Lake of wishes and bonds.

Lake of wishes and bonds.

Sherlene took a deep breath, looked at the dark, murky water and slowly lowered her hand into it. “You shouldn’t do that you know,” a warm voice said behind her, “Why not? It’s just water, no?” she replied, turning her head as she spoke, finally making eye contact with the owner of such a melancholic tone, it was a boy,  with the darkest hair she’d ever seen and the most gorgeous dark colored eyes that shined like purple in the fading sunset that covered the forest they stood in, the boy was probably not that much older and taller than she was yet his clothes were all white with small tears and patches of dirt on it and his wrist was decorated with bracelets, his shoulders carried the weight of his backpack that had patches upon patches and was a navy blue color. 

“Well I mean you’re correct but I still wouldn’t trust it with the way it looks!’ Sherlene laughed, never in her life had she ever come across a boy that was such a coward, yet she somehow found him endearing in a way. “Haha!! You’re quite funny aren’t you? My name’s Sherlene, what's yours?” She wiped her hand on her bleached jeans and reached out a hand to the boy who, up close now she could see, was possessing a black eye, a cut along his lips and a dried up bloody nose, “Finnik, my name’s Finnik!’ he said while grasping her hand gently almost as if he was scared he’d harm the girl before him, that he’d also noticed wasn’t much different as he was,  as her dark skin was adorned in bruises and she had the largest and most beautiful, blue eyes full of wonder and a strange undertone of detachment. 

Over the years Sherlene and Finnik grew inseparable, they’d meet up everyday after school in the forest by the lake and talk about their lives and the events that happened during the day whether it was good or not and for special occasions such as birthdays they’d exchange mixtapes full of songs they had found over the months and DvD’s of movies each of them had watched online and thought the other would like and on most days Finnik would teach Sherlene how to make bracelets, they both had shared their traumas of school bullying, abuse at home and the dark and vicious thoughts that filled their heads at night, and due to this shared bond of trauma, if anyone were to ask the two how close they were, the boy and girl would say they were just as close as siblings, which made the news worse than it could’ve been.

It was two days before Sherlene’s seventeenth birthday and she had promised Finnik to meet under the large weeping willow tree that stood a few feet over the lake but while he waited watching the sun set with all its gorgeous shades of red, orange and yellow he noticed she was later than usual, eventually nightfall met him and he decided he’d visit her house to find out why she didn't show up only to see the flashing red lights, bright in the concrete driveway and her mother holding onto Sherlene’s father letting out hushed sobs. “ uhm..Mrs. Gane? What happened?” he let out a shaky breath as he reached to touch the woman before him, “she’s gone…” she spit out before she broke into another fit of tears “Sherlene’s gone, she’s gone, she’s gone, my daughter’s gone!”. The words ate at his ears and threatened to come out through his mouth, if she was gone why were her parents throwing away tears like she had meant something to them, why did they caress her face when the paramedics wheeled out her pale, lifeless and cold corpse from the grey, time worn house.  

Sherlene Gane had taken her life and according to the words her mother spewed over the phone to Finnik’s mom without a hint of emotion she was using to feel pity from the parameds, she had been planning it for months and that’s when it all clicked in his mind full of racing thoughts, the evening they met by the lake she was planning to do it there. She was planning to enter the murky waters of the lake and say goodbye to the harsh life she’d lived but at that exact time Finnik came to do the same thing as her but froze when he found this pretty girl, bent over the water, hand swishing around as if waiting for something to grab it and drag her in and all he could’ve done in that moment was tell her not to put her hand in there. He’d lost the one person he had a true connection with and could call his best friend, his sister, his other half and exactly after three months two days before his eighteenth birthday he took his own life in the murky waters of the lake he’d once met the best person of his life.  

The memories of their shared laughter echoed through his mind as he sank deeper and deeper into the water, each breath that created bubbles, a reminder of the bond they shared. It was in that stillness that he hoped to relive the memories formed, and hear her loud, gentle and raspy laugh just one last time.