Edge of the Ravine

12

Chapter Twelve

      My feelings for Alec had remained shrouded for many months— almost a year, if I was to be honest with myself. Yet, there came a day when even I was surprised by the force of them. Overrun by the sheer intensity of an emotion I would never have admitted to anyone else. Least of all to the person for whom I felt them.

      Before that day, I had never known what true terror was. I am inclined never to find myself in its grips ever again, though I've often strayed from that decoration, as well. Yet, I cannot deny that it was the best and worst day of my seventeen years.

      Those are the thoughts I often reflect upon when I relive those moments in which my death seemed absolutely certain. When I picture the water flying up around my legs, swallowing me too quickly as I plunged into the water, a shiver still crawls up my spine. And as my body crashed into the crystalline lake, I believed for almost a moment that I would walk away unscathed. That is until my knee glanced off a boulder and my head plunged beneath the water's surface to immediately bash against a rock. Blackness enfolded me then and all else vanished.

      The first thing I became aware of when my consciousness returned was a strong pressure on the left side of my chest. After letting up for a second, it pressed down again and again and again. Suddenly, someone was pinching my nose and I felt lips overlapping my own. Oxygen entered my body and I suddenly felt as if I was choking. As soon as their lips left mine, I began coughing and hacking. Cold hands helped me to lean to the side as I hacked up the water that was filling my lungs.

     It felt like I would never stop vomiting water. Like I had swallowed half the lake. How did my lungs not realize they should stop trying to breathe when oxygen was no longer available? Instead, they had pulled in enough water to make me believe dehydration  would never be a problem for me no matter how hot the summers got from then on.

      When my body expelled of the last bits of water, I laid back on the sandy shore, feeling tired to the bone. A splitting headache was blasting through my skull and I reached towards the wound. Only to have my wrist caught in a tight grip.

     "You don't want to touch it, Oliver. There's a lot of blood," Alec said in a calm voice, though I could hear the edge of him worry lingering behind the casual tone.

      As an instinct, my fingers curled around so that the tips could touch his own hand. Sensing what I wanted, he released my wrist and laced his fingers with my own. It was only then that I dared to open my eyes, wincing as the bright daylight pierced my irises and exploded inside of my skull. An agonized moan left my lips and my other hand automatically went to my head.

      Tears of pain had began to fill my eyes and a few escaped my eyelids when I squeezed them shut to block out the sun. At the same time, I gasped loudly as my fingers encountered a sticky, wet patch on the top of my head. Jerking them away quickly, my eyes shot open to confirm what Alec had just told me. Crimson fluid ran down my fingertips as I held them in front of my face. Suddenly, I had to roll to the side and vomit up something a little more solid than lake water.

     "Alec, the ambulance is here," Megan muttered from where she stood a few feet away.

      I whipped around faster than I should have, my brain crashing around in agony inside of my skull even as my vision swam with pain. When I was finally able to focus on him, however, it was with my eyes  wide as saucers and my mouth opened questioningly. For some reason, I couldn't fathom the fact that an ambulance would actually be called on the event of my death. Or near-death, as the case may be.