Tricking Death

Chapter 18 - Love/Hate Relationship

"Turn right again." I was sitting on the very edge of my seat in the back of the truck, trying to remember the route that I had seen the girl take in my vision. "Do you know if there's a river anywhere around here?" 

Alison and her mom exchanged glances before turning to look back at me. 

"There's the Grand, which is about fifteen minutes away from here... Why are you asking, exactly?" 

I ignored her mom's question, realizing that trying to remember the route from my dream would probably be a waste of time, and would end up in us getting there too late to do anything. "What's the quickest way to get there from where we are right now?"

"Em, you're really starting to freak me out," Alison said softly, her eyes showing worry in the rear view mirror.

"I wish I could explain right now, but just trust me when I say that we have to get there as soon as possible." My entire body was vibrating with nervous energy, and I could hear my voice shaking as I spoke.

No wonder I was freaking Alison out. Her mom simply seemed resigned, confused but seeing no harm in stopping my crazy, nonsensical need to go to the river for the time being. For that, I was grateful, and all I could do was hope that my luck would hold. 

As soon as Alison slowed to a stop, I was already flinging open the back door and sprinting towards the familiar treeline from my vision. I heard both her and her mom calling after me, but I pretended not to hear them. 

There were more important things to do right then, and slowing down and waiting for them to catch up was not one of those things. 

The trees were clawing at my arms and hair, doing everything in their power to slow me down. I gritted my teeth and pushed on, even when one of the branches cut especially deep. I could feel a thin stream of blood leaking out of a gash on my cheek, but I knew I couldn't stop. Every single cell in my body was screaming at me to keep running, that I was going to be too late to do anything to stop what was about to happen.

You're ruining your pretty face...Death's voice rung inside my mind, no trace of the earlier pleading and concern evident. You really should just stop, because I'm sure you know as well as I do that you aren't going to be able to do anything. 

"Fuck you!" I said it out loud instead of giving him a mental reply this time, before I burst out through the last of the trees. I almost went skidding down the loose stones that were underneath my feet, the ground sloping gently down towards the river. I spun wildly, trying to spot the girl in the sweatshirt before I was too late to do anything to help her. 

Then, I saw her: walking along the other side of the river, much farther upstream than I was, one foot already swinging at the rocks that were clustered along the bank. I mentally kicked myself for running to the wrong side of the river, and I could see no way to cross it anywhere near by. 

Yelling would have to do. 

"HEY!" I screamed, hoping that she would hear me. What I should have been worrying about was whether or not a random stranger appearing and yelling at her out of nowhere would startle her. 

As a result, what happened next seemed to go in slow motion. She turned in surprise towards me, her foot landing a wet rock in the process. Her arms started windmilling as her balance disappeared, and they were still waving uselessly through the air as the rest of her crashed down into the water. Then, the current took over and swept her away down stream as she fought to keep her head above the water. Her eyes met mine for a brief moment as she was dragged past me by the rushing water, a mixture of betrayal and disbelief plain to see on her face.