Into Unconsciousness

Ace inched her way to as far to the edge as she dared and peeked over. She stared down into the brownish green lake ten feet below.

"This is suicide," she said breathlessly.

"What, that? Tell me you're kidding. I went sky diving last year and this is nothing compared to it," Noah told her.

"Ace, c'mon. Let's jump off together," Crystal insisted. Ace laughed as if her cousin was crazy enough to believe she'll really jump because to Ace, Crystal was crazy to think so. "No way."

"Wow, Ace," Bailey said, annoyed at his sisters lack of participation.

"Yes, I'm a wimp. But I bet you won't jump either--" Ace trailed off as her brother zipped right past her, off the cliff and into the water with a splash. His head poked up a few seconds later and laughter escaped his lips. Noah cheered down at him and stripped off his shirt. He sprinted off the cliff the same way as her brother had with a running start. Ace looked over at Crystal who grinned down at the two idiots below.

"You going next?" Ace asked.

"Not unless you go," she answered.

"You know I'm not going, Crys," Ace laughed.

"Ace, please. Look at them, they're completely fine. They're laughing." She gestured to Noah and Bailey who floated below calling out to them to jump already.

"No, it's okay. Just jump without me. You can do--" but she didn't finish,. Her field of vision gave way to pitch black and she lost consciousness completely.

~

Help.

Ace's eyes shot open. The word alone zoomed past her ear like a bee. The voice which spoke it was thin and pained. She took in her surroundings to find the source of the cry. She stood outside, the sun posted high, it's heat rays boiling down on her. She still stood on the cliff she stood on before--before what? Ace couldn't remember if she had passed out or not. But where was everyone? Crystal was nowhere on the cliff with her to be seen. Ace scooted forward to get a glimpse below in case Crys had jumped already. Glancing down, she saw there was nobody in the water. "Help me," the same voice whispered from behind her. Ace spun on her heel. She yelped when she saw that standing in front of her was a boy. He had to have been her age; sixteen or seventeen, at the most. However, it wasn't his sudden appearance that spooked her--although that did play a huge part. It was the fact that the entire left side of his face was completely smashed in. His right eye was a slit as Ace could tell he was trying his best to hold it open. His mouth was so swollen that Ace was surprised he had been able to cry for help at all. The whites of his left eye was completely red. Blood dripped from his face and down his neck to his chest which Ace noticed was battered and bruised. She looked into what could be seen of his eyes and a wave of sympathy washed over her. He was in pain; agony. She even thought she saw tears in his right eye. He groaned and held up his hands. Ace scooted her foot back until her heel was no longer on land. She meant to get away from him, but realized there was no way but down. Ace stumbled a bit until he grasped onto her forearms and what she felt next was torture. Searing pain coursed through her veins and up through her body. But where she felt the most pain was the left side of her face. The affliction she was feeling was too much for her to stand--literally. Her legs gave way and soon enough they were both falling downwards into the lake. Ace welcomed the cold, dirty water as it engulfed her entire body. She felt relief from the lake and from the release of his grip. She knew that what she felt the second he had touched her was the pain he was going through.

"Help me," she heard again. She turned and found him floating next to her, his face even more frightening under water in such a dark green light. "Please."

"Okay. I'll help you," she finally told him as air bubbles drifted from her mouth. Then as he rose his arms which dared to touch her again she squeezed her eyes shut, cowering from the pain to come once he made contact with her. As her eyes shut another set fluttered open. It was still hers and she was still underwater except there was no disfigured boy this time. After a moment, Ace realized she did faint and following that, she had fallen over the edge of the cliff. Ace was about to insist on Crys to jump without her when Ace was dragged into unconsciousness, she remembered. She was floating now, down further into the pits of the lake where everything was dark. And not only that, she was suffocating. Visually impaired and in dire need of oxygen, she began to panic. But before she could begin swimming in the direction in which she assumed was up, she was pulled back into the depths of her mind once again.

She felt it before she could open her eyes. Her face throbbed and burned and she needed air soon. Her eyes shot open to discover a more gruesome set of eyes only a few inches in front of hers. The boy held her face and the look in his eyes was more frantic. "Help me, please. I'm hurting."

"I know," Ace screamed. It was true. As his hands were firmly planted on her face, the pain was there just as well. She felt it with every inch of her body. "I'll help, but you need to let go. I'm drowning." Ace needed to get out of this state and back to her body. Besides the pain, she felt her body getting weaker. Her lungs were collapsing and she couldn't snap back into her right state of mind, but she knew the only reason she was stuck was because of him. He held her down. He needed help. He must've jumped off the wrong cliff and made an unfortunate landing on land instead of water. Now all he wanted was to be put out, Ace could feel it. Even she wanted to be put out with the pain she was transmitting from him. She couldn't be able to, though, not with him pulling her back. "I'll help you, I will," she sputtered out. It was hard to speak with half your face smashed in. "But you have to let me go first. I'm drowning. I'm drowning!"

~

Bailey's head crashed through the surface of the water. Feelings of worry, stress, panic, and sorrow set deeper into his stomach. They should've found her a long time ago. Crystal came up for air next. She looked at Bailey with hopeful eyes. He shook his head then jumped straight back into the water to search again. Their family was further down the lake. They haven't been told yet, but they had no time. When Bailey and Noah saw Ace falling down from the cliff, Bailey had only a second to know there was something off about it. She wasn't composed at all. In fact, she was completely limp as she went in head first. Bailey looked up at Crystal and she had her hand covering her mouth. When Ace broke the water, Crystal finally screamed, "grab her! She passed out, hurry!" She ran a little more to the side of the cliff before jumping off so as not to jump on anyone. She did it before getting any extra help. Now it's been what felt to Bailey hours of diving in and out of the water with no results at all. They couldn't even see much of anything since the water was so dirty. Bailey came up gasping for air the same time as Noah who shook his head in defeat. "I can't see," Bailey cried. "I can't see anything."

"Me neither," Noah coughed up. Crystal came up a moment after. She saw Ace wasn't with either of the boys. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I think I'm gonna go get help," she said, her voice strained and cracked.

"There's no time for that. We have to keep looking," Bailey told them agitated.

"Bailey, we've been doing that--" but Noah was cut off. The sound of someone sucking in as much air as they could take erupted from directly behind him. All three of them turned to find Ace, pale and blue-lipped, gasping for air.