Taste of Life - Chapter 31

The first thing Megan felt was the cold. It surrounded her, immobilised her. She was sinking fast, and it was all blackness even with her eyes open. The silence was crushing, pounding out all of her thoughts, her need to save Emily, even her will to fight as the water began to take her.

Deep inside her, a power began to awaken, one that Pyrok's human body had never known. Pyrok became alive once more within, though the human body was leaden. The embers were stirred, and the world went up in flames.

Without pausing to think of how she'd summoned her old powers, Megan pushed downward with renewed vigor. The fire saved her from the frigid water, but it wouldn't do anything to help Emily unless she got there in time.

Only a little bit away, Megan saw a drifting form, brown hair flowing around her face. Emily. She pushed towards her and held her, kicking the two of them to the surface. As Megan's fire began to flicker out, they burst out of the ice and into the night air.

Megan lifted Emily onto the dock, climbing up after her and lying very still. She was crying, but the tears froze as soon as they were touched by the bitter wind. Megan turned on her side to see Emily, still unconscious.

Megan closed her eyes again, and her breathing began to slow. Emily groaned, then launched into a coughing fit. Megan sat up, helping Emily into a sitting position as well. The night around them was the same as it had been, unconcerned with the human life at stake.

"Megan... you..." Emily tried to speak, her breathing heavy.

"Shh, it's alright now. I've got you," Megan said, her heart aching for Emily. I wish I had known sooner, she thought. I should've realised. The bathroom. The texts. The long sleeves and pants. I could've helped her. "I'll help you through this, I promise. Gosh, I should've known. I should've known."

Emily's shoulders shuddered, and they were both crying together, shaking and sobbing in the winter air. Emily turned towards her and they embraced, the snow tracing them dark outline against the stark whiteness.

"Megan... you've been so good to me." Emily shook her head, looking out over the lake. Her brown eyes looked so deep, and so impossibly tired at that moment. "I... but... you don't understand. I don't want to live. I can't."

"Em, we can get through this together. I'm sure things aren't as terrible as they seem. We can always find a way."

"No," Emily whispered. "You don't know what it's like. You're so bold, you couldn't possibly know. I thought that through pain, I could feel alive, but then I realised that feeling alive, that being alive isn't all it's made out to be after all. You shouldn't have rescued me. I don't want to live!

"It all started with my mother. It's you she left me on my own in college? It started even before then. She cared for me as minimally as possible, and it was always me cooking dinner, me cleaning the house, me organising the taxes and bills. Singing was the only place I could turn, and she even tried to take that from me.

"I was glad to be free of her. I thought that at college, it would be different. I had been bullied through high school, and it continued into college. Sometimes they bullied me about my religion, sometimes about my quirks and habits, and they knew I was too shy too say anything. They made me give them money. They told me to die, and it took me a long time to realise they were right. Too long. I could've escaped before now."

"My gosh. That's awful Emily! I'm so so sorry for you. But it'll be better now. I'm here. I can help you. Times can be hard. I know you can't really mean it- you see that there are those who love you-"

"I said I don't want to live! They were right, and it's the only thing that's left to me!" she cried, her eyes suddenly wild. She moved away from Megan, rolling off the dock and back into the freezing water.

"Emily!" she screamed, her voice raw. She didn't pay attention to the pounding of feet on the boards of the dock. "No! Emily!" Staggering to her feet, she lunged forward, but someone grabbed her by her waist. Crying, she struggled free herself and go after Emily again.

"Megan, Megan!" a voice shouted. "Meg, it's Thomas. You can't jump back in there. You can't!"

Thomas carefully let go and she fell to her knees, still sobbing. He knelt beside her, holding her shoulders comfortingly.

"Megan, if you go back in there, you're going to freeze. You'll die. I can't lose both of you. It's what she wanted, wasn't it? She wouldn't have been happy, right?" Thomas's voice began to shake, and Megan could tell that he was crying too. She considered the very same questions as Thomas dialled 911. The two of them sat there, broken on the shores of the lake as red light washed over them and sirens split the night.