Why should I tell you?!"

She wanted to keep on shouting. She wanted to tell me how much she hated me. She wanted to kill me. Her eyes were filled with hatred but yet she seemed anxious. The thought of losing those pills made her anxious. She needed those. She needed them so much that she tried to run out of the water but she tripped and fell. Even though she could stand just fine before, she lost control and begged me to help her. She begged and cried but I was not going to help her. I waited and waited. Her screams were nerve wrecking. I bottled up all my emotions as I watched her basically drown. She barely managed to keep her head out of the water before she finally let go of the cigarette package.

I ran as fast as I could. I did not care if my clothes were going to get drenched as well. I jumped into the lake without a second thought. The water was cool. It was just like a pleasant memory. I was not exactly swimming. I was walking on clouds and then I held her in my arms. The moment she felt my touch, she stopped moving. For a split second she felt save, even though I was the one by her side. I held her close to myself. Her dark brown hair was tingling my hands. Her soft tanned brown cheeks felt even colder than the water itself.

"You're a moron. You throw your life away as if it never had any meaning."

Did she hear me? I had no idea. To be honest, it did not really matter. As long as I knew that my feelings were genuine, I did not care. I never cared about her. All I ever did was pity her and see her as someone that she was not. Siren was a lifeless doll and I was the puppeteer.

"Who made you like this? Was it your brother or were it your parents?"

Her eyes did not open but her breathing was steady. She was not dead. At least not yet. I needed her to stay alive for just a while longer because that was the only way I could ever forgive myself for what I did. It might have seemed foolish and deep down I understood what I had gotten myself into but for some reason I just could not let go. When I looked at her lifeless body, my heart began racing.

"Idiot. You know that I can't live without you by my side anymore."

Siren was the key to all my problems.