The Obstreperous

Chapter 15

I come to, but everything feels like a dream at first. I'm still alive? I'm alive. How am I alive? I realize that I landed on a cliff. It was still a pretty far drop though.

I try to tell the others that I'm still alive, but nothing comes out. Up above me Kyle is still hanging onto the ledge so I guess I wasn't really knocked out for more than a few seconds. Everything's so blur I can't even see his facial expressions, but I do see what he's about to do. I know what Kyle is going to do now because I know Kyle. He isn't about to just save himself and cry about it later, no. He's going to try to save me. I see him let go of the ledge and a bunch of arms reaching to grab him, but they're all too slow. He lands, but is extremely careful not to land on me.

"Ugh," he grunts from the painful landing, but he's much more graceful than I was. He ignores the pain and looks at me. My eyes fall shut before he can say or do anything.

I feel a buzzing in my head. I try to move, but it doesn't work at first. Me moving at all just makes the buzzing and pain worse.

I, stupidly, sit up fast and throw myself against the wall behind me, just increasing the pain.

Kyle's cold hands pressed up against my shoulder trying to balance me. He's still blur, but I try to keep my eyes open.

My throat is dry and has a lump like I'm going to vomit.

"Help." That's all I can make out. I think that if I say another word then I will vomit.

He grabs me by my shoulders and twist my body so that my head is lying down on his legs then brushes my hair out of my face.

I press my hand against my head trying to force the headache out or something. When it doesn't work I take my hand off of my head, but when I look at my hand it's covered in blood.

I look for a hand injury and find none so I assume it's from my head.

I start to cry. I can't suppress it because right now everything hurts, but my head is by far the worst. Kyle keeps stroking his fingers across my cheek, but he says nothing. Then again there isn't anything he can say – no magic words that will make it all vanish.

My vision is clearing up and I that see he's hurt too – blood runs begins at his forehead and runs all of the way down his neck.

I suddenly jump up from my lying down position and lean over the ledge. Kyle quickly grabs my shirt to keep me from falling off the side of the ledge. This blood red vomit comes out of my mouth. The pain and headache was all just too much. I wasn't able to keep the vomiting inside.

"It hurts Kyle..." I cry. "Make it stop. Please, please, please make stop." I beg, but I know that what I'm asking him to do is beyond his capability.

I feel a warm teardrop fall onto my cheek, but it isn't mine. It's his.

"I know. I'm so sorry."

The pain is just too much! I want to be knocked out again.

"I... I think you probably have a concussion. You weren't supposed to fall asleep! You could have fallen into a coma. I... I tried to wake you up-"

"You can't wake someone up from a coma," I say being a know-it-all.

"Raquel!" Kyle yells to shut me up. "Why did you do that stupid thing? Why did you let go of my hand when we both could have been saved?!"

This conversation sort of just came out of nowhere, but I knew that he would bring it up sooner or later.

"You don't know that for a fact. For all you know we both could have died if I didn't let go. Besides, you're the one to talk. I sacrificed myself for your life and you let go of the ledge anyway! You're the insane one."