"Wow," she said, relieved her voice didn't show her soul-wrenching fear, "this is really . . . really high up. I don't remember it being this high."
"Yup," her brother, A.J., said smoothly, "the waters even up a few feet, too"
Their friend, Matt, put his hand on Korine's shoulder,"The storm will be here soon and the dock really isn't all that steady," he said, "we should go a head and start home."
Korine stood about a foot from the ledge of the dock that towered thirty feet over the Arkansas River which was, at where Korine stood, on hundred or so feet deep.
'A long way down,' she thought as her head the math of her chances of her surviving the fall into the river, 'not just the fall, but the water itself. I can't swim at all and falling would surprise me and then . . . I'd drown.'
She shuddered. Fear dug its nails into the back her neck and pulled at her to get away from the edge and off the dock. Acrophobia. What a pussy kind of fear. But it pulled at her nerves all the same, screaming for her to GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE LEDGE!
Matt took his hand off Korine's shoulder and Korine glanced back at him and A.J. then once more at the water, its dark, murky depths chilling her to her core.
"Careful, Korine," A.J. smiled evilly," you wouldn't want to," he pushed her forward," fall."
She gasped.
She lost her balance.
She fell.
Time stopped.
Korine could see A.J.'s evil smile turn to shock and then alarm. He hadn't meant for her to fall. He was just screwing around. Matt's face went from careful boredom to shock, fear, and extreme protectiveness as he and A.J. watch her fall off the ledge, slowly plummeting to the icy embrace of the Arkansas River thirty plus feet below.
A piercing scream erupted from her throat as time snapped back and she fell.
Korine hit the surface with a sickening smack and its cold arms wrapped around her and sucked her into its freezing bosom.
She panicked. She kicked and clawed at the waster, never finding a hold. Her throat closed, her lungs burned, she couldn't breath. The water was freezing. It was so dark. She kicked as hard as she could. She needed air. Fear tightened in her chest. She tried to hold her scream.
She broke the surface and gasped. With air she had sucked in, Korine screamed out the only thing that was in her mind.
"MATT!"
His name echoed through the night. And then she was sucked under by the greedy current.
She was coughing only to suck in more water. Choking. The filthy, air-less water filled her lungs. She tried to calm herself. It was impossible. The water was so cold. She could hear her pounding heart in her ears. It was slowing. She saw spots. Then she saw nothing.
Matt stood on the sock next to A.J., frozen in place from the shock of seeing Korine fall to the river below.
Her scream hit him like cold water on hot, muggy day. He kicked off his shoes and pants the dove in after her.
He jumped without a second thought of the height or the temperature of the river in October. He used to current to speed up his pace. He surfaced for air a minute later and heard a gasp for air followed by Korine yelling, "MATT!" just before he saw her pale hand and curtain of hair slip beneath the icy surface of the ragging river.
All Matt could think of was getting to her. He couldn't lose her now, not when he had only just learnt the truth. He dove into the water again and fought the cold numbness seeping into him. He had to get her out of the water, he had to get onto the bank, had to tell her-
He saw her lying on the bed of the river, her dark hair flowing around her, her skin ghostly pale. She looked hauntingly beautiful. He swam hard to reach her, fighting the current and the burning need for air. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pushed off the slippery mud that caked the river bed and swam hard for the surface. His face broke the though the surface of the water and he sucked in the freezing night air. He saw the bank and swam for all he was worth towards it, dragging Korine's body with him. When he reached land, Matt pulled Korine's upper body out of the water enough so that he could give her CPR.
"Come on, Korine!" Matt shouted as he pounded on her chest.
She still wasn't responding.
Korine felt a pounding on her chest and then something pushing against her lips, or at least what she thought to be her chest and lips. She couldn't really feel anything but cold. Cold and pain.
She opened her eyes only to see herself lying on lifeless on the bank of the Arkansas River with Matt hunched over her body, giving her CPR.
'Wait,' she thought, 'I'm not dead. No! I can't be dead! I can't be! I have to tell Matt! He has to know!'
Suddenly Korine was jerked back into her body and was coughing up the river water that had filled her lungs. She gasped for air and coughed more; gagging on the water that so greedily clung to her lungs.
"Korine!" she heard someone yell, "I thought I'd lost you!"
Korine felt arms wrap around her and pull her into a lap. Her eyes adjusted to the growing darkness to see-
"Matt!" she cried and flung her arms around him, crying into his chest, "Matt! I called for you. I was so scared! Matt, I was terrified!"
He wrapped his arms around Korine and held her, "I thought I had lost you, Korine. I was afraid I wouldn't get the chance to tell you the truth. I thought I'd lost my chance to tell you."
Korine's blue-brown eyes looked up into Matt's deep sapphire ones as tears continued to cascade down her frozen, rosy cheeks, "I want to tell you something, too. I've wanted to tell you for so long."
"Korine," Matt said softly, "I love you."
Matt leaned in and tenderly kissed Korine's blue lips.
Korine cried harder as she kissed him back, "I love you, too, Matt."