Read Online Water by Terra Harmony - Free Book Online

no sign of him.  I pulled back wet strands of hair plastered over my face to see three men attempting to cross the slippery lake surface to get to us.  They would never make it in time.  I took a deep breath and went back under, this time mentally prepared for the cold.
    Visibility was poor at best.  I searched right beneath the ice as quickly as I could; Alex would have tried to return to the same spot.  I began swimming along, careful not to lose my own bearing of the hole.  My search attempts were cut short by the painful cry for air from my lungs.  Returning to the hole, I spotted Alex just on the other side.  His body was limp and starting to sink.  I quickly swam toward him and wrapped my arms around his waist, kicking up to the surface.  I struggled under his weight, and was now desperate for air.  Still, if I let him go, he wouldn’t have a chance.  I kicked and kicked but the hole didn’t seem to be getting any closer.  My lungs threatened to burst and instinct for my own survival took over.  I let him go.
    I paused as I said a silent goodbye.  Peculiar , I thought to myself, how he is rising instead of sinking .  Temporarily ignoring my aching lungs, I hung, suspended in time, watching his lifeless form float toward heaven.  He disappeared above me into the light streaming through the slick gray and white clouds.  Immediately after he was taken by the good Lord, I involuntarily started up the same path.  Something was grabbing at me, forcing me to it.  Not me, damn you!   I fought valiantly - but ultimately wasn’t given a choice.  Well, if I have to go, this is a mildly admirable way to do it.   Finally relenting, I embraced fate’s hold.
    Air found its way into my lungs, and the world came back to me.  Several very human hands pulled me out of the water.  Alex was already there, splayed out on an icy but stable part of the lake.  Someone leaned over him checking his pulse and encouraging him to open his eyes.  The two who had pulled me from the hole paused to make sure I was breathing, then turned to Alex to help administer CPR.  After briefly arguing who got to do the pumping and who had to do the ‘kissing’, they had Alex breathing again.
    He coughed up some of the murky lake water and looked around wild-eyed.  I reached out to hold his hand, and his demeanor became somewhat subdued until he noticed that I was just as soaked as he.
    "You fell in too?"  Alex asked through chattering teeth, a coughing fit taking over.
    I pushed aside wet strands of hair to see him more clearly.  They broke off right in my hand.  "It was more of a jump – though I didn’t know it would cost me my hair."
    He laid his head back on the ice as he realized what happened, "I owe you, Kaitlyn."
    "You owe me twenty to be exact, and I’ll hold you to it."  I flashed a big smile at him and received one in return.  Our eye contact was interrupted by the many blankets thrown over us produced by the arriving medics.  Most of them surrounded Alex as his skin was a very ominous shade of blue.
    Feeling returned to my body, followed by a sense of panic.  Sheer pain radiated through me, drilling into skin, muscle, then bone.  It made it hard to breathe and the world started to gray out.  One man broke through the haze and hovered over me.  Micah's warm, green eyes pierced through me and I felt my very blood bubble in conflict.  He was helping me to battle the cold, but it wouldn't go without a fight.
    Unperturbed and disregarding the presence of other men, Micah threw off his clothes and crawled under the blankets with me.  "Help me help you," he whispered into my ear.  "Force your blood to move, it will warm you.  Feel it flowing down to your toes and up and out into your fingers; complete the circle.  Faster, faster.  Fight off the frostbite."
    I concentrated, imagining it was his words pushing my blood through my body.  The magic worked, the pain subsided, and only a slight shivering was left