I ran. Quicker. Quicker, I told myself. The cloudburst was coming.
My legs hurried in anticipation, the one thing Mr. Letum told me was to never ever to let the cloud burst explode above me. I hastily threw myself in to the nearest house, the arch frame was tall and my form was undetected by the family busying themselves in the lonesome weather. I was never seen. Never heard. I watched meekly at the protruding droplets, I wondered of their end and of my return home. For now I would stay, after all I was looking for answers.

It was the first day of autumn; I was in my thick angora coat, it was itching my neck and tousling my hair, so that it's intricate plaits were frizzing in the renewed sun. I was laying on the thick blanket spread out on the dewy grass, beside me was Angus. 'When will it ever stop?' I asked Angus wrinkling my nose as he sighed at my repetitive protest. He laughed his throaty chuckle, it rung in my ears and cleared my mind of bad thoughts. I frowned, annoyed but slightly dazed by the warmth of his tender gaze. 'It won't last forever you know.' He said teasingly, but his light heartedness was only answered with outright horror. He addressed my problems with ignorance and ease, yet I felt as if the whole world was wrapped around my need to discover what I had found.



' I saw it! ' I insisted.
' Trude, what happened to your mother was tragic. A tragic accident. '
' I know what I saw Angus, he was there, my uncle was there the night my mother died. He did it.'
' Can you not let it go?' He shouted, his eyes a sharp, intuitive grey. I looked at him astounded, he had never spoken to me that way. His eyes reached my bemused face, as he looked up from the spot of grass he had been intently 'studying'. As he skimmed my open expression he recovered his features, his forlorn gaze now studying my fast collecting tears. He mouthed something along the lines of I'm sorry before stealing my new sunglasses and running towards Infelicitas Lake. I shrieked at him whilst running after my new Gucci Shades. Man, I would kill him.

I sprinted after his athletic form, over the last few years he had become quite something; which meant our relationship had only become more complicated. Were we friends: Definitely, Were we a couple: I could never quite tell. We spent every waking hour together, I missed him whenever we had a fight and he was the only voice I wanted to comfort me but, there was no passion, no heat. His mocking words awoke me from my thoughts, I glanced forward to see his wild running, so desperate to beat me that his legs were flailing everywhere. I laughed uncontrollably as he twirled round beating his arms in a flying motion. We had reached Infelicitas Lake. 'Do you want them back' He laughed as I beat him playfully on the chest. 'Give them back, you jerk.' I demanded, stifling a laugh. He looked up at me, his beautiful eyes widening in horror as he took one too many steps backward. I launched myself forward to grab his thrashing arms, He fell.

I watched in dumbstruck horror as his body became submerged in murky water. I stared down at the spot in awe of the still water disguising the face of my friend, my boyfriend, my Angus. I jumped before really thinking, the only thing important to me at that moment was getting his body out of that lake.

Im going to die...
I can't breath...
I am going to die...

My head sank beneath the shawl of dingy lake. I reach up, clawing at the water and inhaling mouthfuls of stale, salty water, over-powering my brain and penetrating my lungs, seeping into my nose and causing me to cough, splutter, swallow more water and reach for the surface. I see a body. I struggle forwards towards the ominous shape before me. He's retreating upwards his legs kicking against the monstrous body of liquid. I attempt half heartedly for the surface knowing that the shore is unreachable. My body fights for just a moment before I realise, finally it's over. I feel the rushed rhythm of my body inflating with water, I inhale, with each raced breath the water fills my lungs and throat. My mind stays blank as my body enters shock.

I'm dieing...

And, with my last breaths, I thought of the boy who's life had been willed to carry on. He had reached the surface. 'Trudy.' Angus's desperate voice was echoed through the water.

He had made it...
He's alive...
He had...


All these years I had searched for belonging and being dead doesn't help much.

The rain was subsiding, 'Trudy?' the boy gasped. I turned around, 'But your deaaaaad....'
I looked at the anxious expression on the boys familiar face. 'I'm home.'I whispered. My flushed ghost face returned the boys bewildered smile,

I'm home...