Fragile {On Permanent Hold}

Chapter Seven - Dealing With Pain

An hour following the incident in the gym, Lex, Josh and I finally decided we would bunk off.  Josh had a lot on his mind and the last thing he needed was the stress of school.  We sat on an old, abandoned ridge above the river.  Josh was sitting, curled in a small ball, staring out onto the river.  I sat with him, just watching.  Lex came up behind us, sporting a large plastic bag.  He took out three bottles of alchohol and smiled.

"Managed to snag some liquor from the store," he handed me a bottle, then gave Josh one.

Josh used a keychain bottle opener to open the drinks.  We all clinked them together and toasted to our fallen friend.

"To Amy; for being the best friend in the world," I tilted the drink slightly in an ode of rememberance.

Lex was next, "Although I didn't know you, you were an awesome person," he repeated my actions.

Finally, Josh, his eyes tearing up - I knew this would be difficult for him, "For being yourself, Ames.  F-For sticking by me, whatever the drama, for being absolutely beautiful.  For loving me.  I-I miss you, and it burns in my heart everyday.  Y'know, I still say, 'I wonder where Amy is?'" he let out a soft sob, "Then I remember that you're gone, and everything hurts even more.  I-I will never forget you, not when I'm old a-and grey, or on my deathbed, I'll tell my children and grandchildren of you, and mean each and every kind, l-loving word. Because they're true.  I love you so damn much.  And I will never understand why you'd... You always seemed so happy, so upbeat.  Oh, God.  Um... You will always have a massive place in my heart, Amy.  I-I.." he inhaled, then added, "Sleep well, sweetheart." Finally he raised his, then we all took long swigs.

We ended up finishing an entire crate of beer, leaving Josh and I hammered.  Alex was the only sober one, and that was a term that was used rather loosely.  Josh was mellow and hilarious whilst intoxicated, lying back on the soft, lush green grass, snickering to  himself about something.

"What?", I asked, "What's the joke?"

He gave another small chuckle and said, "School's still learning and we're drunk!"

I laughed alongside him and so did Alex, his hand over his face.  I stood up, taking my slimline black iPod touch out of my bag.

"Black again, Al?", Lex asked, "God, you're so emo!"

"I'm not denying it!", I slur slightly.

I flicked through my songs and put on some heavy metal song; I knew both Lex and Josh liked the genre.  The vocals for the song came on and I began slowly dancing, as well as my attempt at singing - lets just say drunk singing was not my forte.  Drunk, I stumbled about, not really noticing how far from the edge I was - or I should say, how close to it I was.  But Lex did.

"Alice, watch out!", Lex cried, startling me so much I fell.

Falling backwards through the air, I felt the wind push down hard against me.  Using all my strength, I grabbed the ledge, screaming.  My head thrummed, my grip was slipping.  Josh and Alex were leaning over the edge, their arms out, both yelling for me to grab them.  I tried to reach but I was an inch from touching Lex's hand.

I made another attempt to grab one of their hands, but ended up losing my grip and next thing I knew, I was plummeting to my doom.

"Alice!", screamed Josh.

Something then caught me; like an invisible field.  I looked up to see Alex straining, his hands heaving as if he was pulling a rope.  I was moving closer to safety, I could see Josh trying to reach for me once again.  I rose my arm and grabbed his, feeling his strength.  Alex's power subsided and my legs were flailing again, panicked.  I screamed again, the noise resounding through the crisp air.  Josh used most of his strength to pull me up and I landed on his chest, breathing hollowly.   Lex had a small nosebleed from overusing his energy.  But I hadn't seen anything like that before.