Strings of Jade

I look up, still shuddering with the impact of the fall and save. No one was with me, no one witnessed it. 

I walk back to the House. Surprisingly, everyone is noticing me, for the first time, everyone turns and looks at the wet boy making his way through the corridor, unfazed. I get a few concerned look, too. A maid servant looks my way, with a face ceased with worry. 'Are you okay?..' If she was going to use any form of endearment, she knew better. 

Ignoring her, my feet make their way through a familiar passage. Ichora's chambers. I push open the heavy oak doors, freezing. Her eyes catch mine almost instantaneously. 'Jasper' she whispers my name, for she hardly ever shouts. I stagger to the mirror and it is then that I realize the reason of the unwanted attention in the hallways. 

My limbs were slightly scarred and wounded. Not enough to leave a permanent mark. There was a small cut on my left cheek, all caused due to the force with which I was pulled out of the water.

Ichora's tall figure followed me, relentless. She turned me around and gazed, immersed. I was almost as tall as her now, one day I would surpass her. Her gaze rested on my face. It was only then broken when my blue eyes uncomfortably wandered off to avoid hers. She flinched. 'Stay here. I'll bring bandages.' she said as she disappeared. 

Two hours later, she was cleaning and bandaging my wounds. I told her the events that had followed up to this. She listened, but her eyes were on her hands, with which she treated. 'I was drowning.' I said 'and I thought it was the end'. I paused. What came next was enough to prove that I was unhinged. She looked up at my silence. 'And?' It was as if she knew what came next, but just wanted to hear it come from me. 

I blinked into the oblivion and everything blurred. 'And I was happy. My wish was granted, I would be dead, and free.' This is not what you expected, did you? I waited for a angry response. 'So why are you here right now?' she enquired, still looking down. I was taken aback by her firmness. 'Someone saved me.' I said. She was nineteen, six years older. I could not talk back to her.

'Are you glad. That you lived?' she asked. I nod. I. Nod. 

Tears spill out of my eyes but my expression remains the same. Her stern face softens to the same half-smile, and she says 'Me too.'

What would happen if I died anyways? The world would go on, some new kid would come along to take my place, they would be taught by Ichora, and maybe even loved by everyone. My name would fade away, like my mother's and.... and... And what?

More tears spill out, brimming my face. 'And I would remember you. For as long as I live, in life, in death and in hell where I belong' Ichora said, looking out. My eyes widened, I realized that I had said this out loud. I gape like a fish, my eyes fixed to a point above her head. Adolescent emotions break through and I look at her and say, 'You promise?'

She stays quiet, still smiling and after a near eternity, she looks up.

I do not know what happens. Maybe it was all my imagination. Ichora cups my face in her hand, and her hazel eyes close. She presses her lips to mine, muffling my breaths. We separate and still cradling my face, she studies every inch, leans to brush away a stray strand of black from my forehead, and kisses again. I close my eyes this time, following her lead.

It is then that a sharp pain rises up my back. I yelp and push her away, still panting.

'Jasper' she whispers. 'I promise.'