The Boy No One Knew
Chapter 77:
A Shoulder to Cry on
POV: Falin Cerenbus
I sighed, tossing a rock into the rushing river, watching it get swept away instantly.
"The river's wild today." Lumin commented sitting next to me on the bank.
"Yeah, so move back a little." I warned her. "Look how high it is, how fast it's moving."
"I'm fine." She told me, gesturing the foot and a half of space between her and the rushing river. "Why do you 'spose it's going so fast?" She asked after a moment, plucking some grass and tossing it into the river.
"It's been raining a lot lately." I replied thoughtfully. I sighed, laying back on the cold ground, staring up at the cloudy sky. Distantly, I could hear my friends laughing and calling to each other at the playground several yards away, and right now, Lumin and I were enjoying the sound and sight of the rushing river, hiding in our favorite spot, right behind some big bushes at the edge of the river.
"Hey Falin-" Lumin started, then screamed suddenly, but was cut off abruptly by a loud splash.
I sat up immediately, eyes scanning the empty ground where Lumin had been mere seconds ago. I leapt to my feet. I had warned her that she was too close! "LUMIN!" I cried, hurrying to the edge, eyes darting around. I started following the current, going as fast as I could, gasping in desperately, feeling my heart thumping uncontrollably in my chest, making me light-headed as I pushed my way through the thick bushes.
Just down the river some, I caught sight of her head bobbing above the water. She screamed again, a hand desperately reaching out to me. I picked up my pace as I saw her go back under, swept away by the raging current. I stumbled, tripping over a root and falling flat on my face. I gasped, feeling the air knocked out of me. I wasn't healthy enough to be doing this!
I gasped in desperately, dragging myself forward, fear for my little sister pulsing through my body. "Lumin!" I cried out weakly to her, seeing she had been caught up on a branch that hung over the river.
"Falin!" She screamed, clinging to the long branch desperately, her hands slipping on the wet limb. I struggled to the edge of the water and slid in, instantly feeling the icy water chilling through my blood. I fought the urge to succumb to darkness as I fought my way through the current towards her. I couldn't swim, not in the slightest, as the need had never arisen for me to learn how, but fear for her safety made me swing my limbs wildly to keep my head above the water.
"Lu-Lumin." I gasped as I reached her, grabbing onto her. "Go." I pushed her ahead of me, supporting myself with the branch, holding onto the back of her dress to keep her from being swept away as well. I felt weakness dragging at my body, now numb with the cold of the river. Normally, the water would feel wonderful to me, but like I said, lately, cold was affecting me more than it had used to.
I flailed uselessly, my limbs burning from the effort, my lungs aching. I gave Lumin one last shove and watched as she climbed up onto the bank. Relief making me weak, I no longer was able to fight the drag and my head was pulled under.
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