Ember Kate

Chapter:: Six

I wake up to an uncomfortable pressure on my chest and the feeling like I’m a soggy newspaper. It’s a weird feeling, one I can’t say I’ve experienced before. Also, I hear two people arguing. I open my eyes a little bit, enough to see that it is still really dark outside and that Locklan is over my chest. His curly hair is wet and sticking to his forehead, and he’s breathing hard. He overlaps his hands and puts them on my chest, and I cough again.

“Aren’t you going to take her to the hospital?” I hear a female voice ask, and I can’t help but open my eyes now; letting them know I’m awake.

“She doesn’t need it.” Locklan breathes heavier, I hear him counting with each breath. “I can save her, I’ve done it before.”

“Stop being so stupid, you aren’t a professional. What makes you think you can save her?” I want to interrupt and agree with this smart sounding girl, and where did she come from? But I’m too tired and he just keeps pressing down on my chest.

“Locklan,” I croak. And I nearly scare myself, what happened to my voice?

“Ember,” he sighs and leans back on his bottom. “See? I told you I could bring her back.”

I stick to laying down, not knowing what he’s talking about. His eyes are wide and he looks genuinely freaked out. “What’s wrong Locklan?”

“What’s wrong? Are you kidding me? You went to drown yourself after we fought! I would have blamed myself. You would have gotten off easily, and I would spend the rest of my days blaming myself for your death and not saving you.” He looks angry, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen him upset. “I guess we’re both selfish.”

I look at him and can’t help but try to laugh, which comes out in an awkward noise that I blush to. “I guess we are.” I look over to the girl who looked about twelve. “What are you doing here?”

“I live around here; I usually come here at night. What are you doing out here?” she crosses her arms over her chest and I try not to laugh, because it’s already painful enough to talk. “And, I’ve been trying to talk this dummy into taking you to the hospital. But he won’t listen. What happened?”

The question turns serious, and I lose the urge to laugh at once. “I forgot how to swim.” I lie to her, and see Locklan is watching me. He gets up and shakes his head and starts walking. “Locklan, where are you going?”

“Home.” I hear him mumble, and I scramble to get up. I start having a coughing fit, and the girl tries to help me up. I almost call out for Locklan to come back and help me, but I decide to push on through and accept the young girl’s help. It takes a few minutes, and I’m pretty sure he’s back to the car by the time I’m standing.

“Thank you for helping me, there’s still some pizza in there I think. Bye.” I tell her as I start walking as fast as I can without winding myself. Every breath burns, my lungs feel like the edges are burning. I make my way to his car and I see him inside, barely. I have no idea what time it is, but I go to the passenger side and open up the door. “Locklan, listen . . .” I start, prepared to tell him to drop it and let’s never talk about this night again.

I hear him take a deep breath, his hands over his face, and I hear it break. The sound he makes, just something of a whisper, tells me that he is crying. A lump forms in my throat, he’s crying because of me. I also notice that his hands are shaking. I move over in my seat, as far as I can get without sitting on the thing that separates our seats and grab his hands.

“Don’t touch me.” He says, low and in a normal voice. I try not to be offended as I sit back. “I’m in over my head, how can I protect you against yourself? I can’t be there all the time for you. This has to stop.” He takes the keys out of his pocket and turns the car on, turning around and speeding down the highway. He stopped crying, wet tears are still on his cheeks that are shining from the streetlamps lined randomly along the road.

“Where are we going?” I ask him, my voice shaking and still stuck at a whisper. The ghost of water filing my lungs is haunting me as I rub my throat. I expect him to say home, but ask just for something to say.

“I’m taking you to a hospital. You need to be admitted.” His voice is eerily calm.

“I’m fine though, I’m obviously breathing.” I protest, knowing that they would end up calming my parents. I would get unwanted questions or they wouldn’t say anything, not sure of what’s going on with me.

“But here’s the thing, you aren’t. I’m taking you to a mental hospital where you can get help, because obviously I’m not doing anything for me. It was silly of me to think that I could save you.”

“Stop the car!” I shout, and I start screaming. I’m not going there, there’s nothing wrong with me. “If you take me there, I swear to god I will just run all the way home. Is that what you want?” My screaming isn’t as loud as it normally would be, but it does the job. He pulls over and I throw the door open, determined to run to the phone and call somebody. But who? The only person to call is trying to take me to the hospital. I start running and coughing, a bad combination.

“Ember! Get back over here,” Locklan shouts to me as I run further down the street. It being California, one would think that more people would be driving; but the streets were practically empty.

“Go away! I’ll just hitch a ride or something. I won’t let you take me there.” I yell back. After ten minutes of arguing and a bit of chasing, right before decide I should lie down from wearing myself out; he caves.

“You can drive, to ensure that I won’t take you there. I’ll just give you directions.” He holds the keys out, no hint of lying on his darkened features.

“But, I don’t even have my license.” I remind him, wondering if he will take his words back now.

“I know,” he comes over and grabs my arm. “I just can’t do this anymore. I can’t be the one who keeps saving you. One day, I won’t be able to be there.”

I look at him, wondering what he expects me to say. “Locklan, I didn’t even count on you being there the first time. You brought this on yourself.” I realize how harsh it would sound to him, but it’s the truth. “But, still, I won’t blame you if you don’t want to talk to me after tonight.” I inform him, knowing that’s not the truth. I would blame him. Everything was so confusing. I just wanted to be the bitch to tell him to get away and mean it, be fierce about it, and don’t take no for an answer. He would understand, and try to forget me; because that’s the best thing he can do since he likes a girl who’s so quite literally wrapped up in death. I made a promise to myself, and I will fulfill it.