The Elementalists

Prologue

     Why? I ask myself. I stumble through the woods, unable to calm myself down.  "Aargh!" I yell to the tall trees, kicking up the pebbles underneath my feet. I am unable to control my anger now. I pick up a flat stone and turn it over and over again in my hand as I trudge through the forest.
     "What is wrong with me? Why couldn't I have done something?" I mumble. The ground underneath me changes, turning to pine needles, freshly fallen. I continue uphill, and once I get to the top, I sprint down the other side, trying to get away from my reality. When I get to the bottom of the hill, I continue sprinting through the pine forest, trying to avoid getting hit with branches in the process.
     I look ahead and see the river, and I know right where I am. I see a shadow move out of the corner of my eye, and pivot on my feet.
     "Really?" I scowl. "I ran away for a reason, you know. Can't I just have some peace?" Just then, I realized tears had been streaming down my face this entire time. I become more self-conscious and wipe them off my face, even though my eyes are already puffy.
     "Blaire, please calm down."
     "How do you expect me to do that?" I yell.
     "Blaire," he says calmly.
     "Trevor!" I plead. "Please leave me alone!"
     "But I'm your twin brother," he says. His brown eyes stare into my blue ones. Once again, I realize just how different we look, with his graham-cracker colored hair and tan complexion contrast my flaming red hair and light skin. It's no shocker that no one can tell we are siblings.
     "Blaire, please. Calm down," Trevor orders, but it comes out more as a plea.
     "What good'll that do? Answer me that, riddler," I shoot back at him, words filled with poison. I swear at that point steam was billowing out of my ears. I try and relax myself, so I take deep breaths to calm my nerves.
     "You did nothing wrong, you do know that? It wasn't your fault," Trevor says with a sad breath. "Don't try and blame it all on yourself."
     It was at that point that I fall onto the river stones and break down into tears. "I could've done something, but I didn't! Then at the funeral, I lost it, as you can tell," I said between sobs, motioning to my despair. I take a shaky breath. "Why'd it have to be her? Why not me? She was my best friend in the whole world, and that git-headed boy started this all. All of it. And of course, I subconsciously run all the way back to where it happened."
     I give a sad laugh. This is not how I pictured this weekend to be. I was planning to spend it with her, with Emily, and then this happened.
     I stand up, not wanting to be here any longer.
     "Let's get back to Mum and Pop," I say.
     "Okay, the bridge is right over—" I cut off Trevor.
     "No, it's shallow here and there are stepping stones. Let's cross here."
     "I dunno about this...."
     "Oh, relax! Here, do you want to go first, or me?" I ask.
     "I guess I'll go first," Trevor says hesitantly.
     He steps up to the riverbank, and takes a shaky step onto the first relatively flat stone.
     "That's the one. Now go a little to your right. No! I meant the other right! Oh, I am hopeless at giving directions," I say, trying to guide a safe path for my brother. He get to the middle, and I stop verbally guiding him, hoping he got the gist of it. I start behind him on the steps, and time decides to continue in slow motion.
     As if the Lord of Time decided to slow down at his job, time seemed to do so as well in that moment. Trevor, being the uncoordinated person that he is, slips on a stone and decides to reach out at me. I steady him for a split second, then we both tumble into the water. The water is deeper than I imagined. It is waist deep, and very strong. Trevor and I tumble downstream, unable to do anything. My lungs are burning from lack of oxygen, and when I open my eyes in the water all I see is red. I scream, or as it is without air, try to scream, which just fills my lungs with more water. I can't move, breath, or see, and I feel completely hopeless. I try and stand in the water, and I manage to stand and take a huge, relieved breath. I grab my brother quickly and I shove him into shallower waters so he can get up. I try to follow, but the rapids take me farther down, into shallower water but with more jagged rocks. It's like a living hell. I alternate between my lungs burning and my head, body or gut getting pummelled on the rocks. I know I'm bleeding, because I can take the metallic taste, even through the churning water.
     Finally, the rocks lessen and I go into deeper, calmer waters, but I can't move. The jagged rocks immobilized my body, and I just drift, sinking. My lungs feel like they are filled with lava, and I am seeing spots even though my eyes are closed. I know what comes next, I just don't know how it will feel. I thought it would be worse, but after my pain receptors were numbed and probably killed, it just feels as though I'm drifting through a vacuum.