The first thing that hit me was how dreadfully cold the water was.
In contact with every inch of my skin, I felt sure that I would freeze before I found my mum.
Forcing my eyes open, despite the awful sting of the murky water, I kept them open, looking around myself, desperately trying to find her.
The water had looked so still from above, yet it seemed to be churning, chucking me around, making me fail in my attempts to search for her.
And it was so dark, I could barely see a thing!
I could feel the intense pressure of the water, pushing on my lungs, trying to force me to breathe.
My clothes did nothing to help me, they felt so weighed down by the water, but I pushed through. I tried to push myself downwards, away from the surface. But it was too dark to tell which way was up and which way was down.
Finally, below me I spotted a wisp of darkness, my mothers hair?
I kicked as hard as I could, trying to get down to her, but before I could something solid and hard smacked into me, as a reflex, my mouth opened, releasing my air and filling my lungs with water as I breathed in by accident.
"Mum!" I tried to scream, but only achieved swallowing more of the disgusting tasting water.
I couldn't remember where I had seen her, I couldn't remember which way to go. My lungs were straining, desperate for air. I tried to find my way out but I felt like I was kicking myself down, further into the water.
And then something grabbed me.
A strong arm, holding me tightly to a warmer body, pulling me in a direction that I couldn't see.
And suddenly I was choking.
Gushes of water were coming straight up and out of my throat, spewing onto the wooden boardwalk that I could now feel underneath my hands.
The water just kept coming up, how on earth had I possibly swallowed that much?
I had to have been under for only a minute...
Oh my god...
"Mum!" I gasped, sitting up, looking around me wildly and not seeing her.
"My friends are taking her to the hospital, she was unconscious." A smooth, melodic voice said, talking to me.
My eyes flickered around, until they landed on a tall guy, crouched down besides me. One of the ones from the lake, the one that had dark brown hair.
His skin was pale but it glowed with a kind of radiance, the kind that people photoshopped onto models to make them look flawless. There was not a single imperfection on his face, it was slightly unnerving. Despite the fact that he too, was completely drenched in water, his hair still lay perfectly against his head.
"Are you alright?" He asked, offering me a hand.
I frowned but took his smooth-skinned hand, pulling myself up.
My throat was burning wildly, but I no longer cared.
Turning away from the stranger, I walked down the boardwalk.
My trainers were squelching as a result of all of the water in them, and my jeans were stuck to my legs so tightly I'd have to peel them off later. I couldn't go home to change, I had to get to the hospital.
"Hey, wait!" He called out from behind me, and suddenly I felt a hand grab my arm and spin me around.
Wobbling on my feet as I turned, I was struck again by how flawless this boy looked... like a real life model.
I wondered briefly what he had been doing in the lake, along with his friends. Had they been filming something and I just hadn't noticed? Huh, maybe I'm going crazy...
He was still holding my arm, even though I had stopped and was now facing him.
For a moment I was transfixed, staring into his eyes, which were green, with tiny silver flecks in them...
Taking a deep breath, I remembered that he had just grabbed me. "Let go of me!" I shouted, wrenching my arm from his surprisingly strong grip and legging it down the rest of the walk.
He didn't follow me again, and I was glad. My mum was going to the hospital? I could feel the butterflies in my stomach.
She was going to be okay, right?
I cursed the fact that I didn't have enough money for a taxi, or even the bus.
The hospital was pretty far... It was in the nearest city, which was still an hour drive at least. And I would be walking.
I realised I was chewing my nails in frustration, and quickly took my hand away from my mouth.
How was I going to get there? I couldn't just not go, I was all she had.
And where was she right now? In a car with two strangers.
Was she awake? Would she answer her phone if I called her?
Fishing my own, crappy phone out of my pocket, I groaned in annoyance.
Water was already dripping out of it, when I flipped it open and pressed the on button, it flickered for a brief second. But the edges of the screen had clearly absorbed the water, and the graphics were seemingly messed up.
It quickly faded to black.
There was no way I could afford a new one. And anyway, my mothers phone must be in just as bad a condition. There was no way I could reach her.
What was I going to do!
I figured I would go home, and hunt around the house for some spare change. Maybe I'd find enough to get a bus across to the city.
And then what?
I couldn't think clearly, my shoes were squelching, every step I took seemed to push more water out of the shoes, and I hadn't been wearing socks. So the backs of them were rubbing into my heels painfully. I would have blisters for sure.
My jeans clung tightly to my legs, and my blouse was hanging down limply, completely soaked through.
It didn't help that my hair had become knotted in the water.
When I eventually reached my house, careful to avoid being seen by my neighbours (not that it mattered - like everyone, they tended to ignore me) to avoid embarrassment, I reached my hand into my back pocket for my keys.
I felt a deep sinking feeling when my fingers came back empty.
No!
Could this day get any worse?
I tried the usual trick of slamming my shoulder into the lock, hoping it would break. But that didn't work, of course not.
The one day the bloody lock does its job - really?
I sighed in annoyance, but there wasn't an awful lot that I could do. My keys had clearly come out in the lake, and they'd probably sunken right to the bottom by now.
And then I heard a ringing.
I frowned at first, looking down at the dead phone I had just taken back out my pocket. No... Definitely still dead.
Oh.
I pressed my ear up to the frame of the door, hearing the ringing increase in volume.
The house phone.
But I couldn't exactly get to it. It was inside, and I had no key.
What a truly awful day this was.
Hmm...
I took hold of the worn door handle, and turned it, preparing myself to tackle the door again, only it swung right open.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Mum used her trick to open the door, not a set of keys. I hadn't realised that the door would remain unlocked.
Either way, I rushed into the dingy front room and across to the small 'coffee table' which in reality was a cardboard box left over from when we moved here.
I took the phone in my hand, surprised that they hadn't given up with the call.
"Hello, is this Emilia?" A calming voice asked, but it was the kind of calm that felt patronising.
"It is." I confirmed.
"We have just spoken to your mother, and we believe that it is time for her to... Be in an environment more suited to her needs. Carter rehabilitation centre is a very nice place, where she would be comfortable and among others that share her struggles."
My blood ran cold, "I don't- No! I already told you people, I can look after her! She's fine with me!"
"That may be so, Miss Hill. However I am afraid that this is not your decision to make. On behalf of the Gainston Hospital, we have decided that it is in both yours and your mother's best interest. You are welcome to visit her, of course. But even you must understand that a near-death incident such as this one must be avoided in the future."
I closed my eyes, one hand raised up to the back of my head. "Look, I'm all she has! You can't separate us." I tried to speak firmly, but my voice was breaking.
"I am sorry, Emilia. But this is out of our hands. I can assure you this is the best course of action. Thank you."
The line went dead, but I kept the phone clasped to my ear, as though hoping they'd call back and tell me it was all a joke and we could have a good laugh about it.
But that didn't happen. And it wasn't going to happen.
I stayed there for a while, until the sweat collecting on my hands became enough to cause the phone to slip from my grip, hitting the ground with a resounding thwack.
I had never realised how quiet the house could be.
The silence was ominous, silence always meant something bad was about to happen.
But something bad has already happened, I couldn't imagine how it could get any worse.
I briefly wondered how this had all been arranged so quickly, how had they even gotten to the hospital so fast?
Then again, I didn't even know what time it was.
I couldn't believe that the last time I had physically seen my mother was when I had watched her fall straight into the water. Even when I closed my eyes, the image was still there. The feeling of raw panic still coursing through my veins.
Had that really been only hours before?
I badly wanted to see her, but I couldn't. It was too expensive, and I didn't have that kind of money.
But perhaps I would, soon? Without my mother here, I suppose I would have a little more money than usual... If I saved it up, maybe I would be able to visit her!
With that thought in mind, I turned to walk back towards the door, closing it where I had forgotten in my rush to get inside.
It was unlocked, but there was little that I could do about that other than slide the latch across.
It would do, for now.
Who would want to get in here, anyway? There was nothing of value, nothing that anybody would want.
For that reason, I wasn't too concerned about leaving it without a lock when I left for school in the morning.
Looking down at my feet, I noticed that a puddle of water was forming. I needed to change out of my wet clothes.
They were somewhat muddy because of the filthy water, and so I opted to leave them on while taking a shower. Hoping it'd be enough to clean them. Water bills were costly, and I tried to avoid using the washing machine as much as I could.
The water was only lukewarm, and it didn't do much to soothe my shaking form. The cool water of the lake had seemingly sent a permanent chill down my spine.
After only spending a few minutes in there, I began to peel off my clothes. They were stuck to me like a second skin, and though I was glad to be rid of the soggy layer, it did feel strange, like I had exposed a layer of skin that wasn't supposed to show.
It did feel good to put on some dry clothes though, but now I just wasn't sure what to do with myself.
I ended up picking up an old book that I had already read a hundred times, unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of being able to buy new books, and there was no library in Entrilin.
However, even a book couldn't distract my mind. It felt so wrong to be home without my mum, like a jigsaw with a missing piece.
I was so used to looking after her, listening to her ramblings about a great light. I didn't have any hobbies, what would I do now?
Free time was not exactly a luxury that I wanted, it was dangerous. Silence meant that I had time to think, and that was never a good thing.
I wasn't exactly a happy person, I was weighed down with the anxieties of having had to practically raise myself.
Normally I could keep myself distracted, I had a busy life. Every moment that I wasn't at work or school was spent taking care of the house or my mother.
But every now and again, when I had some time to myself, I would feel a sadness absorbing me like a fog. Life was not fun when you only had one person that hung around you.
And now that she wasn't home anymore, I wasn't sure what would be there to stop the darkness from consuming me.
I tried to stay upbeat, for the sake of my mother. That was easy, because I always put her needs before mine. She had little interest in her own well-being, and somebody had to put her first.
Everyone needed somebody to put them first, even if it wasn't easy.
It made me wonder, who would be there to put me first?
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Thank you so much everyone that voted on the last chapter!!! I'm usually pretty reluctant to write teen-fiction so it's a great motivator, haha!
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