Better This Way
AN: So, this story takes place a few minutes before Jake falls into the ice and drowns/freezes, but it follows his sister's reactions and feelings about the situation. Warnings: REALLY sad, death, slight/small spoilers, sad...did I mention sad? Good. Enjoy.
The brown haired girl lets out a gasp as she watches her brother fall into the frozen pond. She turns away, trying to scream, yell, say something, but she can't. All words, sounds or noises are stuck in her throat. Tears she didn't know she had in her eyes spill over as she turns and walks towards the land. She collapses on the ground on her hands and knees, tears blurring her vision and making her eyes burn.
Not one thought in her mind makes any sense. Her thoughts are jumbled together as she tries to think of what to do. She tries to stand, not knowing why, maybe to tell her mother and father about this, but she falls down again, and her hands gives out, making her fall on her face instead. She turns her head to the side, sobbing quietly.
She hears noises around her, but they mean nothing to her. A scream, shouting, talking...it all fades to the back of her mind to be processed later, if she remembers later.
She realizes some time later that she's being tugged at, and is suddenly lifted into strong arms. She wraps her arms around the man she knows is her father by his scent, then buries her face into his shirt.
When she wakes up later, she looks around, wondering if somehow-hopefully-she'd dreamed it all, but her mother and father walk into her small room, and by the sad looks on their faces, and the red tint to their eyes, she knows it wasn't a dream.
Her mother places a plate on her desk by her bed, and her father puts a cup of tea down next to the plate, then her mother smiles weakly before saying, "You should eat."
The girl shakes her head, her brown eyes getting watery again at the thought of living her life normally again. How could she? Her brother died... He would never be seen by her again.
Her father sits down, offering her a hug as he speaks, "It wasn't your fault."
The girl looks up at her father, swallowing the lump in her throat before whispering, "Yes...it is... Jack...s-saved me..."
The parent's sad faces turn shock, then to realization, but back to sadness yet again. Everything makes sense to them now, thought the girl, they know it's my fault.
Her father pulls her towards him, and after a second the mother sits down on the other side of her, putting her arms around the girl as well before the girl's father whispers, "It's okay, sweetie. He wanted you to be safe...this...this is...what he wanted..."
Her mother sobs quietly, then says, "It's better like...like this..."
The girl doesn't understand. She can't figure out what they mean, she's crying again though, so she doesn't ask. No matter how or why it may be better like this, she still can't believe he's gone... And life will never be the same for her.
