Amber felt pensive as she watched
the icy stream trickle down the hill. It hadn’t been long since walking down
the block had seemed like an impossible journey, and now here she was eleven
miles into the wilderness. The afternoon sun felt warm on her back and she
could hear birds chirping in the trees.
A slight breeze teased her hair. It was well into spring but Amber could
still smell the last traces of winter on the mountain. As she sat her thoughts
drifted to the afternoon that had started it all, the day that had changed her
forever.
She could hear her mother crying. Even
though she was standing next to her bedside it felt far away. Amber felt like a
weight was crushing her chest. Like an invisible hand had grasped her lungs,
squeezing the life out of her. She wasn’t that fortunate though. She would
live, but she would never walk again. Amber felt rage well inside her. How
could he come in and in one sentence change everything about her life and then
have the audacity to say he had done everything he could. She felt tears roll
down her cheeks; they felt white-hot leaving streaks down her bruised face. She
heard her mother speak from the far off place next to her bed, quiet like the
volume had been turned down, “it’ll be ok honey, we’ll make it through this.
Amber
snapped back to the present and fought the overwhelming wave of melancholy that
accompanied remembering. She knew it was inevitable and it would only get
worse. NO one could fight it forever. “Two years,” Amber scoffed “might as well
have been two minutes.” She rolled a handful of pebbles in her palm throwing
them one by on into the stream watching them get swept away to new places. Amber’s heart ached. She wished she
could begin again as easily as the stones. This wasn’t her beginning though. It
was her end. Her breath caught and she once again felt the white hot burn of
shallow tears.
“WHY!”
She screamed. The birds stopped singing and a few flew away. “Why was I so
stupid! I knew better!” her breathing grew ragged as she clenched her teeth in
fury. It had been his fault. He had come when she was vulnerable and she had
too happily succumbed to his offer.
Two months had passed since Amber had come
home from the hospital and nothing had changed. She had listened to the lunacy
of distant relatives and idle friends about miracles and over coming
limitations. But no one could overcome a severed spinal cord. She would never
again leave this bed. She had accepted it, why couldn’t everyone else? “It’s
time to roll you over,” Anna said. Amber didn’t protest as the homely nurse who
helped her parents with her care turned her so she wouldn’t develop bedsores.
She almost never spoke anymore and when she did it was to insult someone. After
all misery loves company. Her anger never subsided. Anna left the room and
Amber looked through the window at the spring day. That was when she saw him, a
boy around her age. He was tall and slender with an impish face. He saw her
staring at him and smiled. His teeth glinted in the sunlight.
Amber
laughed bitterly as the pain rolled through her skull. She doubled over
clutching her head. It passed as quickly as it had come. She felt wet on her
lip. Her nose had started bleeding. It wouldn’t be long now she knew. The
memories had been flowing back for over a week now and the more they came the
sooner it would happen, the price of forgetting. The boy with the twinkling
smile had offered her something and she had accepted.
It was night; Amber could hear crickets
chirping outside. The boy smiled his teeth were dazzling, even in the dark. He
had been talking for a while but Amber couldn’t believe what he was saying.
Perhaps she didn’t want to. Nothing was more painful than to have hope only to
have it dashed away. “What do you think?” he asked. “ I dunno,” she said. “ It
sounds pretty crazy and don’t even know your name.” “My name is David,” he said
extending his hand. “Amber,” she replied curtly. “I can make all this go away
Amber. You’ll walk again; you’ll be able to live your life. You wont even have
to remember the accident. For two years I can take everything. All you have to
do is shake my hand. Isn’t two good years better than a lifetime of misery?”
Amber looked down at his hand still extended and grasped it.
The
pain came again, stronger than before. Amber’s body convulsed as she fell to
the ground. It felt like her mind was being seared away by invisible flames.
“AAGHHAHHAHH!” she screamed. Agony
ripped her body apart. Her back arched and she went limp and lost
consciousness. When she woke it was dark. The stream still gurgled past her and
the moon cast ghostly shadows on the hilltop. She knew he was there before she
sat up. “No,” she sobbed. David’s smile glinted in the moonlight. “It’s time,”
he said “go on now and pay the piper.” Amber cried harder as he strode towards
her. She tried to push herself up. Her arms felt weak and wobbly and she fell
back to the dirt. He was close now. She tried again pushing up with all her
strength. She stood and began to run.
Amber ran down the hill, fighting the soreness she felt all
over. She could hear David laughing behind her. She pushed herself harder.
Amber felt herself slowing. “What?” she cried in confusion. Her legs felt heavy
and moved sloppily. They began to drag. She looked behind; David had slowed to
a walk no longer giving chase. “You can’t run away Amber, A deals a deal.” Her
legs gave out under her weight, useless and dead. She pulled herself away from
him frantically with her arms dragging herself. Her breath came out in ripping sobs.
Tears soaked her dirt stained face and she could feel her finger nails
breaking. David stopped next to her and planted his foot in the center of her
back. Amber screamed as stabbing pains shot through her spine. He kicked her cruelly
and turned her over. “You’re out of time Amber.” His voice sounded cool and
calming. She saw his palm come down and felt it touch her forehead. The fire
burned through her again more intense than ever before. Everything came flooding
back. All that she had wanted to forget. Pain cascaded through her broken body
and then it was over. David’s face was finally somber. “You were one of my
favorites,” he said as he turned, leaving her lifeless body sprawled in the
dust.
The End
By Aoife Anderson
