From a Busy Mind

The Broken Angel

The water was cold. She took a deep breath and jumped...

Rachel could feel the water seeping through her clothes, weighing her down due to the many layers she wore. The water engulfed her as she descended towards the bottom of the lake.

She finally let go of the breath she was holding but was not quite ready to inhale the icy waters which would finallty cause her death. She closed herr eyes, it hardly made a difference in the dark water, only gave her courage to finally let go of her life, if it could even be called that...

Suddenly, strong hands grabbed her. She struggled, not wanting to be saved, but the person was stong and did not loosen his hold. He, oh! She knew who it was and hoped that she was right because if she was wrong it would be the final proof that he really was dead as everyone had told her he was... He held her close and with a few powerful strokes, brought them back to the surface. Then, gasping for air, the rescuer and Rachel, still struggling, not even opening her eyes to keep the illusion alive for just a bit longer, climbed out of the lake.

"Stop it!" Her rescuer commanded angrily. She was stunned to a still. It was not whom she had hoped he was. She knew this man too, had so for ages, but she hadn't expected him to be there to rescue her.

She opened her eyes to meet his emereald ones, dilated in the last lights of the day.

Worry was etched on Damien's face, worry sprinkled with fear and some annoyance too.

"What the hell were you thinking, jumping off like that?"

Rachel lost her temper. First he prevented her from ending her life and now he was rebuking her?

"What was I thinking?" She nearly shouted. "Didn't it occur to you that maybe I wanted to die? Maybe I didn't want to live anymore?" And the 'nearly' was removed.

"I was thinking how I could have lost all my savings, my job and my son all in one week! I was thinking of how my whole life had been nothing but misery! A childhood full of despair, an unhappy marriage and a job which I didn't even like! The only thing I loved was my son and now he's gone too. I was thinking of how easy it would have been to just let go off this pain once and for all. But no! You had to be a bloody hero and rescue me! Not caring whether i wanted to live or not! And it had to be you not Ethan who pulled me out!" She cried, now hysterical, tears streaming down her face.

Damien held his sobbing sister as she cried for her lost son. He hugged her close as Rachel's body shook with sob's and it started to rain, the angels' tears mixing with her own as if to give her comfort, to sympathize with her.

"I'm sorry. Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you... It's just, I just, just can't take it anymore..." Rachel said between hiccups, fisting his wet shirt as her salty tears mixed with the clear drops falling from the sky.

"Shh... It's ok... Don't worry... We'll figure something out... Don't cry and don't give up." Damien whispered in a broken voice, meaningless words of comfort flowing from his tongue as he tried to calm her, and himself.

When Rachel finally raised her head from his chest, she saw how distraught he looked and wondered if she looked any better. Then, giving him a weak smile, she said, "I don't want to but I'll try. I'll try for you if not for myself, but I will..."

"That's the strong sister I've always known." Damien said, a weak but encouraging smile on his face as he hugged her close again.

The rain poured and thunder shook the ground as nature tried it's best to convey the still tormented feelings of the siblings who held each other close by the lakeside, their joined silhouettes illuminated by a flash of lightening which pierced through the heart of the stormy night sky.