Love Has Arrived

[valli]

More readers? Yay! You do arrive at a bad time though Sad chapter coming your way Apologies for the crappiness

Content not suitable for younger readers

Chapter 24. A broken heart

Martha's P.O.V

I slowly opened my eyes, but quickly closed them again when the light became too strong. I made another attempt, and this time I was successful. I tried to sit up, but stopped when I felt the pain from my foot run through my body. I felt a kick against the inside of my stomach. Seemed like the little fellow felt as uncomfortable as I did. My mouth felt like sandpaper and it tasted weird. I tried to moisturise my lips, but I didn't have enough saliva to finish the task. I looked around and caught sight of Jack, sleeping just a few inches away from me. He looked so hot when he was sleeping; well, apart from the drool, but that I could live with. I tried to wake him up, but the only reaction I got was a snore. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

“Jack?”

The sound of my voice seemed to get the desired effect. He grunted and slowly opened one eye.

“Mhmm?”

He put his hand on the nearest seat and slowly pushed himself up in a sitting position. He looked like he hadn’t slept much.

“Do you think you could get me something to drink?” I asked with my most adorable voice. He grinned, but it didn’t take long before it was interrupted by a yawn.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He looked around and it looked like he couldn’t decide whether it was worth getting up or not. He went for the former. He slowly pushed himself up and stretched, so I caught a glimpse of his abs. I liked what I saw.

“What is it?”

He must have noticed that I was staring, because he had a smirk planted across his face.

“Nothing,” I mumbled quickly and looked away, feeling my cheeks getting warmer. Fortunately, Jack settled with that answer, even though I did suspect that he knew I was lying, and went on his search for something to drink. Now that there was no one to interrupt, I leant back and started thinking about the future. About Jack, about the baby and about Sarah. And for the first time in a long, long time, I wanted to go back in time, to become the little girl I once was. To curl up in my warm, comfortable bed and listen to my mom’s song, while I slowly drifted away to sleep, dreaming about what the future might hold. To wake up every morning and hear Sarah on the phone with that week’s ‘boyfriend’. I missed those days. If only I’d known Jack back then.

A loud cough dragged me out of the daydreaming. I looked around, only to see a giggly Sarah tickling a sleeping Aden. I rolled my eyes. When would she admit that she had a crush on him? Okay, so maybe Aden wasn’t the greatest guy on the planet, but if he could make Sarah happy, then he was good enough. But unfortunately, there was no way Sarah would admit that she liked him; she was too stubborn. That was probably the reason her relationships never lasted.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Sarah said when she saw that I was looking at her.

“Morning,” I replied dryly. She only called me sunshine when she knew I wanted to give her a lecture.

“Feeling good today, aren’t we?” She smiled. I glared at her as a reply. “Brilliant!” she exclaimed and rushed over to sit next to me.

“Where’s Jack?”

“He went to look for something to drink.”

“Oh. He won’t find anything. Everything’s outside.”

I let out a frustrated moan. Why did everything have to go wrong? I closed my eyes and tried to escape reality by going back, way back, to my early years. I remembered my mother’s smile and laughter, my dad’s constant attempts to teach Sarah some manners and Sarah’s never-ending complaints when someone tried to tell her what to do. I felt my mouth forming into a smile and it felt somewhat relaxing to think about the past. It was a nice escape from the reality’s tough challenges. Nothing was difficult back then; no worries, no despair,

No Jack.

I wonder how my life would have been if I’d never met Jack, if my parents were still alive and I’d never left home.

“Hey.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and recognized Jack’s calm voice. I didn’t open my eyes; nor did I move. I was too exhausted.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t find anything. Everything must be stored underneath us, along with our luggage. And that means…”

“That we have to get out of here to reach it. I know.”

“I’m so sorry, I tried to…” I could hear the despair in his voice, he wanted so desperately to help, but failed and it made him feel useless. I couldn’t bear it. I laid one finger on his lips. They didn’t feel like the lips I’d kissed just a few hours before. They were dry, so dry that the skin had cracked several places; some places so deep that it’d started to bleed.

“Shush,” I whispered. My voice was weak because of the lack of water and I could barely make my voice audible. I was hoping he wouldn’t take much notice of it, as it would only cause him to worry even more, and I couldn’t bare that. “It’s okay. You did your best.”

“But it wasn’t good enough,” he mumbled through gritted teeth. His anger was tearing my heart to pieces. How could it not, when I knew that it was my fault that he felt useless? I looked down at stared at a piece of paper, hoping that it was all just a really bad nightmare, and that I would wake up soon, in my own comfortable bed, preferably with Jack next to me.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jack must have noticed my sad expression, because the anger was now replaced with worry. Not that worry was any better.

“It’s all my fault,” I managed to whisper before the tears got the better of me. I didn’t manage to look up. I couldn’t face Jack. Not now. I was only causing him pain and worry. Maybe it’d been better if we’d never met at all. I felt a pair of arms around me and heard a body moving closer. I knew it was Jack. I wanted to push him away; wanted to tell him that I was wrong for him. What was up until now just tears, turned into uncontrolled sobbing. I wanted to die. That way I couldn’t cause any more pain.

“It’s not your fault. None of this is. It’s just bad luck.” Jack tried to comfort me. It didn’t help. I felt a hard kick from the inside of my stomach. It was like the baby was saying: “Wake up and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You might have given up, but I haven’t. And since I can’t exist without you, you better get a grip of yourself and stop with this self-pitying. It’s rather annoying.” And then, with the help of my invented conversation with my unborn child, I managed to calm down.

The sudden sound of glass being broken startled me.

“What was that?”

“Don’t know. I’ll go check. And do remember, it’s not your fault.” Jack kissed my forehead and got up. I tried to smile, but it didn’t look too good. I bet I’d scare heaps of kids with it on Halloween. The thought of the scared kids’ expressions amused me. Suddenly I heard excited yells from behind me. What was going on? I hoped they weren’t playing “Spin the bottle” or some other silly game. I’d kissed enough girls and guys with bad breaths for it to last a lifetime. Jack came running back to me, looking like a little kid on its way to the Christmas three where all the presents are.

“What is it?”

I couldn’t help but to smile at his silly expression. He looked like he was about to explode, so eager to share his news.

“They’ve found a way out!”

“Are you serious? That’s incredible!” I probably didn’t sound as happy as I should, but I didn’t give a damn. All I could think about was water and how it would feel as it’d touch my tongue and moisturising my dry mouth and lips. Jack helped me up and allowed me to lean on him as we walked over to the others. As I saw the broken glass on the floor, I felt rather dumb as we hadn’t thought of that earlier. But again, I didn’t give a damn. I wanted out. Wanted to smell the fresh air instead of the stinking bus. Jack and some others, who I didn’t recognize, helped me out of the window and down on the ground. The wind felt soft against my skin and I felt free. I lifted up my arms, allowing the wind to get hold of my clothes, so they wouldn’t feel so tight against my body. I wanted to scream and to sing “I believe I can fly”, but the others would probably just think I’d lost it or something, so I constrained myself. I heard a thud behind me and in the corner of my eye, I saw Jack landing on the sand, whirling up some of it and coughing because it got in his nose and mouth. He walked up to me and placed his arm around me.

“Let’s get you something to drink.”

He gave me a quick kiss on the lips, which tasted like the sand, and went to get some water. With the noises around me, I didn’t manage to think about anything but the water that was coming my way. How refreshing it would feel, how painful… Painful? I looked around. Did I just hear some call for help? I listened. Yeah, someone was calling for help. And that someone… sounded like Sarah! I forgot all about the water and followed the voice. It led me to the edge of a cliff. I couldn’t see anyone, so I tried calling out. The reply came quickly and with horror I realised that whoever it was, was hanging off the cliff.

“I’m coming!” I yelled and got down on my knees and crawled over to the edge and looked. It was Sarah.

“Thank God you found me! Please help me up. I’m too pretty to die.”

Typical Sarah-behaviour. Never being serious about anything. I stretched down after her and got hold of her left hand. I held it tightly. I couldn’t let her go; couldn’t afford to lose her. I tried to pull her up, but I was too weak. If only I’d waited for Jack to bring me the water. But then it might have been too late to save Sarah. It was a no-win situation. I made another attempt to pull her up, but again I failed. Then I suddenly realised that I’d been very reckless with the choice of position to drag her up from. The edge couldn’t take the both of us and I felt it giving in underneath me. We both realised that if I couldn’t pull her up, we’d both die. Sarah looked at me with a look that set off all the alarms in my head. I could sense what she was going to say before she said it.

“Let go.”

“No!”

She tried to wriggle herself out of my grip.

“No!” I yelled again and held tighter. My body slipped further towards the edge.

“You have to. There’s no way I’m dragging the both of us down. You have so much more to live for than me. You have Jack, the baby…”

“And you. You’re my twin sister. You can’t expect me to just let you die.”

Tears were swelling up in my eyes. I knew that she was right. Unless someone helped me, we’d both die if I kept refusing to let go.

“Just let go. Do it for mom.”

We were both crying. It was like the siege all over again, except that now it was Sarah telling me to let go instead of mom telling me to run.

“I can’t.”

Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. Then she did something that would stay with me until the day I die. She pinched my hand so hard that I let go. I saw her body fall down and hit the ground with a disgusting sound; the sound of bones breaking.

“NO!” I screamed as loud and as desperate as my lungs allowed. The scream turned into sobs when my lungs didn’t have enough air left. My body was still slipping further towards the edge, but I couldn’t move. My body was trembling, my mouth and lungs felt like they were burning, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Sarah’s crushed body. It felt worse than when I lost my parents, because it felt like I was losing her for the second time. I was about to fall myself when I felt a pair of arms grabbing me and pulling me back up. It was Jack. He looked down and saw Sarah’s body at the bottom.

“Oh God,” I heard him mutter.

For some reason, I hated him for saving me. Why couldn’t he have saved us both? I tried to push him away, but he was too strong. He kept saying “shush… shush”, trying to calm me down. In the end I gave up and just leant into his warm embrace and cried; mourning for my dead sister.

Preview: Things go from bad to worse for Martha

[Barbara]

That wasn't crappy!

Sarah is so funny. Tickling Aden and not wanting to admit she has a crush on him... It is so obvious.

“Thank God you found me! Please help me up. I’m too pretty to die.”

I know there's nothing funny with the situation but that just made me laugh.

But then what happened was so sad. I can't believe she did let go. She gave up her own life for her sister. That's sad but very brave. RIP Sarah! *cries*

Poor Martha! How is she ever going to get over this? She is always going to feel responsible for her sister's death.

Please update soon.

[dee83]

That was good but also sad I`d hate to be put in that situation if it was one of my sisters/brother

Update Soon

[Yankee White]

You know, that, has got to be one of the most well written chapters that I've read lately.

Absolutely amazing, to read.

Well Done, I thought it was heart-breaking the end scene. And the fact Martha hated Jack for not saving them both.

Update soon-ish.

[dee83]

Great so far hope you continue with it

Update Soon

[martha-jack]

Valli please update soon i read his thing the whole way through and its amazing!!!