Darling & Foster

Thirteen

Did you know there was a lake? I surely didn't. I had always come to know the evergreen grass as airy and thick, with the mountains enclosing it and that was all. A field of flowers and then the end. No lakes, or rivers, or sources of water, or forests with lowering limbs. The valley used to be a canopy, hiding no secrets - having no shame. A wide-open paradise without twists and turns or surprises or lurking things or pain. 

It had changed, though. And I wondered if it had really been that long since I'd visited. Muffling whispers into the ground, showing it how beautiful it was. It had grown old, I must say. And dry. Pitiful, I thought. The poor darling wonderland died of a broken heart. A new mist settled here, a demon, I supposed. A curse. I got chilly as Foster crept along the new, tainted water. 

"What are you doi-"

"Shh!" He echoed, placing his ear to where the stream split from the ground.

I tucked my hands into my pockets as my ribs laughed, telling jokes to each other about the hopeless girl who lived above them. They grumbled and muttered to me, awful things. I hoped Foster didn't hear. Maybe they would stop if I fed them. 

No.

I glanced at him again, beside the rocks, searching about, unraveling the dirt and knitting his eyebrows. He was lying on his stomach now, face so close to the earth I thought he might get mud in his mouth. He was concentrating on something below the surface.

"Can you swim?" He asked.

"Wh-" 

And then it was a flash. A sound, or maybe a picture. Something of the senses. The bubbles sprawling their arms. The drudge of going deeper. My arms flailed, for some reason. Trying to fly, I would guess. But you can't fly underwater. My wings were broken. I saw gray. That was the color, the color that the island had now called it's own. I felt sorry for it, only for a short time. Until my eyes closed. It was dizzy down here. Was there oxygen? I wasn't sure.

Then a tickle. It felt funny. I don't think it was real. Did he push me into the water, I thought. And leave me? No, no, he didn't. I can breath now, no heat. It's cold, but breathable. I'm alive, I believe. I think I'm alive.

"You - you," He gasped, swallowing air into his lungs, "why are your eyes closed, Darla? Darla?"

"Ouch." And then I saw him, pink tinged ears.

"I thought you were dead, " He said grouchily, throwing something at me, "Dry off."

We were in a sheltered rocky cave-like formation. Pools of water circling around. It was a long tunnel, I didn't see an exit. I looked around, spinning, dazed. 

"Foster?" I called, my eyes dragging wide, wrapping the towel around my body and twisting it tight.

He smirked, "Not here for this. " He started walking, "Watch your steps." He turned to me, "Don't be scared." He took my hand, "Underwater volcano. Five minutes up there. Oh and," He grinned, dimples poking out, eyes blaring bright, "Don't look down."