Siren Suicides (Second Edition)

Chapter 22. Mud Lake

A feeble violin moans in the gloomy yonder and falls silent. I spring up and dash in its direction, my feet slipping in mud puddles, my breath ripping my chest. As quickly as it surfaced, the sound disappears. I stop to listen. There it is again, coming from the pile of rocks and dirt by the fallen fir tree. I stumble, fall, pick myself up, and sprint to the source of the melody.

I stop in front of a hillock and start digging like mad, fingers and nails, one frantic little mole. I throw stones off the pile in all directions, muttering gibberish, hoping against all hope that I'm right. Stones give way to gravel, gravel gives way to dirt. When the dirt shifts, a hand emerges and grabs on to me for dear life.

"Hunter!" I shriek.

I clear his face from the debris. He coughs and opens his eyes, bright blue in contrast to all this dirt. He gulps for air, licking his lips.

"Water," he mouths, without an actual sound.

"Just a second!" I say and dash to the river. Up close it turns out to be no more than a brook. It gurgles its merry stream and I dip into it, wade deeper, and exhale in relief as I dunk my head and drink the melted glacier water. Savoring its sweetness, I inhale it through my cracked gills and wash my face, the icy water chilling me properly. I stumble out, sliding on mossy pebbles with the precious liquid caught in my palms. Carrying it carefully over to Hunter, I trickle drop by drop between his cracked lips.

"More," he croaks, so quietly that I barely hear it.

I repeat my journey, elated, feeling as if I'm flying, ready to make the trip to the stream and back a million times.

"You're alive," I say on repeat, digging the rest of his frame out until he's free of dirt, lightly pressing him against my chest.

"You're alive, you're alive, you're alive. I'm so sorry I hurt you, I really am. I lost control, I sort of forgot about everything else. I needed to get rid of the sirens. Ligeia was sucking out your soul and..." I notice his incredulous look. "Are you badly hurt? Will you ever forgive me? Can I—"

"I can't hear you," Hunter utters in a long slur, obviously disoriented.

I fist the end of my wet sweatshirt sleeve and wipe his lips clean. "I said, I'm sorry. I said—"

He grabs me with his left hand, bewildered.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" I ask, alarmed.

"I can't hear you. I can't hear myself talking. I can't hear nothing." His voice is quiet and garbled, words hardly separated from each other, sounding like one long string.

Paralysis pins me to the ground. I feared this might happen.

"You can't hear me?" I repeat like a parrot. "How about now?" I yell into his ear, denying what he told me, not wanting to acknowledge what it means. He doesn't cringe at my voice, which confirms that I must have damaged his eardrums. But wouldn't he be in terrible pain right now if I did? He doesn't look like he is.

"Come on, let me carry you, let's figure out a way to get out of here. We'll go to your house and you'll take a bath and a nap and feel better and see your mom and..." I chatter nonsense in hopes of making him feel better, but mostly I hope to make myself feel better. I scoop him by the shoulders and struggle to sit him up. I slip in the mud and fall on my knees. He grabs my arm and insistently pulls me closer to him.

"Stop...I'm deaf...STOP!"

Strength drains from me. The feeling of dread returns, brought on by the horrible mistake I made. I can't reverse it no matter what I do.