Inconspicuously Obvious

Chapter 13

She finally gives in to the watery flames submerging her eyes body, engulfed by the hands from hell dragging her further into the earth.

Silence surrounds the lake, giving no indication of the struggle happening beneath the surface, the trees crowd around silently watching the spectacle not daring to move a muscle out of fear of missing the tiniest detail.

Tires skid across the gravel speeding away from the scene, all thoughts of her possible survival fly from his head as the minutes tick by. All hope for her diminishes rapidly as the natural peace returns.

The disrupted water returns to its previous calm state leaving no sign of any of the previous events, not even a sound from the girl sinking into the abyss.

Everything transforms from a serene landscape into a beautiful turmoil, the trees tremble in ecstasy at the sudden turn of events. Ripples sail across the water as he is swallowed into the water, seconds later his head emerges gasping from shock of his impulsive behaviour. Almost immediately he regains his composure aware of his motives before flinging his body into the icy waters. With power and determination fuelling his movements he wades forward, not taking a second to pause as he reaches his destination and dives down into the deep unknown. Blindly he swims into the deepest darkest part of the lake the further he goes the more difficult it become to locate the girl, out of desperation he lets out a muffled scream before returning to the surface. Once again, he grasps at the oxygen, filling his lungs once again before slipping underneath.

His heart pounds at the thought of re-emerging empty handed or even worse finding her lifeless body a second to late. The fear forces him to swim deeper and faster, willing his body to cooperate with this extreme situation.

He feels something at the tip of his fingers and immediately he grips onto what he prays is the girl. He drives his body to the surface with an overwhelming feeling of hope, he is relentless.

At last he shoos through the water like a bullet rips through flesh – unstoppable and unfaltering. The split second he identifies the girl he forces his adrenalin-ridden body to the bay, not daring to pause in fear the time is up. Swiftly but softly he places her on the rocky sure before ripping through the bag, pausing momentarily for the first time throughout the whole ordeal; he is struck by her beauty but rapidly forces the thoughts from his mind for the time being.

Anxiously he searches for a pulse knowing its hopeless looking, he springs to his feet and sprits towards his bag he threw somewhere nearby. When he spots the bag he immediately begins to rummage through its content, finally successfully retrieving what he was searching for. With the object in hand he speeds back to her body, slightly disorientated from the exhaustion, he begins to saw through the ropes immediately, desperate to perform CPR to the best of his abilities. The setback registers in his mind but he ignores it and refuses to fall into the trap, instead he frees her from the ropes and untangles her from the mess. Her body slumps against the floor looking a lot more relaxed and comfortable than her previous fetal position.

Lying her onto her back and stretching his memory back to secondary school trying to recall what he was told in first aid class. From what he can remember he gets to work, first giving her 30 chest compressions before giving her two rescue breaths, he repeats this process for several minutes until he is on the verge of giving up. With his hope completely diminished he proceeds with the last compressions, his mind swirls with guilt and regret as he gazes at her lifeless body.

He slows his momentum only for her eyes to spring open and her body to lurch forward coughing and spluttering, the boy had jolted back in shock watching her clear her lungs and stomach by throwing up and coughing all at once. Guiltily he crawls back towards her, gently grasping her hair pulling it from her face whilst he subconsciously rubs soothing circles on her back.

At last she calms down enough to collapse unconsciously into his arms.