Just stand there and watch me drown (OPEN)

[arianna]

Water. It tended to wash away everything with its power. It was a miraculous and wonderful thing, water was. It could wash the pain away. It could carve rock. Water had the power to comfort you or leave you cold and empty. The memories formed around the simple liquid, learning to swim, playing in a sprinkler, jumping in the lake, getting caught in the rain on your first date, having your first kiss in a torrential down pour. The ebb and flow of the waves, the sound of the crashing breakers, it was all comforting. The smell of the seafoam makes you feel home.

Ari took each careful step towards the water slowly. There was a breeze the blew her blonde curls out behind her. She could feel the ocean mist gently caressing her skin and putting little droplets across the soft surface of her body. SHe closed her eyes and took in the the smell of the sea. This is where she wanted to be. She couldn't see anyone around, and could care less if anyone watched her.

As she walked, Arianna slid her flip flops off. They lay behind her in the sand paving her journey towards the water. Next, Ari slid her dress over her head and dropped it to the ground, revealing her pale skin covered only by the bikini she had on under the white cotton dress.

Each timed step took her closer to the water. She knew it would be cold, she didn't care. If she got sick, so be it. She needed to swim, needed to feel free, just once. She hadn't felt so much like herself since coming to Forks. Definitely not after the accident. The scar was prominent on her left shoulder to remind her of what he had done to her. Reminding her of the evils in the world.

Finally, her toes met the cold water and she stopped, allowing each wave to wash over her feet and then to back away just to come back at her. Ari smiled softly, the little gesture feeling foreign to her soft pink lips. She needed this, craved this.

Not caring what went on around her and ignoring the temperature of the water, Ari started walking, getting deeper and deeper into the water. Once she was waist deep, Ari dove under, letting the water consume her and surround her body with its embrace, her hair floating around in graceful blonde tendrils.

She didn't surface right away. No, Ari took her time before her head popped up above the surface her hair floating around like a halo. Looking around, she was farther out than she had thought. It wasn't until then she realized there was a current. She didn't panic, just started to swim back towards the the shore. But the water had other plans. SHe wasn't moving very far very fast.

Ari didn't see the wave coming from behind her, and she hadn't had enough warning to take a breath before the crest broke and slammed down on top of her. She was underwater, her lungs absent of air. She needed to surface, needed to breath. But she was caught in the swirl of the wave rolling under the water. She needed air, her lungs felt aflame. Needed to surface, but she couldn't make it. Her body in an attempt to keep from suffocating breathed in, water rushing into her mouth and down into her lungs. She was suffocating, drowning. The very thing she loved was going to be her end.

Outfit: www.polyvore.com/arianna_swim/set?id=24638285

[akhet]

Marcus smiled as the rays of sunshine warmed him, he loved going to the beach, Back home in Canada he didn't visit it often and when he did it was at a lake which just wasn't the same as the ocean. Running his hand through the sand he smelled the sea before getting up to walk the shore.

He was on leave for the next couple days as modifications were done to his fighter. He had taken the opportunity to see more of the state, he had spent the last few days as the Hawk soaring around the hills and valleys of the area, enjoying the feeling as he hit a thermal rocketing him upwards before he would plunge back down to earth as if to hunt prey. He made sure never to get close to anyone however as his animal form was much larger than any bird could ever achieve.

As he rounded the bend on the beach he saw another swimmer off the in the distance, frowning he noticed that she was rather far off and seemed to be struggling against the current. Not many people realized that when they were caught like that they should fight it but rather swim parallel to the beach to escape it. With a curse he saw her get hit with a wave before disappearing underwater, he didn't have time to think, quickly removing his shirt, sandals, and sunglasses he dove into the water.

it took him a few minutes to reach her and when he did he could feel the current also pushing him downwards, diving below the surface he grabbed the girl before returning to the surface to breathe, he noticed that she didn't. With a grunt he began to swim back to shore, first swimming parallel to escape the current before heading straight for the beach. A moment later he had pulled the girl onto the beach and was checking her pulse and breathing.

"Common girl, don't die on me..." looking around he saw no one around and again he cursed. He remembers his first aid training and realized what he would have to start doing. After taking a moment to make sure she wasn't breathing he began CPR pinching her nose and bringing his lips around her and giving her two breaths of air before he put both his hands on her chest and began pumping.

"Common now, don't die on me."

(Currently wearing, i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp162/ribo60/Celebrity/Usher_2092460_1458462_n.jpg)

[arianna]

The waves was crashing around. Arianna was caught in the chaos of it all. She was fading fast, her vision fading. She could see glimpses of things happening. One was of someone swimming at her. That was the last thing she saw before she completely blacked out. She couldn't feel anything but cold now. Her body was growing cold, the water speeding the process. The lack of oxygen was making her blood stop pumping through her veins. She was dying.

The sudden CPR being forced upon her body began resuscitating her. Slowly, her blood started pumping again. Her heart started beating slowly. The water began making it's way out of her body. Soon the water was exiting her body through a series of violent coughing and gasps. Her lips had turned blue from the lack of oxygen and as soon as she was assured to live her body began to shiver from the cold.

It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the light compared to the darkness from being underwater. When she finally was able to see her rescuer, her eyes grew wide. Some guy she didn't know had pulled her from the sea. Worse yet he was half naked. This made her think of Daniel, the night, he ruined her. The night she had killed him. Yeah, she was simply a human girl who got the worst of life, but she had tried to fix it and messed up more. Now in an act of reprieve she had almost accidentally killed herself. She just couldn't get ahead in life.

[akhet]

After a few minutes performing CPR Marcus let out a sigh as the girl coughed up what seemed to be a gallon of water, carefully he pushed her up into a sitting position to prevent her from swallowing it again.

"There we go, get all that out of you." He said softly as she recovered, it had been touch and go for a few seconds, and he didn't have a cellphone on him, which was odd since the base could have called him at any moment. He still found it odd that the US had accepted him so easily into their forces. Sometimes he wondered if his superiors in Cold Lake only wanted to get rid of him.

A moment later he saw her turn her head and her eyes widen at the sight of him in what seemed like fear. raising his hands he tried to make himself less threatening.

"Whoa there miss, just trying to help. My names Marcus, was just walking on the beach here and saw you out there, I hope that's alright" Marcus said with a smile, trying his best to seem non threatening. She was beautiful, that much he could see, she had golden hair and a rather nice skin complexion. With a bit of annoyance he noticed how young she looked and decided she was probably too young for him.

"So what are you doing swimming out here? Alone? Hardly seems safe." It was true, the beach was rather deserted and Marcus had only been there to see the ocean for a bit at ground level. Inside him he could feel the hawk urging him to fly out and hunt some fish. It was tempting.

[arianna]

When he explained that he was helping, Ari nodded softly and closed her eyes. She felt weak, drained. But she couldn't sleep. No, that was to dangerous to do in public. She had to wait until she was home. She would not tell her aunt about this. There was no way she could do that. She would never be allowed out of the house again. No Arianna had to approach this situation with delicacy.

Her pale blonde curls had been flattened by the water and currently hung limply as they clung to her soft skin. Ari probably had the appearance of a drowned rat. She looked back at him with big eyes the color of the sea. "I prefer being alone. I can trust myself, I can't trust others. And if I don't get attached, I can't be hurt when I am left alone." No girl her age should have to think like that. She had been through way too much for someone of her age. And most of it had been in the last year.


Seventeen years of life had boiled down to this one person that could have easily died. "I am a good swimmer. The water was just, abnormally vicious today. I guess my one friend wanted to hurt me today." She spoke softly. Her voice was melodic, almost angelic. But there was always a hint of sadness on her tongue. She could smile and have a good time, but no matter what she did, that tone never left her voice.

[akhet]

Marcus nodded and suppressed a shiver as the girl spoke, such words were haunting coming from her, so young and already she seems traumatized. For her sake Marcus hoped it was just a phase.

"Alright then," turning around he quickly gathered all his things and put his sandals back on, "Just try not to do that again, at least go with some friends ok?"looking again he saw that she was rather pale and although the water was a probable cause for her shivering he couldn't help but wonder if something more might be happening

"Um listen, go get yourself dried off, don't want you catching a cold or something. Then come back here, you need to see a doctor or something, your heart stopped and honestly its a miracle your still alive. Someone needs to make sure that your fine." he said looking back at her before putting the shirt back on. He was slowly drying off, the suns rays warming his clothes and skin evaporating the water.

Again he fought the urge to simply leave the girl and fly off, the weather was lovely today, the slight breeze and warm sun creating thermals made him envious of the seagulls he saw further down on the beach. Bloody seagulls! After he took care of this girl he resolved he would go do some flying in the area, it was just too good to pass up.

"How did you get here anyway? Do you have a car or something?"

[arianna]

Friends? She didn't have friends. "I would if I had any." SHe replied quietly and pulled her knees to her chest. THe sun was helping to warm her skin. Sunny days didn't occur often and when they did everyone liked to get outside. She was really surprised they were alone. No, she didn't have friends. Not since the Daniel incident. SHe had withdrawn to the point where people hated being around her. SHe was too depressing all the time. But when she was alone with her music, she felt fine.

Ari nodded and tried to stand to no avail. Her lack of oxygen had weakened her muscles and wouldn't hold her weight. She looked over to the trail of clothes she had left from mid beach to the water. Her towel was at the farthest end of the trail from her.She furrowed her brow as she looked at it. "Can you get me that?" She asked him softly pointing at the towel laying in the warm sand. SHe wasn't big on asking for help, but she knew in this case it was needed.

How did she get there? Ari started trying to remember. "My aunt dropped me off before she went to work. I told her I was meeting friends." She sighed and looked out towards the water. "She would never let me leave the house if she found out about this." Her aunt was way over protective. Arianna knew it was because her parents were dead and besides her, her aunt was the only family member left. Her aunt was never able to have kids. So she had been trying to adopt for some time now. But now she had Ari to take over until a baby could come into the home. Ari just hoped she was gone by then.

[akhet]

What kind of a girl was this? She just seemed to exude sadness.

"Alright then, I guess ill take you to the doctor, your aunt wont have to know about anything. " Looking around he spotted the girls clothes and gathered them all together.

"Ok, your probably still weak, I'm going to carry you to my car if that's okay. Ill try not to hurt you" with that Marcus bent over and took her up in his arms taking steps to ensure he didn't hurt her. For a bit they walked in silence. She seemed to have lived a traumatized life, something horrible must have happened to her in the past, possibly involving her parents and that was why she lived with her aunt. He only hoped it wasn't as bad as he imagined.

As he reached the car he set her feet down but kept supporting her with one arm, he quickly opened the door and set her down in the passengers seat. Running back he then grabbed all her clothes and passed them to Arianna.

"Now get dressed and we'll go. I'm not familiar with this area and ill need you to show me where the nearest clinic or hospital is." with that Marcus walked back to the beach and bent over to skip some rocks on the water while she got dressed.

[arianna]

Ari nodded. "Thank you." She said with a soft smile. She couldn't be doomed to her house for all of eternity. SHe loved going out in the rain too much. She loved being in the rain because it matched her emotions most of the time. SHe was happy, sometimes. But that was normally only when she was playing her music. She loved her music, and her guitar. That was really the only friends she had.

She had to admit. She was nervous when he picked her up. But he was nothing but gentle and kind towards her. He sat her down in the car and went to get her things before walking away. SHe took her towel and dried herself off as best she could before sliding her clothing onto her small frame over her bathing suit. She took one of the hair bands off her wrist to pull her hair up into a ponytail that clung together in a waterfall down the back of her head.

She looked out to where the guy had went. "I'm dressed." SHe spoke simply loud enough he could hear her. She looked into the back seat as she buckled her seat belt and saw a jacket with numbers on it. She had no idea what they meant though. She put her right hand on the door handle and her left on the strap of her seat belt. She did this every time she rode in a car. Both her parents were dead from a car accident. And she was scared the same would happen to her. She definitely more cautious since the accident that killed Daniel and put her in the hospital for two weeks.

[akhet]

Hearing her say she was done Marcus headed back to the car before inserting the key and turning on the ignition. Looking at his passenger he noticed how she was gripping the door handle.

"Relax, I know i may be tooting my own horn but I'm a good driver, now im not sure how to get back to town so I could use your help ok? I have a friend in town that can give you a look over to make sure nothing is wrong. Don't worry, shes a doctor and will make sure your aunt never finds out"

Grabbing his cellphone from his glove box he scrolled through the number until he highlighted a name, she really shouldn't have even been on the list anymore, not since their breakup.

"Hey. Wait, don't hang up! Listen i have someone here... Yes shes a girl... No shes not my girlfriend... Ok, i just pulled her out of the ocean and she almost drowned, I had to do CPR and everything... Your gross you know that? Yeah i need it to stay quiet... Alright... THANK YOU SO MUCH!" with that he hung up the call laying the phone down on his console, a second later he put the car into reverse and pulled onto the main road. "That was Megan, shes an old friend of mine and a doctor, shell make sure your alright okay?"

[arianna]

Ari nodded but didn't loosen her grip. "My ex died in a car, and my parents. It's habit." SHe spoke flatly. She hardly ever spoke about her parents. THey weren't really that great parents really. They had hated her. They hated kids period. They really shouldn't have reproduced. Well, she had been their only child. Her mom had gotten surgery after the birth to ensure that. Ari was actually kind of glad about it. Then no other kid had to be raised like she was. She would have been better off at boarding school.

Arianna tried to not listen to the conversation. She looked out the window with her brows furrowed. When he hung up and pulled out on the road, she didn't look back at him. "My name is Arianna, by the way." sHe spoke softly. Her hair was drying out and was beginning to separate but still lay flat in the pony tail. She was a pretty girl, but she came with a lot of emotional baggage.

It wasn't until they were almost into town that she spoke up again. She had moved her eyes from looking out of her window to staring out the windshield. This was the same stretch of road she had forced the car Daniel was driving off the road. She could still pick out the tree they had collided with. There were bits of metal and red paint embedded into the bark. It brought a shiver to her spine and instinctively she crossed her arms over her chest. "What do the numbers mean?" SHe asked looking back at him. She studied him, watching his facial expressions.

[akhet]

"Arianna huh? A nice name" he replied. When the girl had mentioned her reason for being nervous in the car Marcus he felt rather sad. So she was an orphan living with her aunt, and by the sound of it she had very little to be happy about. For the remainder of the trip they rode in silence until it was broken again as they entered the town.

"What do the numbers mean?"Marcus blinked in surprise wondering what she meant before he remember his jacket was in the back. A moment later he stopped the car behind the local Army recruiters office.

"You mean the jacket?" reaching back he moved it around so that the back was visible, on it a was a crest of a large black bird.

"Its my squadron. I'm a pilot for the Canadian air force, back in Canada I was with the 409 Nighthawk fighter squadron. Now I'm with your countries air force as part of a sort of exchange program. Captain Marcus H. Davenport at your service" he finished with a smile. Looking across the parking lot he saw Megan standing by the back door her arms crossed. She was clearly waiting for them

"Um, do you think you can walk? Or should I carry you again?" he asked. He really was not looking forwards to meeting Megan again, their breakup had been rather messy and was a prime example of why relationships were discouraged in the military.

[arianna]

Ari nodded. "Arianna Kendra Ravencroft. It quite literally means Very Holy Magical Dweller. I think my mom was on drugs when she named me personally." She smiled softly. A small movement she rarely did. "But most people call me Ari." It was definitely easier to say than the Italian full version of her name. This was the most she had spoken to a guy since Daniel, barring teachers. Daniel had really messed her up. He was probably the last straw in her messed up life.

"Airforce?" SHe asked trying to grasp the idea of it. It would make sense. If he was in the military that was how he knew CPR and that she needed to be rescued. "That sounds fun. What's it like to fly?" She had never been on a plane. When she came to Forks from Tennessee they drove. Her aunt had a fear of flying. Mostly since 9/11. Since that day she had never stepped foot on a plane again.

Ari looked out the window to see the woman waiting. She sighed. "I think I can do it. But don't hold me to that." sHe smiled. She was feeling more at ease knowing this guy was military and there was a woman that could plainly see them. She unhooked her seat belt and slid it back into its resting position before opening the door and twisting to set her feet on the ground. She hadn't bothered to put her flip flops back on. She liked the feeling of ground beneath her soft delicate feet. She pulled herself up to stand next to the car and shut the door. She took a breathe an closed her eyes. THis was going to be a long day.

[akhet]

"Flying? Best damn feeling ever, going fast, pulling G's, and the freedom. So long as your not bugging anyone else you can go anywhere. I cant imagine myself doing another job." he replied with a smile before leaving the car and opening her door.

"I wont, ill be right behind you in case you start to feel woozy." he said as she stepped out. The two then slowly made their way across the parking lot, Marcus tried to smile as they approached Megan.

"You owe me..." Megan said in a joking tone, but Marcus knew it was really a threat.

"Yes I know." he was really uncomfortable being around her. They had been rather close but in the end it just couldn't work, Marcus was forced to break up with her and she never did get over it completely.

"So this is the girl you rescued?" she then asked, looking at Ari with a smile.

"Yeah, she was drowning at the beach and while I think shes fine i think its best if we have an expert look at her." he replied... The two of them were putting on masks for Ari's sake, it wouldn't help if she knew about their history,

"Alright, and you want me to keep it quiet also? I'm guessing she doesn't want her parents to find out then?" she said with a sigh, "Alright dear, just come with me into my office, ill give you a check up. Been a quiet day anyway..." with that she opened the door behind her into what appeared to be a store house...

"Yeah, it would be good if this was kept under wraps," Megan turned to look at Marcus one last time,

"You've always been good at hiding things Captain...Ill make sure no one knows... Now wait out here, shouldn't be long"

[arianna]

Ari looked down. "I want to fly." sHe murmured.She wondered what it would be like to fly, to feel freedom. To have wings and soar with the wind gliding against you. It sounded like heaven. She wanted to be free, to be able to escape and fly to places unknown. Experience new things and see new places. SHe wanted a break, needed a vacation.

Ari nodded at his words. She walked with him to the woman. They seemed to have something going on between them. She didn't ask, she simply looked down at the ground where her bare feet were warmed by the cement she stood on. It wasn't hit, but felt nice.

When she was told to come inside, Ari looked up and nodded. She followed the woman inside and didn't speak only when spoken to. SHe put on a soft smile. sHe didn't like people asking questions much. Her past was hers. sHe hid a lot of stuff for her own protection. SHe just did not want to relive some of it. That would just make things worse. She had worked too hard on suppressing it that she didn't need it out again free to wreak havoc in her life.

The exam didn't take long. Upon being given a clean bill of health she walked back outside. She smiled softly at Marcus. She was allowed to return home but something in her wanted her to not go yet. SHe didn't want to return to an empty house. Her aunt wouldn't be home from work for another three hours minimum. Even then Ari wasn't home until late at night. Ari just didn't like being there.