"Well if I've been deemed your savior I need to stick around."

"Don't sit down there you'll get splashed. Come on up here."

"I'm not climbing the tree."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh I see. My savior is chicken."

"I'm not chicken."

"Chicken."

"Idiot."

"Bak. Bak. Bak."

"Fine!" She scrambled up and without much thought climbed up the side of the tree and sat next to him. "Happy now- oh we're up high..." She gripped his arm tightly.

"Oh," he said softly. "You're scared of heights..."

"Thanks Captain Obvious! How do I get down!"

"You don't. You'll make sure I don't fall in the river and I'll make sure you don't fall out of the tree. Deal?"

She nodded slowly. "Deal."

~~~~

She hurried down the river bank calling his name. She had assumed he was ignoring her. That was until she heard the splash.

She screamed his name as she ran as fast as she could. Time passed painfully slowly as she looked for him. Finally she spotted him clinging to a rock panic evident on his face.

"You idiot!" She screamed.

"It's not like planned this!" He shouted back. "Help! Please! I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"Not now stupid!" She shouted searching for a branch or something to reach out to him. Finding nothing she took off her jacket and grabbed a sleeve and swung it toward him. He grabbed it with his left hand but his right lost the grip of the rock. He began to go downstream. Only this time he pulled her in with him.

~~~~

Two souls washed up downstream later. Both lay soaked and breathing heavily on the river's bank.

"We're alive?" He said but it came out more as a question.

"We're alive," she repeated before she started laughing with relief. "We're alive!" She pulled him in a hug.

"I'm so sorry," he told her. "I should have said those things-"

"And I shouldn't have ignored you. But that's not important right now. Right now I want to know what the hell you were thinking!"

He sighed and stared at the water now calm again. "I don't know. I was just thinking about my mom and then next thing I knew, I was in the water..."

"Your mom?"

"Yeah... She loved the river despite the danger. One day, she my dad and I came down here for a picnic. I tripped over a rock and scraped my knee. I was crying and she started to try to make me laugh by doing a funny dance... The edge of river bank gave way under foot. She slipped in... My dad has blamed me ever since..."

She didn't respond at first. "You come here to be close to her." He nodded once and she pulled him in a hug. "Come on," Let's go before my mom sends out a search party."

He gave a small smile as they both rose walking back upstream in silence. Both froze when crying reached their ears. Around the corner a girl was crying as she knelt at the base of a tree. Dying flowers were lying around her and a fresh bouquet sat on her lap. On it was sign. The sign had two sets of names, dates, and ages.

"I miss you so much sis..." The girl sobbed.

She stared at her sister in disbelief as things settled in. They didn't make it...

She heard a splash behind her and turned to see a multitude of faces staring back at her from the river. One of those faces was his. A smile nearly split his face as he embraced a woman. His mother... she realized. He look so happy standing with his family. Why couldn't she have that?

She looked back toward her sister and reached her hand out. Her sister looked up and looked past her at the river. The sister stood walking closer before she shook her head and ran off.

She frowned.

"It's okay," said the voices behind her as one. "She'll be back. They always come back and join us."

She nodded and looked at the river and jumped in without hesitation. Submerging herself until her sister comes back. She didn't want to be lonely.

~~~~

Song: Drown. By Bring Me The Horizon

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