Set Free

Set Free Chapter Five

Chapter Five

-Third Person POV-

  Nick walked down the beach, feeling bad about what happened with Amber. He'd tried to mask the fact that he'd been hurt by her words the other day, but  he hadn't succeded and now all he'd done was hurt her right back.  He really hadn't meant to, so he decided he would apologize when he saw her tomorrow.

  He was stuck in a whirlwind of his own thoughts when he thought he heard a scream. Nick gazed out at the water, and, as he rushed down to the shore, he glimpsed a dark-haired girl wearing a drenched-yet-familiar leather jacket. He recognized at once that it was Amber. She was desperately trying to stay afloat amongst the waves, and she looked as if she couldn't swim.

  Awesome, He thought sarcastically.

Without another thought though, he pulled off his own jacket and shoes, and dove off of the nearby dock into the freezing water.

What possessed her to swim with the water like this??? He wondered.

  By the time he reached her, she had sunk down beneath the icy waves, and he dived deeper, deeper, until he miraculously caught her hand. He strived to pull her upward, undeniably worried and slightly annoyed at the same time.

  At last, Nick managed to bring their heads above the water, and as he swam to  the shore, he noticed a large crowd had formed on the beach that had been nearly empty only minutes before.

  They were screaming and yelling, and once Nick reached the shore, they pulled Amber off of him and laid her on the beach. She wasn't unconscious, but her eyes appeared glazed over and she seemed unaware of her surroundings.

  Then suddenly, she jolted upward, coughing violently and shrieking  "JUSTIN!" over and over again.

-Back to Amber's POV-

Where am I? I wondered.

I looked up to see a great many faces crowded over me.

The only ones I recognized were my parents, who had a mixture of worried and angry looks on their faces, and they were the only two people I recognized. But......oh, wait, there was also Nick, whose clothes were soaked like my own. Then my eyes widened as I put together the puzzle pieces and realized he'd been the one to save me.

  I wanted desperately to ask him why he did it, but my mother started screaminghysterically at me as soon as I was pronounced fully alive by someone who was leaning over me, apparently a doctor.

Duh, of course I'm alive. My eyes just opened, you idioit. I thought to myself.

Then my mother practically pounced on me, bringing me into a bear hug that made it hard to breathe. But I decided to humor her since I'd just tried to kill myself again...

"What in the world did you think you were doing?!? Don't you realize that suicide is not the answer? IT WON'T HELP!" She screamed at me, and then attempted to lower her voice, "Baby, you need to forget about him and live your life. That's what he would want. That's what we all want. And baby, it's what you have to do, better sooner than later"

I had no reply for her mother, I was too numb with my own emotions. Some of them I didn't even understand anymore. I was just aware that tears were slowly falling down my face,

                                                                               .................

  -Third Person POV-

  While Amber was carried up the beach, her dad stayed behind to thank Nick. He'd offered to take him to the local Starbucks so they could talk a bit.

  Now they were sitting beneath an awkward silence at a table, waiting for their orders and waiting for the other to speak first.

  "She was trying to kill herself?" Nick asked solemnly.

  Amber's dad nodded grimly.

"This was her third attempt. You see, I doubt she's ever mentioned it at school, but about three months ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident. She really loved him, and since then, she's like a shell of what she used to be. She's broken, and she's beyond unstable. I personally don't want to let her out of my sight anymore, but Amber's mother is convinced that the only way for her to heal is just to keep doing what we're doing and hope she snaps out of it after awhile. And I know she's right, and it would be wrong to keep her locked up, but I just want to save my baby. And I think you could help. She really needs someone right now, someone who knows what's happened to her so they can somehow try to help when she's out of my sight. So that's why I felt you needed to know this."

  Nick remembered his depressing words for hours as he lay in bed that night, just processing them. Amber had been through a lot this year. And, he decided, that Amber's father must be right, and he was just the one to help her through it. If only she would just let him...