We Can Have It All

Chapter Five

Hey all! Thank you for all the support and comments! Please excuse errors I wrote this quickly before I forget and I will go through it some time. So please enjoy, you wanted to know more about him well here you go ;)

---Chapter Five---

The water gently caressed her body. Though the icy water grew bitter, and began to sting and pinch at her skin. The water  was slowly sucking the life out of her. She could feel it slipping slowly out of her reach. She resisted the waters pull, in such a futile attempt. But, her heavy bag weighed her down, dragging her under. She screamed the air leaving her lungs, dancing around her in small bubbles.

Desperately she tried to shrug the back pack off. She could feel herself slipping away even more now. Her lips growing a dark shade of blue. The water pulled her along the river, to what could be her end.

Though, to her luck, the back pack caught onto one of the rocks, anchoring her down. The edge of the rapid waterfall was near, and Cassidy lay on the verge of unconsciousness. Her eyelids were growing heavy, her breathing ceasing to exist. Cassidy could hear in the far distance a faint whisper of a voice, her mind going into shut down. Everything went black.

She was barely floating on the surface, the white water washed over her. The jealous water had taken away the beautiful blush in her cheeks and the rose redness of her lips. He head was throbbing, filling with an expanding pain. The pain pushed her out, turning it all to black.

Daniel spotted the drowned beauty, with a mixture of feelings washing over him. He slung his back pack off on the shore, and then dashed to her aid. As he freed her from her back pack the only thing he could think about is how pale her skin was, and how blue her lips were. He pulled her away from the rocks and onto the grassy land. He could speak, he couldn’t breathe, and he just stared at her lifeless form.

“Cassidy?” He asked with such uncertainty, when she showed no signs of life. He began to pace around her. I should pump her chest or something, he thought, but I might do more harm than good his conscious screamed. He began to sigh in frustration and looked across at her. Her clothes were clinging to her for dear life.

He knelt down in front of her and began to cry. It brought back unwanted memories. He couldn’t get the image out of his mind. A young woman with luscious red hair washed up on the beach. He blinked hard, shaking it out of his head. No, he thought, it’s not like that time.  

He listened to her chest to hear the faint flutter of a heart beat. Her breathing was shallow and short. The unsettling feeling swimming around in his stomach began to rest but his hands were still shaking. He put his back pack bag on and scoped Cassidy up in his arms. Daniel had never felt so uncertain about anything, ever. A rebellious tear rolled down his cheek; the feelings welling up inside of him were so unfamiliar, he was certain that he was going crazy.

Daniel was determined to protect her.

***

“I never spoke to my father as a young boy. He found little time to talk to me; so I spent my whole childhood growing up to please him. I did countless things to impress him. I won various competitions, awards and accommodations. But, the all those times he dismissed me.” Daniel admitted as he contained his tears. He shifted his position so that he hugged his knees.

“One of the richest men in the world, but he looked straight through me. Then when I was twelve I was headline news. I was awarded a national science award; I was overflowing with promising potential, people said.” Daniel paused for a while taking a second to gather his thoughts together. He smiled sadly. “He loved me; he was interested in everything that I did. He took me with me with him everywhere, and I did the stupid thing of making my father my role model.”

“I should have known it was too good to be true.” Daniel laughed sorrowfully. “I soon found out the kind of man my father truly was, when he dumped me the second I was no longer in the spotlight. I never felt so let down, so destroyed. I let him become my hero, what a mistake I made. He is no hero.” He was glad that Cassidy was sleeping. A tear left his eye, slithering its way down his cheek. He pulled his jumper over her a little more and she smiled sweetly in her sleep.

“I am so sorry I couldn’t take you to the hospital.” Daniel gazed upon her form. He felt better now that the colour had returned to her cheeks. “You would have become a cheap spotlight for my father. People would see you are with me and you would be in the spotlight.” He knew that Cassidy would appreciate his choice, only if she knew.

“I never tell him anything. Even if important, he would manipulate me again. He would use my condition as a pathetic way to gain sympathy.” Daniel wanted to curl up and stay there for eternity. “I don’t want sympathy!” His voice had taken a dark tone, his voice ringing around him. His breathing was ragged and anger was coursing through him. “I just want to prove, prove to someone that I’m not what they think I am. I am not the heartless monster my father is. I will never be like him.” He stopped talking wondering aimlessly in his confusing thoughts.

The argument in his head was silent. He was debating on what he should do. He knew that he would have to go through with it eventually but he knew that it would be risky. No, he thought, I can wait. “My father used my mother for popularity, it was such a shame she married such a vile man. We agreed to keep my condition a secret for the better good, so he couldn’t use me too. No one else knew just me and her.” He said it with such admiration in his voice.

“I miss her; he used her death as a pathetic method of sympathy. He turned her funeral into a TV commodity. It sickens me to this day.” The bitter tone faded. He was done about the topic. He had confessed enough for now.

He had enough. He felt the weight lessen on his chest, but it did not completely lift. He lay down by her side in the tent placed another blanket on Cassidy. He just smiled at her. Happy that now she is safe with him, sleeping so peacefully.