| Sometimes time is your friend, sometimes time is your enemy. Time makes you forget,and causes the pain of remembering. Time is all that is, and all that will be, but can destroy with the hint of a single memory. Darien Chiba had it all! He had a family, a mother and a father who loved him very much. He had a sister named Angela, and even though she was annoying, Darien loved her anyway. He had a house and he went to Cross Roads High School. He was sixteen years old in his junior year and he was having a great time. Darien was popular with everybody but still managed to keep his grades at a very good level. Yes, Darien had the "model life" but he always felt that something was missing. One day after school, thunder and lightning began to strike. Darien had to walk home from school and he knew he was going to get very wet. So instead of walking home with his best friend Andrew like he always did, he took a short cut that day toward the small bridge that went over the creek. When he got there, he saw a figure standing outside the railing of the bridge and it appeared as if she was about to jump! Darien ran as fast as he could over to the figure and grabbed her arm. A tear stained face turned to look at him, and she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. "Why won't you let me jump?" she screamed at him. She had long blonde hair that flowed to her ankles in shiny golden locks. She had eyes that made you want to bow in front of her and worship her! They were a deep blue, like that of an untouched ocean, pure and simple beauty. One of the millions of questions floating around in his head managed to surface in his mind, why would such a beautiful person want to end their life? What would possibly drive her to end God's gift? "I can't let you jump." Darien managed to squeak. "I'd never forgive myself if I did. Now come back over the railing, you're going to get sick." Lighting flashed, thunder roared, and rain fell, but she was stubborn and would not listen. "I have nothing left to live for! Just let me jump and all of this will be silenced. You will have no guilt if you let me go, but you will have my soul on your shoulders if you force me to live!" These words floored Darien, he didn't know what to do. He wanted nothing more than to let go and pretend he'd never seen her, but how would he live with himself knowing that he let another human being end their life? Darien tightened his grip around the young girl's arm. "I won't let go of you!" he said with confidence. With that, the girl's kind and confused features turned angry and she screamed in rage, "Fine, then you're coming with me!" The girl took one last quick look down at the creek, which was raging beneath her. It was at least a twenty foot drop, so even if she managed to survive the fall, the current would pull her down. She whispered, "Lord, please help me." Darien's eyes widened at what she said. She asked God for help, she didn't want to do this. Then.....why? She stepped off of the edge of the bridge. Darien didn't let go, so just as the girl expected to drop, she was hovering in mid air. She looked up to see this man, who was holding her an inch from death, at the risk of falling and dying himself. He didn't even know her, yet he was teetering on the edge of life for her! She looked up into his eyes and saw how gorgeous he was. His silky ebony hair moved with the wind and rain. Lighting struck, giving her enough light to see his kind blue eyes, which seemed to care way too much. The haze of grief she felt lifted, and she finally realized what she was doing and held with both hands to the man who was her savior. She screamed, "Please, help me up!" Darien pulled the girl back up with ease at first, but suddenly it began to rain harder, and she was beginning to slip. He was near letting go, when the girl gave out a sob and said, "Don't blame yourself, this is at my hands, not yours!" With that, she fell into the ice water below and was swept under by the current. Darien wouldn't give up, he took off his jacket, and jumped in after her! 'Why am I doing this?' he thought as he hit the water. 'I don't even know her, but it feels like I have an obligation to protect her!' Darien saw her just ahead of him, she was struggling to keep her head above the water, and was doing well, but let out a scream when she looked ahead. Darien's eyes widened, a waterfall was coming up! Thinking fast, Darien swam as hard as he could and grabbed the girl. She was like a goddess, with confused eyes, she screamed over the noise of the water, "Let me go, save yourself!" He couldn't believe it. After all that, she was still willing to sacrifice herself for him, and she didn't even know him. It was as if they were feeling the same thing for each other. Darien tightened his hold around her, signaling to her that he wouldn't give up. She put her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder. She trusted him completely, and it felt good to hold her. Getting his attention back on the situation at hand, he saw at the edge of the falls a tree that had branches that stretched out over the creek. He swam in the direction of the tree as the girl switched positions and got in back of him. She put her arms around his waist and put her head on his back. When the two teenagers were under the tree, Darien held on to a nearby stone and yelled to the girl, "Get on my back and climb on to the branch!" She looked at the tree, she knew that she would easily be able to cross over to the land, but if he fell, she'd never forgive herself. However, seeing how insistent he was about her going first, she complied with his wishes. She got onto his shoulders and put her hands on the branch of the tree. She climbed over to the land and screamed over to him, "Now you!" Darien did the same, and made it to land easily. They looked at each other. Serena's arm was badly bruised and her side was bleeding. She began to cry. "I'm so sorry!" she whimpered. "I never wanted anyone else to get hurt." He was understanding, and held her in his arms, it felt so right. You will fly and you will crawl, God knows even angels fall! They walked together back to the bridge. Darien picked up his jacket and reached in the pocket. "What's your name?" he asked. The girl gave him a questioning look and said, "My name is Serena Tsukino. What's yours?" "I'm Darien Chiba." he replied. Darien pulled a cell phone out of his jacket pocket and then put the jacket around Serena, resting it on her shoulders. The jacket was wet from the rain, but wasn't too cold since he'd taken it off before he jumped in. Darien dialed 911. Serena looked at him curiously. An operator picked up. "911, what's your emergency?" Darien took a second to look at Serena's terrified face. 'What's he going to do?' she thought. "My friend and I fell in the creek and we would like an ambulance sent to us just to make sure everything is ok." The operator asked where they were and he gave her the location of the bridge. "They're on their way!" said the operator. "Thank you." replied Darien as he hung up the phone. "You lied." said Serena. "What, you thought I'd be crazy enough to tell them that I jumped in an ice cold creek after a suicidal goddess? They'd have me put away in a red hot second!" Serena giggled. There was a minute of uneasy silence before two ambulance trucks arrived. Both teenagers were strapped to gurneys and were seperated. Serena reached out her hand toward Darien. "Darien, don't leave me!" "Don't worry Serena, I'll see you at the hospital." The last thing he saw before being lifted into the ambulance was Serena's terrified tear stained face, longing to be held by him again. 'God, please protect her.' .....Lost your heart, now you don't know who you are!
~Neo Queen Tori~ |