And Then, There Was You…

“Save her.” As I hear a barely audible female whisper, I look around my surroundings and find myself standing on the side of a road. A young girl, who looked about my age, was lying next to me, on the ground, unconscious. Noticing that her clothes were wet, I took off my jacket, wrapped it around her, and held her close to me, to keep her warm. While sitting here, it starts to feel a little like deja vu. Suddenly feeling a sharp pain on my shoulder, I immediately placed my hand over it. My clothes were now completely soaked, whereas just a moment ago, they were dry.

Lifting my hand from my shoulder, it was now covered in blood. ‘What the hell? How did I get hurt? What’s going on? How did I get here? And what happened for this girl to just be laying on the sidewalk like this?’

“Mmm…”

Hearing her, faintly moaning, brought me back to the situation at hand. No longer caring about my arm, I moved the wet hair that was stuck to her face, so she could open her eyes. Gently placing my now bloody hand on her head, I was expecting her to have a fever. Instead, she felt like she just came out of a freezer. I only knew that a lifeless body could feel this cold, so I couldn’t help but wish that she had the latter.

“Hey! Can you hear me?” I asked the girl, trying to make sure she was still alive.

“Mmm…” moaning a second time, she grabs onto my shirt, like she wanted to tell me something.

“Don’t force yourself to speak. Let’s focus on getting you warm.” I see her lips still moving, so I brought my ear close to her mouth so I could hear her better.

“Mmm… mmom. Mom.”

“ ‘Mom’? Your mom? Hold on, your mom is…”

“Save her.” Thinking it was the girl in my arms speaking, I looked at her and said, “Don’t worry, the ambulance will be here soon. Your mom will meet you at the hospital.” ‘What am I saying? How do I know that the ambulance is even coming?’

“Save her!” The voice rang louder this time, but seeing that the girl had passed out in my arms, it couldn’t have come from her. So now the question is, where is the voice coming from?

“Save her!” Hearing it for the fourth time, I started to feel irritation build up inside me.

‘What?! I am “saving her”! What more do I have to do?!’ I couldn’t understand why, but I suddenly felt drawn to a lake that appeared right in front of us. ‘That wasn’t just there, was it?’ In the middle of the lake, I saw bubbles rising to the surface, disrupting the natural flow. As I sat there, watching, all I could hear were the same words being said over and over again, “Save her….Save her….You must….save her!” ‘Could there be someone drowning? I guess there’s only one way to find out. Wanting to jump into the lake, I try to rest the girl down on the ground. ‘Wait…what the fuck?! Why won’t my body move? There’s obviously someone that needs help, but I can’t move!’ Trying to find another alternative, I see a group of people that looked like they were arguing, just a few feet away. I go to call out to them, “Hey!” But even though I could hear myself, it didn’t seem like they could hear me. I call out again, “Hey! Someone still needs help! We have to help them!”

“Save her! You must!” Still hearing those words, but not understanding why no one could hear me, I looked towards the lake again, and the bubbles started to subside. When the bubbles completely stopped, so did the voice. I slumped, let out a long sigh, and tightened my grip around the sleeping girl. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t save them.”

“What do you mean, ‘you couldn’t’? You didn’t even try.”

“What?” Noticing that this voice sounded more physical, I knew for sure, this time, it was the girl talking, in my ear. I shifted my position to look at her face and her eyes were completely jet black and her skin black and blue, like she’s been underwater for a while.

“You should’ve just let me die too.”

After hearing those words, I find myself staring at my bedroom ceiling.