Head above the water

1

(Above image is the meme of the chapter. It has nothing to do with the actual book.)

It was a very cold day. So cold, in fact, that no one was at the cliff. The cliff was a popular spot for local daredevils to base jump and generally do stupid things. Most of the people of the small town had done it at least once. It was almost a rite of passage, your first jump into the icy water below.

I had taken my dive years ago and hadn't jumped since, but that wasn't why I was at the cliff. I was at the cliff because it was too cold for even the daredevils to be there, and I had been waiting for a day that I could photograph the endless gray waters kissing the blue-pink sky at sunset without someone yelling at me to get out of their way.

It was so cold my hands were beginning to shake, but it was peaceful to watch the tumultuous waves barrel towards the rocks far below. I had almost zoned out when I heard they cry from the water. Carefully setting my camera down, I peaked over the edge of the cliff to see something struggling against the waves that battered the rocky face. Looking for just a few seconds more, I realized that the something was actually a someone, and that particular someone was being pulled under by the merciless water.

Jumping up, I kicked off my shoes and nearly ripped my heavy jacket and scarf from my body before I bounded to the edge and over the lip of the cliff, plummeting to the icy sea below. As I hit the water the cold clamped its jaws around me, but I knew I had to keep my head if I or the person I had jumped in to save were going to make it out of the situation alive. I kicked as hard as I could, and soon my head broke through the surface of the water, allowing me to breathe and to try and locate the screaming person once more.

Just then, there was another panicked shout for help to my right. I battled against the angry waves that yanked at me with claws of ice and I swam towards the sinking person. Just as I caught a glimpse of blonde hair the person disappeared beneath the water, apparently too weak to fight anymore. Powered by frustration and an instinct to protect others, I pushed myself to swim faster. I dove below the surface once more and opened my eyes, though the salt burned as much as a fire would have. I could make out the sinking shape of a body, and I pushed myself towards the still struggling figure. The person seemed to fight harder as I wrapped an arm around their waist, but it didn't take long for them to completely give out, wether from a sudden acceptance of fate of exhaustion. I struggled against the current, but I forced both of our heads above the water and into the air. I fought towards the sandy shore, dragging the limp body behind me, and, with great effort, I eventually hit land.

As I was pulling him onto the beach I realized that he was a he and not a bad looking one, either. I also noticed that he wasn't breathing, and then I really began to panic. Dropping to my knees, I tilted his head back and blew air into his mouth, pressing down hard on his chest in an attempt to get him to spew out the water he had inhaled during his time in the water. Breath after breath after breath, I blew into his mouth, and breath after breath after breath I lost hope that he would wake up. I had almost given up when he began to cough. He began to cough, and then puke, and, finally, breathe.

He pushed himself into a sitting position and held his head in his hands. The boy was tall, well, taller than me, and he was wearing nice clothes. He was definitely foreign, which didn't make much sense because the town of Greenleaf had probably 40 people that weren't born and raised in the town itself. He also seemed to be around my age, 18, which only added to the mystery because I had never seen him at school. He was shivering, and I couldn't figure out why until I realized that I was, too, and that it was probably less than 10 degrees. We were both soaked through, and my clothes felt stiff, almost as if the water were freezing to ice.

I knew we had to trek the rocky path back up the cliff to my phone, jacket, and car if we wanted to get out of where we were, but I didn't know if he could make it up, and I had no idea how he had managed to get here in the first place. I decided that whatever question I asked him couldn't be considered strange, especially since I had just saved his life.

"Can you breathe well?" I asked, out of both concern and awkwardness.

He looked up at me then, and he acted like he was just seeing me for the first time. The boy scrambled a few feet further away from me, but I didn't try to get closer to him again. I knew he was in shock, and that some strange girl covered in sand talking to him probably wasn't something he saw every day. Still, he seemed to consider the question a bit longer than most people would before answering.

"I'm okay, I think. I didn't mean to fall in," he said.

As short as the sentence was, it still calmed me a little. His voice was a bit scratchy, probably from all of the salt water, but it was a soothing voice. If he could talk and shuffle away like a crab, he could probably make it up the path with just a bit of help.

"My name is Anastasia. I just pulled you out of the water, and now I need you to let me help you to the top of the cliff so we can at least sit in my car while we figure out what we need to do, okay?"

He looked at me like I was crazy, but he nodded anyway. I slowly walked over to him and offered him my hand. He laughed to himself and took it, allowing me to pull him to his feet. He stumbled a bit at first, but I quickly slipped his arm over my shoulder so I could support his weight, and we began to trudge up the path. Every few steps one of our feet would hit a loose patch of rocks, and we would almost face plant.

The two of us eventually made it up the hill, and I opened the passenger door to my car and sat him in the seat.

"I just have to get my jacket and camera and phone, okay? I'll be right back," I told him.

He nodded  as a response and I ran to get my things so I could crank up the car and turn on the much needed heat. When I got into the drivers side and slammed the door all was quiet. The only sounds were the chattering of teeth and the hum of the heater breathing life back into the both of us.

"How did you get here?" I asked him.

"I walked. We just moved in to the house about two miles down the road," he answered.

The boy wasn't curt, but he didn't seem particularly friendly. One thing was for sure, though, the more I had a chance to look at him the more attractive I noticed he was. His cheeks were a bit chubby, but it suited him well. His jawline was defined, and his dark brown eyes seemed to smile even though he also looked sad. His wet shirt stuck to his body, and I could tell his muscles were well defined. His lips were full, if still a little blue from the temperature.

I put the car in drive and followed his directions to a rather large house set back away from the road and right on the shore of the beach. He got out of the car, damp but a lot better than he had been thirty minutes before. The boy closed the passenger door and made his way into his house without so much as a goodbye, and I began my drive home for a shower and clean clothes. As I pulled into my driveway I realized that he had never told me his name.

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Okay so this is the first chapter of head above the water. This is the first BTS fic that I've written, but not the first thing I've written in general. I have no set update schedule, and really the plot is subject to all kinds of change, but I hope anyone that reads this enjoys it! Comment any questions you have, and make sure to vote!

Love Ya Always,
-Haleigh💜