Hayley
“Lewis!?” Hayley and Nate called simultaneously.
“Where is the first place he would have gone?” Nate asked, panicking immensely. Hayley thought for a moment.
Her dream came to mind, she felt her knees go weak and her stomach churned, No it, it can’t be true, it’s not real... it was just a dream... Right?
“The bridge!” Hayley shouted. Her voice cracking as she said it.
Nate grabbed Hayley’s hand and ran. Her heart beat so fast she was sure it would explode. She couldn’t feel her feet. It all dawned on her, her dream wasn’t a dream at all, and this was reality. It was actually happening.
Nate’s grip tightened as they turned each corner. Hayley just saw a blur; all she could think of was what had happened in the dream. It couldn’t be real; there is no way that Lewis would do it. Not in a sane sense of mind. But that was the thing; he wasn’t sane at the moment.
All the bad news in one day is a huge shock to your nerves and who knows what crazy things it could lead you to...including jumping off a bridge into dark and dirty water.
Hayley prayed that he wouldn’t do it. Hayley had spent so much time thinking she hadn’t even noticed that they were near the bridge. As Hayley saw it her stomach churned and she felt as if she was going to be sick.
She closed her eyes and with her last spurt of energy she sprinted towards the bridge, yelling Lewis’ name over and over again. Nate and Hayley, without thinking jumped over the bridge’s railing and landed into the cold and murky water.
Black water swirled around their legs, clawing at them and pulling them over. As her head resurfaced she couldn’t find Nate, he had disappeared into the murky water. She dove back in, feeling desperately around for a sign he was down there, relying on her sense of touch. She couldn’t open her eyes.
The water burned into them, like an acid. She came up for air and swallowed in large gulps of the pure air around her.
“Lewis!” she wailed. “Nate?!” Where were they? She looked around. It was blurry; the water had obscured her vision completely. Far down the river she saw something. A pale, grey-looking object. It was floating above the surface, moving quickly along with the strong current. His face was almost unrecognisable.
“Lewis.” She whispered. An overwhelming feeling drowned in her chest, making it heavy. Guilt. Lewis had drowned in the dark and vicious water. Nate’s head bobbed to the surface further along the river, closer to where Lewis’ body was. Hayley’s feet took off from underneath her; running faster than she ever thought was possible but she willed herself to move faster and faster. The cold, slimy water numbed her legs to the point where she couldn’t feel them any longer. As she neared his unconscious body her breath caught in her lungs. Nate was dragging Lewis to the river bank. He was panting and groaning, trying his best to get Lewis up and out of the rapid water. She stared down at him, lying lifeless in the hasty water.
“No.” She wailed, dropping to her knees, not caring if she got wet. She hovered over him, touching his pale face with her shaking hand. Nate knelt beside her and crossed his hands on Lewis’ chest and started pushing down, performing CPR.
“Lewis, I’m so sorry.” She whispered to him softly. She stroked her fingers through his tangled and sopping hair. Her hand rested on his chest, just as Nate stopped for a break. She couldn’t feel his heartbeat. No drumming under her palm. She felt herself burrowing into a void of emptiness.
Once again Nate crossed his hands and pressed his palms into his chest between his ribs. Nate opened Lewis’ mouth and took in a deep breath, Nate blew all the air into Lewis’ mouth and waited for a few seconds, nothing happened. Nate repeated the action over and over again.
When suddenly Hayley and Nate were covered with warm water, which was being coughed all over them. Nate lifted Lewis and slapped his back. Lewis’ face was ridden with shock and confusion.
“WHA, WHAT HAPPENED!” He yelled with stammered breaths. Hayley couldn’t help but cry. Fortunately they were tears of joy. Hayley leaned over and grabbed Nate’s face, planting a huge kiss on his cheek.
“You jumped off the bridge Lou.” Nate explained.
“I didn’t, I dreamt that I did, I dreamt that I went in to save you.” Lewis lifted a weak arm and waved it towards Hayley. Haley picked up his hand and squeezed it in her own.
“You were obviously sleepwalking; it is actually a symptom of shock patients.” Nate stated.
“You saved me; you came out and looked for me?” Lewis was still recovering from shock.
“Of course we did!” Hayley blurted out.
“Come on, let’s get you dry and into bed.” Nate said, lifting Lewis to his feet and slinging his arm over Hayley’s and his own shoulder.
“Thank you.” Lewis said breathlessly.
***
“So you say, the last thing you remember was everything going blank?” Hayley asked. Lewis frowned, a piece of his matted and dishevelled hair, hung in his eyes. He looked like a little child, sitting wrapped up in a towel. Nate chewed on his bottom lip, nervously.
“Yeah, and I had this desperate urge to find you in the river. You were in there somewhere and I just couldn’t stop the feeling dragging me into the water to find you, eventually something got a hold of my leg and wouldn’t let me go.” Lewis explained, expressing his words with his arms.
“I felt around for whatever had snaked its way around my leg but I couldn’t feel anything!” Lewis continued. Nate let out a sigh, “Thank God we found you Lou, I don’t know what I would have done if we didn’t get to you in time.” Lewis gave Nate a weak smile. Nate’s eyes were full of worry and something else that Hayley just could not decipher.
“What made you come out and look for me anyway? I was in bed, sleeping, for all you knew.” Hayley suddenly remembered the phone call with Dr. Roberts.
“Dr. Roberts called me...” The words just oozed out of her mouth without her realising. Nate and Lewis shared a look and then looked at Hayley with a confused facial expression. They looked like twins. Hayley was holding back a smile. She cleared her throat and repeated, “Dr. Roberts, my councillor, called me and somehow she knew that something was wrong, she told me to look for you. I don’t actually know how it happened, I guess it was all just such a rush, I just went along with it, I didn’t doubt her and went with my instinct, and when Nate said you were gone, I... I guess I just, panicked? I didn’t stop to ask her how she knew.”
Nate and Lewis glanced at each other again and then back at Hayley, Nate opened his mouth to speak but Lewis managed to speak first.
“Call her back.” Hayley slowly nodded her head and stood up.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to do just that, and probably call my mum, let her know everything’s alright.” Nate nodded and smiled at Hayley. Lewis had gone into his own world.
“Hi Dr. Roberts, this is Hayley Bennett...”
