Love is a Losing Game

LIALG - Chapter 4

All around me was darkness, infinite and green, like my mother. All around me was cold and unforgiving, like how I was raised to act. All around me was pressure, squeezing the life out of me until I did what she wanted. There were many times I had felt like giving up, like fighting was useless. It was never more true than in that moment. But then, everything changed.

A tight grip encased my tiny wrist, and I was being pulled upward. Pulled towards the surface, where I could finally breathe. Pulled towards the sun, which would bask me in light and warm my very soul. That's what she did for me. That's what Evie did for me.

It wasn't easy; my eyes, throat, and lungs burned from the salty sting of the sea, frustrated she had not managed to take me. My muscles cramped and my teeth chattered from her cold embrace.

"You're okay; it's okay," a soft voice assured as I expelled the rest of the unforgiving sea from my body.

How could someone say that? It was never okay, not on The Isle. Warm arms around my shoulders felt blazing and painful against my icy skin.

"W-w-what are you-" I managed to get out before my lungs clenched and I experienced another coughing fit.

"Shhh, you swallowed too much water; you're going to hurt yourself! Just breathe, in and out," the small voice directed, and I did as it said despite my discomfort.

"G-get o-off me," I argued weakly, barely able to speak, but my body was in no position to fend off the strong grip of my savior.

"No! We need to hug, or you're going to get hypothermia!" the voice commanded, and my head lolled against the body holding me.

"S-s-sounds fake," I muttered, my body shivering violently against my will.

"It's not fake! I read about it!" the voice defended. "It's when you get too cold and then you die; just sit still!"

My eyes were heavy and still stung from the salt, but I pried them open anyway. At first, all I saw was blue. Dark blue hair: stringy, slick, and dripping. Dark blue clothes: shriveled and sticking tightly to her body. The girl was small, but still much bigger than me. That wasn't saying much, though; I was always smaller than everyone else. I wondered how she could read if she was near my age; my mother had never bothered to teach me. Most villain parents never bothered to teach their kids.

Then she glanced down at me. Her eyes were brown, but also kind of red. Like the really good apples you could only find if you went to the food drop off station on delivery day. Her lips pulled into a shaky smile when our gazes met, and I momentarily wondered if I had, indeed, died. My heart skipped a beat, and I stopped breathing for a while, but then body convulsed from the cold once more to remind me that I was still alive. A stray water drop fell from the girl's nose, and my eyes squinted in realization.

"Y-you're all wet, t-too," I noted, but she just shook her head in reply. Something shiny in her hair glinted into my eyes, and I closed them instinctively.

"We'll be okay, we just need to warm up," she said, but her eyes told me she was worried, too. She shifted her body so that I was sitting in her lap and her arms and legs were wrapped around me.

I couldn't see her face now, but I could feel her body begin to tremble. It was fall, and there was no way the sun alone would shine bright enough to save us. How had this little girl jumped into the sea knowing she might die? Why had this little girl jumped into the sea to save me, someone she had never even met? That was certainly not the evil thing to do.

Inspired by her bravery, I decided to be good, too. I took some deep breaths and concentrated until I could feel my dragon within waking up. I focused so hard that my teeth hurt from being clenched so tightly, but eventually, I felt it. I felt my dragon heat creeping through my veins.