Ethereal [Completed]

. . . Turned Perfect Disaster

Right now, I'm on cloud nine. It's like no one can destroy this perfect day with Stephen. If I was human, I'd love to get used to this. I guess if I was human, I wouldn't be in the same state as where I am right now. No one could ever take this moment away from me or destroy this positive vibe today. Well, aside from . . .

My, my. Speak of the devil - I mean angels who were on the other end of the phone. They're now calling me. Oh well. This was my decision, my fault for agreeing to this, I was just gonna have to face these consequences. Only, I won't answer the phone just yet. I'm gonna face them when I was at home.

When we got off the Ferris Wheel, we saw only a fraction of what people used to be in there and the rest were now gathered by the sea as if there was a famous person in there worth seeing.

"What could be there?" I asked Stephen.

"Gee. I don't know. They didn't announce that someone famous will come or something interesting will happen. Since my car is that way, you mind we take a peek?"

"Not at all. I'm quite interested myself. You never know, I might see someone or something is worth seeing there."

"Yeah but I don't think it is not something worth seeing. Look at the faces of those people."

As we got nearer, more and more people were having crazed and worried looks on their faces, and I was now starting to feel that something was wrong. We had to squeeze our way through the crowd to see what's going on. In front of the crowd were a few spectators with cameras trying to capture the moment happening by the sea that now had violent waves and somewhat turned into a really dark shade of blue. Behind the spectators was someone whose face was quite familiar.

"Leo! What happened man?" shouted Stephen. Right! He was someone from the swimming team. I stared at him and just realized that a towel was draped over him and he was shivering like mad.

"M-m-mat-matthew." Leo said through his gritted and chattering teeth which must be because of the cold water. The water was now more violent, and now lapping at my ankles. I could feel it was icy cold, but it didn't faze me.

"What? Where's Matt?"

"H-h-he cha-challenged m-me to s-s-surf wi-with h-him in th-these waves. I said n-no but he c-called m-me chi-chicken and I did-din't want to hurt my p-pride."

"Are you stupid! These waves are gnarly! No person with a brain would ever surf like that! Is your stupid pride more important than your life or Matt's might I add!? Who cares if you're a chicken! At least you'd still be alive! What the hell were you thinking! Where's Matt then!?"

He just glanced at the waves crashing against each other which means- oh no. I only had one thing to do.

"Stephen."

"Not now Astrid."  He said waving me off and continued to scold Leo on how they were trained to swim in tranquil waters not violent waves and whatever he was saying now. I had to hurry. There was something really wrong about this weather and waters. Why would it happen when it was 80 degrees hot outside this afternoon? And where on earth were the life guards? No choice left but me.

"Stephen!"

"What!? I'm busy here!"

"Do you trust me?"

"Wh-what the hell does that have to do with this!?"

"Do you trust me?" I repeated.

"Ugh. Yes. Now, can I go back to scolding this kid?"

"Actually, no. Here. Hold on to this."  I gave him my bag I also removed the bracelet he gave me, I'm, afraid I might lose it. "Call Gabe and tell him there's trouble in here and get here as soon as possible."

"Wai-wait. WHAT!? What are you doing?"

"What do you think?"

"Oh hell no. You're not going there to get him. I won't allow you. Do you even know how to swim!?"

"Yes I do! I always swim in the sea with my siblings. Waves like these don't mean anything to me. Now call Gabe!" I took off before he could protest more.

I heard a few calls and protests from the crowd, but I could care less. He might drown, and also, there were a few boulders there. Worst case scenario was that he'd hit his head before he could be saved. I needed to get to him soon, if not, only God knows what would happen.

Almighty Father, please let me reach him on time before anything bad happened. I know I did something wrong today and maybe this was part of my karma, but please don't let anything happen to him. And please let Gabe reach here in time.

I silently chanted these words as I swam my way to Matt who was now clinging by a sharp edged rock while the waves were repeatedly crashing onto him. He seemed unconcious, I wondered how he could still hold on? Oh shoot it Astrid, move faster! I noticed that the nearer I tried to get to him, the harder it was to battle against the water. It was almost as if someone was controlling the waves to prevent me from reaching him.

After so much struggle with the waves, I finally got to him and I put one of his arms behind my neck and I supported his waist with one of my hands as the other tried to paddle its way through. I was still reciting silent prayers towards the Heaven in hopes that I'd still be able to awaken his pulse, right now, it was very weak, almost as if he gave up on living and he was just now waiting for his soul to be released from its anchor. I should hold that anchor down, at least until Gabe and Celeste got here.

Even for me, it was hard to reach the shore, considering the weight of the person I was carrying and the waves that abnormally contradicted me. When I was near, Stephen and a few able-bodied persons came to relieve him from my shoulders and lay him down on the sand.

"Here. Put this on for now. Your things are right there. Your siblings should be here in a few minutes." Stephen said holding out his jacket for me and I gratefully accepted it.

As I tried to observe him, I saw that there were deep cuts in his arms and legs, but the worse one was the the cut in his forehead. The ones in his arms and legs had stopped bleeding, but the one on his forehead was like a faucet that was still dripping.

Stephen was now trying to do CPR, trying to breathe air in his lungs which was probably full of water. Leo was back on his feet and trying to stop the blood from Matt's forehead. He called out to anyone who could call the ambulance.

While the whole commotion was going on, I was channeling my healing energy onto Matt, and the longer I tried, the more tired I felt. I suddenly felt something was blocking my way, like a brick wall,  into Matt's head. I pushed harder until it finally broke down. He still hadn't shown any sign of being alive, but I could still feel that he wasn't gone yet.

I was really, really tired now. Thankfully, when someone tapped my shoulder, Gabe and Celeste materialized. Gabe immediately went to help Matt, he closed some of his wounds so that it won't be as painful, but not that many so as not to arouse any suspicion, while Celeste attended to me as I collapsed on my knees because of exhaustion.

After several minutes, there was a successful cough coming from Matt's mouth as he spurted out water, though he soon became unconcious after that. I breathed a sigh of relief and someone came by my side asking me if I was okay. I shook my head, a bit light headed, like I just drank alcohol. My vision was spinning and blurry and my head felt like it was stabbed by a million daggers.

Someone, most likely Gabe, lifted me into his arms and started walking. I tried to protest because I still hadn't said good bye to Stephen.

"Shh. It's okay Astrid. We're going home now. Your friend is safe now. The paramedics just took him." Gabe's voice told me.

"N-no."

"Shh. You need to gain your energy back."

"S-stephen." I told him in a quiet voice and I heard him say a few instructions to Celeste who immediately went off perhaps to where Stephen is.