O Death ⇉ Paul Lahote

three

Heidi's eyes flashed open, as she took a deep inhale of breath as she coughed up water. Why am I alive? I should be dead – why am I not dead? She sat up on the sandy floor, looking around her to see if she could find anyone. Her eyes fixed on the bare back of a boy who was tending to a small fire that was in front of him, hidden from Heidi's view. She was tempted to ask about why he was shirtless when she realized that she was wearing someone else's shirt, which she guessed was his.

Tearing her eyes away from the boy's back, Heidi studied her body to make sure nothing was broken or seriously injured but all she found were bruises and a couple of cuts – nothing too serious. A huge wave of relief came over her to know that her injuries weren't life threatening – rather ironic thinking that several hours beforehand, she was standing on top of a cliff and ready to jump and end her own life, now she was checking if her injuries were bad.

Slowly walking up towards the boy, Heidi cleared her throat to catch the boy's attention instead of tapping him on the shoulder since her gloves would've still been on the cliff side, along with all her other possessions. She wondered about her things; if they would still be where she left them or if they'd been stolen and sold on the back market already. Perhaps a slight exaggeration but in this day and age, it wouldn't be such a stretch.

The boy turned around and Heidi's eyes widened as she saw the boy she had seen at the train station when she first arrived in La Push. With her eyes looking as if they were about to pop out of her skull, she took a couple step backwards until the boy grabbed her arms. "Don't freak out! Please don't freak out."

For a moment Heidi couldn't speak – either out of shock or being told not to freak out – she didn't know but almost all she could do was shake her head before the power of speech returned to her. "Why did you save me?! I didn't want to be saved; you should've let me drown. I wanted to go, but you decided to bring me back to living a life of hell," she practically screamed at him, forcing her way out of his grasp and turned away from him, walking towards the woods.

He followed after her, almost running after Heidi. "I couldn't just let you die!"

Heidi paused at his words, slowly turning around to face him. "You don't even know me! I'm a monster, I don't deserve to live after the things I've done."

"You're making it sound like you've killed someone."

"That's because I have."

He watched Heidi walk further into the woods before speaking up once again, sighing as he did. "You're going the wrong way."

Heidi paused again, turning around. "What?"

"I'm guessing you want to go back to the cliff to get your stuff or to jump off again – although, I'm hoping it's the first – you're going the wrong way."

Heidi rolled her eyes, her arms folding over her chest. "And which way should I be going?"

"Look, I'll take you; it'll take longer explaining the route than walking there." He sighed, walking in the opposite direction of Heidi.

Heidi's eyes narrowed before she reluctantly followed him, catching up to him quickly so they were walking side by side. "If you're planning on leading me into a trap where other members of your cult show up and try to rape me or murder me and use me for satanic purposes, just know that I'm not as fragile as I appear to be."

"I can assure you that I'm not planning on doing anything like that, I'm Paul, by the way." Paul chuckled a little to himself as he held his hand out towards Heidi.

Heidi glared at his hand for a moment before looking forwards once again, her hands digging into her pockets. "I'm Heidi; and I don't shake hands or any form of touching without gloves on."

Paul slowly lowered his hand and buried it into the pockets of his shorts. "You're not one of those germaphobes, are you?"

A small smile came onto Heidi's lips as she shook her head. "No, I just don't do touching of any kind without my gloves which is why I was going back to the cliff."

"So you weren't going to jump again?"

Heidi looked at him for a moment before looking back in front of her. "No, since the last jump failed; it seems I need to look for another way to end my life."

Paul frowned, trying to not let it show that listening to his imprint talk about killing herself was hurting him. "Can I ask why you want to do it?"

Heidi sighed deeply, shrugging her shoulders. "My parents disowned me after I accidentally killed my older sister, so I came here for help but no help came so I figured that nobody wanted me on Earth anymore so why keep going?"

I want you here on Earth Paul wanted to say but decided against it since he didn't want to freak Heidi out with his sudden care for her. "Is it rude to ask how it happened?"

Heidi looked towards Paul, noticing the way he was looking at her. In literary terms, he was looking at her as if she was the sun and he was a man trapped in the darkness, waiting for the light to come to guide his way home. Or perhaps, she was his home and he wanted to find a way back to her. Either way, the look he gave her was clear that he cared about her to some degree – she would've been an idiot not to notice it.

Shaking her head she didn't say anything for a while, either debating if she should tell him her deadly secret or if she should spare him and let him live a life without it.

It wasn't until the pair arrived at the cliff side that Heidi spoke up, slowly sliding her hands into her gloves. "It's a long story, Paul. I highly doubt you would want to listen to it in its entirety."

"I've got time."

Heidi looked at him for a moment before sighing heavily and beginning her story.