Becoming by Raine Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

survivors.”
     
    The pond was a murky womb, a sensory
deprivation chamber that left Gabriel floating without thought or
feeling for a suspended moment in time. Only his body’s desperate
need for oxygen finally pulled his consciousness forward.
    Amber.
    Their limbs were still entwined, but his
sudden movements to push toward the surface provoked no reaction
from her. She wasn’t moving.
    Now driven by panic, he grasped her arm and
kicked, propelling them both up. He broke through the surface and
dragged in huge gulps of air, coughing and sputtering when some
water found its way into his lungs. She didn’t move, her body dead
weight. He wasn’t a very practiced or skilled swimmer, but he was
strong and he was determined. Kicking his sport sandals off and
hooking his left arm under her armpits, he used his legs and right
arm to pull them closer to the pond’s edge. Two hard kicks had them
close enough that his feet could touch the bottom.
    “Hang on, Am,” he gasped around the water
splashing in his face. “Hang on, girl.”
    It became a litany as he hauled her onto the
grass beside the water.
    Oh, God…please, please, please help me
remember the lessons from health class , he thought frantically
as he straightened her prone form and tilted her head with shaking
hands.
    After confirming that she wasn’t breathing,
he positioned himself beside her like he remembered learning with
the CPR dummy in class. But this wasn’t a dummy—it was Amber, and
she was pale as milk edging toward blue. His stomach threatened to
revolt. He had never been this frightened in his entire life.
    Pinching her nose closed, he leaned down and
began resuscitative breathing. Once. Twice. Three times.
    “Come on, Amber,” he demanded hoarsely.
    She remained lifeless. He couldn’t bring
himself to check her pulse. He sensed that the impact of finding
her heart unresponsive would send him over an edge that he couldn’t
afford to approach. Instead, he moved almost robotically to her
side and felt for the right spot on her chest to begin
compressions.
    This can’t be happening. This isn’t
real.
    It felt like hours rather than seconds had
passed when he moved back up and once again began administering
life-giving breaths. This time, she responded. Her chest issued an
odd, almost whooshing sound and then she promptly expelled water.
Quickly rolling her onto her side, he closed his eyes briefly and
drew a shuddering breath. She really was going to be okay.
    She coughed and gasped and clutched at the
grass. When she started to push herself up with rubbery arms, he
reached for her instead.
    “God, Amber, you scared the hell out of me!”
He couldn’t prevent the tremor in his voice as he sat and pulled
her into his lap, clutching her against him. “You have no
idea…”
    She began shaking. Her eyes widened.
“Gabriel, I—”
    “You’re fine,” he interrupted, his voice
firm. He held her now-cool amber gaze with conviction.
“Everything’s fine.”
     
    Though Gabriel wanted to take her to the
hospital, Amber steadfastly refused. She couldn’t even begin to
imagine how they would explain the circumstances of her condition
to a healthcare professional. Besides, she knew from prior
experience that her energy would return rather swiftly if she just
allowed herself to rest. Though she was the first to acknowledge
that this was the closest she had come to, well, dying , she
simply couldn’t face a host of questions and the possibly lifelong
ramifications of going public, even for the sake of her
well-being.
    So she remained in Gabriel’s lap and embrace
until her trembling subsided and she began to feel more like
herself. Although she figured it should have felt strange being
held like this by the guy who had been her best friend since she
was twelve, it didn’t. And she found herself willing to acknowledge
that she had wondered for some time how it would feel.
    “Are you okay?” she asked after a few minutes
of silence.
    She tensely