A Free Life

James

James could feel the air tighten around him. His muscles tensed. The dreaded words he had never thought he would hear, had been spoken. It was the the worse feeling he had ever felt before. He would've rather her be dead. But his best friend, injured to the point of death. Still in pain probably. Was so much worse. James looked up from his focus on the ground. His father was staring at the ground. The expression on his face showed it all. Water dripped down his cheeks. James could see the pain as he tried to keep a straight face. "No!" James looked beside him to where Rain sat on the ground screaming like a four year old. Her face was red from all of the tears she had shed. "Rebecca was right below us for days!" She screamed, "We were so blinded by sadness we didn't look in the most obvious place!" James looked away from the blond wreck beside him. A tear dripped down his cheek as Rain continued to scream. She was right. They didn't look in the most obvious place to look, because they were confused. The only reason they had found the friend was because the wood on top of her was flooding the river. James felt his knees buckle as he continued to think. Think about how Rebecca was in pain. Think about how she was so close to them the entire time. Think about why she would have run away.

James put his hands on the ground in front of him. He felt like he couldn't breath. James opened his mouth. Trying to let in as much oxygen as he could. Nothing helped. He couldn't get the image of his brunette friend out of his head. Her once pure skin covered in dirt and wrinkles. Her Brown Hair filled with dirt. Her hand. The hand he had once held to make her feel safe. The hand they had found Sticking out of a pile of wood. Pruney, dirty, small, and so helpless. Her eyes. Her once beautiful Ice-blue eyes faded. Showing nothing but death. James Kept breathing in deeply. Trying to keep the image out of his head.

"She was holding a phone above the surface of the water in her other hand." James didn't move when he heard his father's voice, "She's alive, but barely. She was in the water for all four of the days from what we can tell." James felt his chest tighten when he heard the word. "Barely". He had too many memories with that word. "James, I'm sorry. Your mother passed. But you had to know she Barely had a chance," James remembered the words like they had been spoken to him yesterday. The word barely means a different thing to every single person who hears it. To his father it means they have a chance to be fine. To James, it means "You should start getting ready for disappointment." James felt a reassuring hand on his back.

"James, you have to know that you are not to only one going through this pain. I am her father. I picked her up out of that wood. You have to stop feeling bad for yourself and start having faith that something good will happen." James picked his hands up off the ground and let Rebecca's father help him up. Rain was standing beside him. Her hair was messed up. Sticking up in all places. Her eyes were red. She was soaking wet. It looked like she had tried to drown herself. And maybe she had. James tended to forget to notice his surroundings when bad stuff happened. James flung himself into the wall of the hospital. He had never felt a greater pain. The nurse who had told him the news about his mother was trying to calm him down. "SHUT UP!!" He screamed in the loudest voice he could summon. James fell to the ground crying. He couldn't breath. The air around him wouldn't come to him. James lay his head on the ground. The cold tile floor cooled his head down. His vision blurred. Then it all went Black.

"Son," James felt the warm embrace of his father as he began to regain his composure. His father wrapped his arms around James. James felt safe in the arms of his father. He felt like a little boy again. Like he could just go limp and he would be fine. James put his chin on the shoulder of his father. He didn't want to let go. "You're okay. You're okay." James heard over and over in his ears. After awhile he began to believe it. James let go of his father and wiped the tears from his eyes. James looked over to find Rain and her Mother hugging on the ground. Rain was sobbing loudly. James wished he could hug his mother. He really needed her right now. Rain probably wished Her father was there at the moment too. Rain stood up slowly and hugged James tightly. James hugged her back. He let his tears stream down his face.