In order to keep the fandom going I came up with this pile of weirdness. Its based off a dream I had but unlike the other time this happened, I pretty much filled in 90% of it on my own seeing as the dream didn't give me much to work on besides the idea to do something with it. It starts out pretty fast but if you know me you know this won't be dragged out in any way so, I hope that isn't a drawback. Enjoy!
It always started this way; my body ill, being carried out in the storm to the lake we used to visit, hands forcing me under water while I kicked and tried to claw my way back to the surface. I never succeeded. Instead, the water rushed into my lungs, making me choke as I drowned and yet the hands still held me under. I could hear a muffled shout carried on the wind. The rain scattered across the surface of the water and the ground felt like it shook under me. A flash of lightning and a muted crack along with a burst of fire illuminated the slim silhouette of the person trying to end my life. Except, I didn't die. The water forced itself into my body, making me scream in pain, bubbles rising to the surface in my agony. Then the pain stopped and I laid there on the silt floor of the lake, nature calming as my body did. I took in a slow breath and was amazed to find I breathed it in like air. It was then that I was yanked out by the same hands that put me in. I never got to see a face. I always came out of the water at the same time that the dream screeched to halt.
I jolted out of the recurring dream and hastily sat up. The same damn dream again. When would it leave me alone? I was sick of seeing it and still not being able to understand. I've had it once in a while when I was younger but it kept happening more and more often the older I got. I asked my mom but she just got shifty around the topic and acted like it was never brought up. She knew something, and now that I'm old enough, unafraid to demand the answers I wanted, I would confront her. I got out of bed and searched for a new set of clothes. I set that aside and entered the bathroom to start my morning routine. As I undressed to take a shower I anticipated the cathartic feeling it gave me.
I loved showers way too much, or maybe, just water in general. I loved to swim and the feel of rain on my skin. Hell, I even enjoyed drinking water. Almost excessively. That began to draw unneeded curiosity from others so I began keeping any form of liquid with me at all times. I went through a fair few before I decided on one, that being my current favorite which was coffee. I could drink that all day despite it practically being the opposite of water. I stepped into the shower stall and turned the water on, relaxing under the jet and just letting it run over me. I let out a sigh and then began to wash. When I was done, dressed, and ready for school, I made my way downstairs where my mom sat at the table as usual. She looked up when I entered and offered me a tired smile.
"How was your sleep?" she asked, a little hesitant. She was already ready for me to grill her. I felt slightly guilty but I had to keep trying.
"Same as always. You know how it is," I responded, swinging my bag onto another chair and opening it so that I could make sure I had everything. I kept my eyes on my task and didn't even give her my attention when she sighed heavily.
"Jade, listen to me," she began, her wane voice growing strong and serious. That caught my attention. I stood up straight and looked across the table at her.
"Sit," she said, gesturing to an open chair. I glanced at it and then at her before sitting down.
"Your dreams…" she began, but I didn't want to hear that they were just that; dreams. I felt like they were more. They felt real. I opened my mouth to tell her so but stopped.
She will tell you the truth this time. You must know.
The voice was fluid and calm, passing through my thoughts sinuously and trusting. I looked over to my mom to see her eyes glassy, like she was close to crying. It looked like my conscience was right.
"They're real, aren't they?" I whispered, almost inaudibly. My mom's face creased with worry and strain but she nodded. My heart began to race. Was this moment the moment I had been hoping for? I moved to take a seat in the chair closest to her so that she had my full attention. I reached out and placed my hand over hers.
"Please tell me," I asked, looking her right in the eyes, the eyes we shared while most of me resembled my now dead and gone father. She was all I had and I wanted this mystery between us to be solved before it drove us apart.
"It started when you were little. You were five years old," she began, a morose smile in place as she looked back at her memories. I didn't remember much from that time, only that I constantly felt incredibly ill and tired. As if to confirm my own memories, she continued.
"You were the brightest and happiest little girl I had ever seen until you fell ill. At first we thought it was the flu or something like it; that it would work itself out. But it didn't. You got worse. You were so frail and having trouble with the smallest tasks so I decided I would have to take you to the hospital. Your father was worried sick when I told him. He rushed home to be there for you, but…he didn't make it," she shared, her voice wavering the more she revealed. She cleared her throat and I waited with a sad frown until she spoke again. I knew my father had died in a car crash but not that he was so bent on getting home to me that he died trying. It stung a lot more now that I knew the two were connected.
"I didn't know what to do. You were so sick and he was gone. I told myself that you came first, that I had to find a way to make you my healthy little girl again. So, I put aside everything that needed to be done for him and took you to the hospital. We were halfway there, passing the lake in the middle of town to reach it. That was when you asked to see it," she told me.
"See what, the lake?" I ground out, my throat closing up from the emotions welling up inside. I hated getting emotional, but just hearing what really happened was eating at me. My mom nodded.
"Yes. You loved that lake ever since I took you there when you were just a year old. We would go down there all the time together, the three of us enjoying warm days by the water. Sometimes we had a picnic. I figured you deserved to see it again, like revisiting a better time, so I took you down to the water. You sat out by the rocks, too weak to stand. You put your hand in the water and just sat there, like you were at peace," she explained, her emotions plain in the tone of her voice. I tried to think back to that time but I couldn't recall anything.
Such a broken and tired young body, full of pain.
The voice was back, and I realized it wasn't my own. It sounded sad yet yearning. For what, I didn't know. I didn't want to let the chance to hear the story I've waited to hear for so long pass me by so I put aside my apparent lack of sanity in order to pay attention.
"While I watched you, a young woman came out from the water. I swear I hadn't seen her there before. She smiled down at you and you smiled back, then she walked over to me. She looked like some teenager going for a swim and looking to try my already thin patience so I ignored her at first. It was then when she told me what I could do to help you," she went on. I looked up from fiddling with my hands to see my mom's face set with determination as she recalled the memory.
"And you just believed her?" I demanded, smacking my hands flat against the table.
"You were dying, Jade. You were declining in health faster than you had started out. I knew no one would be able to save you in time," she tried to reason. I shook my head as my hands clenched into fists.
"What did she say?" I questioned her, dreading the answer but still wanting it hear it.
"She told me the lake had healing powers, that if I brought you back here that night and bathed you in the water it would cure you," she answered. I slammed my fist on the table and stood up out of my seat, sending it skidding back with a screech against tile.
"She was just a teenager for crying out loud! A stranger! What does she know? How could you just trust her?" I screamed in reproach. I could have died at the hands of my own mom all because some stupid chick spouted nonsense and my mom believed her. How could she?
"I was lost and desperate! I'll admit, I wasn't thinking straight, but you were all I had left!" she shouted back at me. I growled in agitation, my body tense.
Calm down. She made the right choice.
The soothing voice was back and it was doing a damn fine job of forcing me to calm down. I still didn't know what it was or how it was doing this, but I reluctantly obeyed and sat back down. One thing at a time. I took a deep breath and then looked to my mom to finish the story.
"So you brought me back," I spoke plainly. She nodded, her posture loosening a little now that I was calm again.
"Yes, I brought you back, just as she told me before returning to the water. I gathered you in my arms and placed you in the water just as she instructed me to do, all the way under so that you were lying on the bottom," she explained. I held a hand to my head, remembering the vivid dream that wasn't a dream at all.
"The storm began out of nowhere. When you realized what I was doing you tried to fight me. I tried to pull you out before you drowned but something held you down. I yanked and fought harder after lightning began to strike around the lake. I thought I felt the ground move at one point but I was too desperate to save you to think of anything else. By the time I was able to pull you out you had already stopped thrashing and laid still. I thought I killed you, driven by my own madness to cure you," she sobbed, openly crying now. I stared at her in a mix of incredulity and heartbreak. Did she go crazy and think putting me down like some animal was merciful?
No, she saved you.
Shut up! Whoever you are just leave me alone!
I held my head in my hands and waited for more. My mom took some time to get herself under control before she could even attempt to speak again.
"When I was able to, I held you in my arms. You were so cold but you looked healthy again. Despite all the water I'm sure you swallowed you woke up as if you were merely sleeping. No harm had come to you besides the memory loss. You never remembered that night and there was no need to tell you. All that matters is that it worked, and you're safe," she concluded, reaching over to grip my hand in hers. My eyes fell on the way she held my hands tightly even when her skin reacted like she was touching something cool. Was I really that cold? Did it have to do with what happened? I couldn't even tell. Suddenly, I needed her to know that whatever happened that night had affected me more than being just a cure.
"No. That wasn't all that happened," I mumbled with a slow shake of my head. She tilted her head in concern and curiosity.
"Oh?" she spoke, her body going rigid with apprehension.
"I thrive on water. I like being near water. I like drinking it. I like being in it. People have called me a freak for loving it so much. I never told you because I felt like a freak and I didn't think it was worth mentioning. Now, I couldn't care less what anyone says anymore," I muttered, my eyes still on our joined hands.
"No, I would never think of you like that," she told me truthfully.
"It doesn't matter now. I see why I'm the way I am. It has to do with whatever happened to cure me of my illness," I continued. My mom looked away and bit her lip. I glanced at her and then pulled my hands free. I stood and walked over to get my bag.
"If you don't have anything else to say to me then I have to get to school. I'm going to be late," I told her. She seemed to curl in on herself when she replied.
"I'm truly sorry, Jade. I thought it was the right thing to do," she pleaded. I closed my eyes to block out her miserable expression but nodded.
"I know. You did what you could," I responded. I opened my eyes and silently walked away. I neglected my car in favor of walking today. I lived no more than a couple blocks from school. I would need the time to think anyway.
What more must be said? That is how it happened.
I groaned and ran a hand through my hair, stopping to untangle a deep blue dyed strand from my fingers. What the hell did that voice want anyway?
To be heard.
I stopped in my tracks and looked around, fed up with the strangeness that was my life. I really was a freak.
Speaking ill of yourself will not help matters.
And how would you know? You're just something I came up with, right? A way to justify myself by labeling you as my conscience?
Oh, great, now I was talking to myself.
You are not talking to yourself.
Sure I'm not. Listen, shut the hell up for at least today. I have too much going on and I would like to think normally for once. Got it?
Whatever you wish, but this is not over.
Yes, it is.
I began walking again, only stopping to get my usual coffee at the nearby coffee shop. By the time I got to school I was wishing for the day to be simple and straightforward but it seemed I couldn't even get that. As soon as I walked into Sikowitz's class I wanted to walk right back out.
"Hey Jade!" Vega greeted brightly from my usual chair. I rolled my eyes and then stomped over to her. She had been here for a year so far, transferring into our sophomore year, and yet she still hadn't learned what she could and couldn't do around here. I had a feeling she wouldn't be easy to teach.
"Get your butt out of my chair, Vega. I'm not going to yell at it again either so I suggest you move before I get out my scissors," I growled at her, remembering to censor myself this time. I didn't need anymore detentions. She frowned but it was gone the next second. She smiled again and moved to sit on the seat next to mine. She was too damn cheery. I groaned in irritation but took my seat anyway.
"Nice of you to grace us with your presence, Jade. How about we open class with an impromptu skit of epic proportions?" Sikowitz announced. I glared at him but he just ordered Vega, me, Andre, and Cat up on stage. It turned out his grand skit was nothing more than a teenage squabble. It was a dramatic mess of misplaced emotions because apparently Cat liked Andre but Andre liked Vega. I liked Vega too but was told by Cat that I couldn't pursue a relationship with her because it would hurt Andre's feelings. Cat being my best friend and still caring about Andre's feelings even if he was pining over someone else is what made me agree to kill off my own happiness. It was all rather stupid and confusing but not epic. Plus, Vega and I would never work. We didn't really get along. Despite feeling a hint of attraction for her since the first time I saw her on stage, I was adamant that I couldn't have any feeling for her.
It was just her body. Physical attraction. Yeah, that's it, because her personality is way too peppy. The rest of the day came and went. I spent it tired of the same old things and just drowned my confused thoughts with anything I could get my hands on to drink. It was time for the weekend and I was dying to get out of there. Normally I would have headed right for Beck's truck so we could spend time at his place. I liked being with him but our relationship didn't go anywhere really and eventually ended. He didn't keep my interest and when I was done spending a day with him I went home feeling like I had been in a desert all day. He just wasn't what I needed. This led me to try and come up with new activities. On my way out the door I crashed into Vega since my thoughts had put me on autopilot.
"I'm sorry, Jade. I didn't see you there," she instantly apologized. I was seconds from telling her off when the words got lost on the way to my mouth. She had been in the process of getting a drink from her water bottle but it spilled when we collided. Most of it ended up on her but some got on me too. I took in the sight of her shirt clinging to her body, making my chest rumble with a purr. My stomach flipped and my nose flared, taking in her scent. She smelled so good. I jolted out of the lull I fell into and berated myself for the observation.
She is very interesting. You seem to think so too.
It was just the water making me feel good. It had to be.
I thought I told you to shut up?
I didn't get a reply and hoped that the annoying voice stayed quiet the rest of the day.
"Jade, are you ok?" Vega questioned me, gripping her mostly empty water bottle like I might explode any second.
"I'm fine. I'll let this slide but watch where you're going next time, Vega," I spat, gaining back my sharp edged sneer. I watched as she nodded but looked away sadly. I ignored it and brushed past her, needing to get out in the open. I walked back home in silence this time. As asked, the voice didn't return all day. My mom was at work until later tonight so I had the house to myself once again. I spent it keeping myself busy so that my thoughts didn't resurface. The next day was looking to be a good one until I stepped out of the shower and started getting dressed.
Am I allowed to talk now, master?
The mocking voice came without warning, making me trip on my pants since I was in the middle of putting them on. I swore out loud and yanked them up to glare down at them like they had been the one to talk. I almost fell on my face because of that damn nuisance.
Too bad I cannot do a thing about your contemptible language.
Ok, you wanna talk? Fine! Let's talk. I have all day!
I sat down heavily in my comfortable padded leather desk chair and threw up my bare feet to prop them on my desk.
Now talk, or-
Or what? You plan on silencing a voice that is within yourself? How, pray tell, will you do that?
You cheeky bastard. If you've been squatting in my head you're sure to pick up my acidic style of speech, aren't you?
Indeed, it would seem so.
Except at the same time, whatever you are, you have your own style of dialog that I would never in a million years use. So, what do you want and why the hell should I believe you're anything but my insanity reaching new heights?
It was I who suggested the cure to your mother.
That caught me by surprise. I was all ears now.
What? Why?
That lake was my home. Pollution was running rampant in the water. I tried to take care of it but it was too much. It was making me sick. The moment I felt you place your hand in the water I sensed that you were even less healthy than I, so I manifested a temporary body to speak with your mother. It was time I found a new home until I had the strength to return to the lake and cleanse it again.
Wait, so you're saying, you were the teen she talked to? You told her to bring me back so that you could, what, take over my body? And of course it only seemed right because you stopped the disease that was killing me!
No need to get violent. I did what I had to, your mother did what she had to, and now you must do what you have to.
Which is?
Care for me.
Why should I?
The Lord, as will I, will be grateful.
The Lord? As in God?
Correct.
You've got to be kidding me. You work for God?
Yes.
Now I knew I lost my mind. What the hell has my crazy imagination come up with? This wasn't possible.
It is very possible.
Hey, you, yeah you, do me a favor and leave me alone for now. Give me the weekend at least to come to terms with all of this and maybe I'll let you talk.
Fine, be a stubborn mule. There will come a time when you will have questions for me and I will refuse to give them to you for treating me so coarsely.
What did you call me?
You heard me human.
You know what, screw you oh mighty being of water. I don't care who employs you. I don't like being told what to do, especially by something that's living in my body when it shouldn't be!
You are young and unwise. I do what I must.
I jumped from my chair with a growl and clenched fists. I was already hating this. Why is it that I can understand it now anyway?
I have always tried to speak to you but I speak in my language. You did not understand. I am guessing you understand now after the long connection to me.
But how do you understand me?
You are speaking my language.
No I'm not!
You are, or else I would not be able to understand you. All your thoughts are subconsciously in my language so I can read them and talk to you in return. I can understand others in this fashion because your thoughts automatically translate what they say too.
So I'm really speaking your language?
Yes.
How do I break this connection?
I will not share that information with you.
Figures. Then all I have to do is get rid of you. I'll go back to my old hometown and drown myself in that lake if I have to.
That is ill advised.
I'll do it anyway.
Then you will only hurt yourself. There will be a time and place when I must go my own way. Until then, I will remain with you.
But I don't want you here!
Ask politely when you come begging for answers. Only then will I give them to you.
The strange presence disappeared, leaving me boiling with rage. I paced my room four times, back and forth, until I left to get more water and something to eat. That was sure to keep my temper down. I spent the rest of my day working on anything I needed finished by Monday. When that was done I sat in the shower just trying to come up with a solution to the problem. I was grudgingly aware that I was keeping the thing in me happy with all these water breaks but I couldn't help it. It was a part of me now and I felt like crap if it wasn't happy. When night came around and my mom was home I stuck to my room, avoiding her. I needed time to cope by myself. Like always, she knew what I needed and stayed clear. I was grateful for that. I woke up late Sunday because of the restless sleep the night before. It was already midday so I got up and resolved to take a refreshing walk. I wandered the neighborhood and then returned home when I got hungry.
I couldn't stay because it was my mom's day off and I still wanted to be alone. Instead of ignoring her like the gank I was, I took my car and headed into the city. I visited a few stores just to look around and eventually stopped by my favorite restaurant once it got late. After dinner I headed right for the club I routinely snuck into when I wanted to have some fun. It all started back when I was sixteen. I met this guy named Vex who was two years older than me. He got in because he was friends with the people who owned the place and they allowed it as long as he didn't cause trouble. We hit it off and he began to sneak me in too. Now I'm eighteen, buddies with the same people that got him in, and he's twenty, almost twenty-one, and working in the same club he had snuck into years ago. I walked around the back and entered through the kitchen, waving at the long time employees that knew me.
Like Vex, I never caused trouble and I never drank until I was trashed so they didn't mind. I exited the kitchen in the back to come out a side door and into the main attraction. One of the bartenders recognized me and got my usual. I picked it up with a smile and walked away. The music was lively and the people where dancing. I rounded the dance floor and slipped into one of the rooms covered by a curtain. I didn't like the direct noise as much as I enjoyed relaxing with a drink and talking to anyone that didn't annoy me, but when I turned around I was almost shocked to see Vega of all people. She was definitely not sober, and the guy trying to get in her pants was way past gone. She was doing a poor job of blocking his attempts but I could determine by the look on her face that she was not pleased. Geez, try harder Vega.
Go to her, Jade. She needs help.
What she needs is to watch where she messes around and learn to take care of herself.
I spat this back at my personal pain in the neck without a care but we both knew I couldn't leave Vega to that fate so I rolled my eyes with a sigh, threw back my drink, set aside the glass, and walked over to save her sorry behind.
"Hey asshole. Hands off my girlfriend!" I shouted, making both of them jump in surprise. Vega looked at me with a cross between relieved and confused. The guy on the other hand, was a capable drunk who shoved Vega away and stood to confront me.
"Why don't you mind your own business and stay out of my way, or I'll do worse to you," he threatened. I opened my mouth to retort when Vega stood, clutching a tall glass of beer.
"You pig," she stated, getting the guy's attention. That was when Vega tossed the drink, intending to drench him in it, but he stepped aside and it splashed me instead. If I wasn't there to keep Vega out of trouble in the first place, I might be the one she should be running away from. After all, this wazzbag would be the least of her problems for pissing me off. As it was, that wasn't the case, so I shook the drink from my hands and forced a peeved smile. Vega froze in shock, and maybe some fear, hopefully, because she should be very afraid right now, but the guy just cracked up like it was the funniest thing in the world. I glared at Vega who gave me an apologetic smile in return that did nothing to calm me down. I wanted to hurt her so badly for that, but I reeled it in.
She has done nothing wrong. She just made a mistake. Focus on the real problem and I will do the rest.
The real problem is Vega and-wait, what are you doing?
I didn't get a response. Instead, I felt like my body was on hyper drive. It was a rush of energy I couldn't explain. I set my eyes on the guy who was done laughing and had gone back to pursuing Vega. I snarled and grabbed him by the back of his jacket. I slammed him against the wall and held him there.
"I said, hands off!"I roared, baring my teeth. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see my pale skin shimmer blue with a hint of green scales in the blink of an eye, only to disappear again. The idiot in my grip yelped and cowered against the wall.
"Oh crap! What are you? No, never mind, please, just don't kill me! I'll leave now, I swear!" he begged, closing his eyes and turning his head away. A rumbling growl forced its way out of my mouth.
"You better go now before I change my mind about letting you leave,"I hissed. He nodded rapidly and then bolted out of the room, leaving me with Vega. I let out a heavy breath and then turned to check on her, hoping she hadn't seen what he had seen. Whatever that was.
