The Osanen Legend: Vesi

                                                                                The Osanen Legend

                                                                          Book one: The Water Horse

                                                                                    Vesi



Prologue

VESI:

I woke up early that morning. I was used to the sound of waves, but these weren’t normal. They were closer. I stood up in my bed of straw shaking pieces of hay from my rugged, black coat.

Just then, I heard a huge wave crash on top of the barn. I whinnied and reared in attempt to wake up the stable hands in the house next door. The only effect my act had was waking up the other horses. They were all Friesians like me, all coated in mud from a hard days’ work water cropping. Now all of us were up and trying to break out of their stalls.

Another wave crashed on the roof, this time breaking it right in the center. The salty water flooded into the barn washing the floors over in a shade of dark blue. Then, yet another wave crashed in through the roof, this time, bringing in more water. This kept happening until most of us were swimming. Finally, one huge wave came crashing over, dragging us all underwater, choking and drowning our lungs, making us unable to call for help; and breathe.

As I was preparing for my death, the water took over my body, removing my veins and organs, replacing them with the blue liquid. I shot out of the water, and was now walking on top of it. I walked all the way until I reached the shore.

The owners stared at me in disbelief. I saw the look on their faces and instinctively ran. I was galloping down the streets, faster than I’d ever traveled in my entire life. I had eventually run myself into Ne w York.

I was running past the endless buildings at lightning speed, when I caught a glimpse of myself in a reflection. I skidded to a halt, and stared into the black wall. I saw a light blue, liquid horse staring back at me. But wasn’t I dark brown? Everyone on the streets stared at me with the same expressions as my owners. I left and hid. No one ever saw my magnificent watery form ever again, that was until the prophecy was formed…

 

                                                                                Chapter 1



When I was a little girl, my grandfather would tell me the stories of the four legendary horses. We would sit outside whether it be raining or a perfectly sunny day. When it was raining, grandpa would tell the story of the water horse.

“Well, she runs around on the water, not even making the slightest ripples on the deep blue water.” Then he’d stop and ask me, “Rose, what happens when winter comes?”

Lamely I’d answer , “Ice, grandpa. The water turns to ice.”

“Good. And the same thing happens the water horse. She turns to ice too! Her watery mane and tail become icicles and she turns a frosty blue. Some say that’s the only time you can ride her. But that’s not what I think.”

* * * * *

“On the other hand, there’s the fire horse. He roams the earth in search of the water horse.”

This was the first time he’d told me this story. The only story I had heard was the water horse one. I guess the only reason that we never brought up the other stories was because Grandma had died from the other elements.

I was so excited when he started telling me this story that I screamed, “Why? Why does he have to find the water horse?”

“Because he is fire, my darling. He has to move quickly before he has the time to burn anything up!” He stopped, and then there was a moment of silence. He took a deep breath and continued quietly, “The water horse must follow behind him, cooling his fiery path. But you must remember, if all of these…horses are separated, it will cause world wide destruction.

“Oh!” That was all I could say.

* * * * *

It was a few years later when my grandfather was mentally prepared to tell me the air horse legend. (I had no idea why it had taken so long, but it just did.)

“Wind, is a different story.”

“Tell me!” I screamed.

“Oh sorry. Continue.” I replied mouse-like.

“OK if you wish. Now,” his voice became deep and a bit somber, “the…wind horse is a beautiful Arabian. When there is a breeze, he runs with it until he’s practically flying.

“Cool,” I awed, “What does he look like?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” He smiled.

“W-wait, he…he can’t be…nothing! Can he?” I was stunned. I sat there waiting for him to reply.

“Are you going to let me finish?” He smiled with his old wrinkled eyes. The wrinkles, I could tell, ran down his cheeks down towards his mouth.

“Yes, sorry.” Thankfully he continued.

“So,” he replied, with his eyes creased, “Nothing. The only thing that anyone ever saw of him was an outline, and then they were dead. The only man to ever see him was a trained professional, so don’t go trying to attempt that.”

“But how can you be trained….to die?”

He smiled. “This is my favorite question. You see,” he started as old men do, “the horse only shows himself to those lost in the desert so they assume that he’s a mirage, but this guy, he trained himself for weeks to come, then, pretended to die.”

“Cool.” I added thoughtfully.

“Well, I guess that’s it then.”

I was confused. He never said anything about the earth horse? He seemed to read my mind. “I didn’t hear anything about him, sweetheart. Though I wish I did.”

“But you have to have more!” I whined.

“No,” he sighed, “Unfortunately, I don’t.”

I was really tempted to bribe him, but he sounded so innocent, I just couldn’t. He sat there looking sadly at me.

Then, mom appeared at the doorway yelling, “Honey! Dad! It’s late, come on in!” I hadn’t realized that it was already dark outside. Grandpa and I walked inside, as he yawned and started his way to the kitchen, muttering something under his breath. Suddenly I realized – school started tomorrow! I moaned in chorus with the old chair I was pulling out to sit in.

“What is it?” Mom asked.

I rolled my eyes, “School.”

* * * * *

I hated school. Ever since my friends moved away, I had none. I was all alone this=2 0year and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was headed down the narrow hallway when I skidded to a halt in horror. No one ever got bullied at this school! The blonde haired boy about my age (13) with his baggy t-shirt and farmers’ jeans was being shoved against the line of lockers!

“STOP IT!” I screamed at them.

The bully ran off with the new kid’s money. I started after the stupid bully until a hand protruded into my stomach.

“OW!” I protested.

“It’s not worth it.” Blondie said. I was afraid the nerd was gonna start crying, but when I looked up he was…smiling?

“But that was your money!”

“Yeah, I thought that was gonna happen.” He turned to face his locker, entered his combination, and pulled out a brown paper bag.

“Wow, a magician too?” I muttered sarcastically.

He smiled, “Yup! And thanks. My name’s Collin.” He held his hand out, waiting for me to return the hand shake. I replied smiling, “Rose.”

“Oh my…” I said, “Your…your eye is…bruised!

“No problem really.”

“No, you’re coming to my house, my mom can fix that. Come here,” I said writing my address down on a piece of paper, “after school.”

“Really, it’s ok. I think I might live.”

We were both laughing and both stopped at the same time. Something had ran into us and right past us. I saw a flash of blue rush past us, and then it was gone. Then, we were shivering and soaked.

“What the…?” Collin didn’t finish.

“Odd, wait!” We both turned around to the school entrance and standing in front of us was a horse. No, not a horse, but a blue horse. I gasped and turned to run, but Collin had my arm.

“What is it?” He said in a shaky voice.

“The water horse.” I whispered in his direction. I turned to stare at it, but it had vanished. Collin seemed to know why.

“Good day sir.” He replied to the Principal cheerfully.

“Good day to you too, but why aren’t you in class? And why are you…soaked?”

Collin answered as if he wasn’t about to lie, “We aren’t in class because there was a bully with a bucket of water and…”

He didn’t give him time to finish, “Well that is just terrible! I’ll let you know if I hear anything, but right now you best be off to class.”

“OK then,” said Collin, “Thank you!”

I hadn’t realized that he was st ill holding- well dragging me into the Math class.



 



                                                                                        Chapter 2



“Buenos diez clase!”

“Buenos diez senora.”

We all replied as if we had just woken up. But I guess it depends, I mean, if you were in Social Studies for homeroom, then that sarcasm would have really applied. I mean it was fun the first time, but we were 3 weeks into the school year, she had to stop sometime!

Collin had switched from French class to Spanish so that we could look for more reasons as to why the water horse had shown up in the school. We spent the entire class passing notes, explaining my poor Spanish grade. We were studying the alphabet sitting on our desks “A, B, C, D, E,-E” I stopped. I had felt something – like air – rush through me, and it wasn’t the chill from the always open window, it was something else. Something unnatural. It20hit me again forcing a scream to erupt from my mouth. All of a sudden Collin was at my side and the entire class was staring at me.

“Rose, calm down, just wait a second. OK?”

I managed a weak, “’kay.”

“Senora, may I please take Rose to the nurse’s office?”

“OK but hurry back.” She replied a little annoyed.

We didn’t go to the nurse. We ran right past it, across the tiled floor and through the glass doors. I saw a few teachers staring in my direction, but they didn’t have time to say anything or stop us because we were already outside.

“Tell me everything.” His tone was urgent.

“I felt something – like some type of air – just rush through me. It was really odd.”

“Hmmm….”

Then there was a whinny, high pitched and devastated. It sounded its way toward us. I was about to scream when Collin held his hand up to stop me. Then I heard a different scream echo the school hallways.

“Shush!” Collin waved me.

“Th-that wasn’t me.” We both looked over to see our Spanish teacher frozen at the doorway; once again, the water horse was there. The horse bolted through the doors soaking everyone in the way, and sliding down the halls.

Col lin and I rushed after her only to realize that she had entered the Spanish room. Everyone shrieked and ran for their lives, though nothing was going to happen to them; or so we thought. She was rearing and bucking calling cries of stress and frustration attacking nothing. Or something. We both looked a little harder at the nothing-ness and I remembered what my grandfather had said to me once,

“He is not seen by the human eyes,” I accidentally said aloud.

“What?”

“The air horse.”

* * * *

Collin and I ran home and as I slammed the front door shut, I was dead set on going to my grandfather’s room. I only stopped when I found my grandfather on the old leather sofa in the living room.

I was surprised, only because he never sat there. Only when he was in pain.

“Grandpa, what happened?” I said a little breathless.

He had noticed Collin in the background, “Nothing, nothing, I’m fine. What do you need?”

“Did the air horse ever leave the desert?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

This conversation had gotten us nowhere.

Collin decided to step in, “Then what was the water horse doing there?”

Grandpa choked, “You saw t he water horse?”

“Yup!” I smiled.

“OH! Grandpa!”

He had just fallen off the sofa when my mom came in from grocery shopping, dropped the bags on the floor, and ran over to me and grandpa.

“What happened?” She should have sounded innocent but instead she sounded accusative of me; like it was my fault.

I told him something and he just collapsed!” I cried through watery eyes. Again, Collin was at my side rubbing my shoulder to comfort me.

“CALL THE HOSPITAL!” my mom screamed.

Collin and I ran through the living room into the kitchen yanking the phone off its holder and I rapidly dialed 911.

Practically yelling I told them how everything had happened (minus the part about the horses) and they said they were on their way. As soon as they rushed through the door the put grandpa on the stretcher and headed for the hospital.

“Hurry let’s go,” mom said urgently, then in a casual tone she replied, “And who are you?” she pointed to Collin.

“Collin Landsberg, I’m just a friend” he said slipping his hand from my back.

“OK nice to meet you now let’s go!” she waved.

* * * * *

As soon as we said grandpa’s name, the receptionist gave us a sad loo k. We ran into the room only to hear the beeping noise draw on and on. Not even separated by a breath. Mom dropped down at the end of the bed in a prayer formation (with her hands propped against each other sticking straight up) and started mumbling about “god” and “heaven” and what not.

I had given in to the idea of holding back tears when I realized that I’d never get to hear another story again. But why had he been so confused about the water horse show up? And why was the air horse there? But none of that mattered now anyways, Grandpa was dead now it was time to mourn.







                                                                                    Chapter 3



We later found out that he had died of a heart attack, making me feel guilty about everything. I didn’t talk to mom for the next week, even after the funeral. I avoided Collin and almost everyone. My grandfather’s death was my entire fault; how could I be normal? Collin was forcing me to let it go, but I just ignored him. Grades, lunch, notes, nothing mattered.

“Come on Rose! Talk to me! Please!”

“NO! GO AWAY! I hated being mean to Collin, he was trying his best not to hurt me, but I kept rejecting him every time.

“Look, can you just not talk to me?=E 2

“Sorry.” And then he walked away with of feeling of rejection.

“Collin come on! I didn’t mean to be mean to you, but I’m just…..annoyed with myself! PLEASE!” I was on the edge of tears, just waiting for the pools to overflow and spill over. He turned around and smiled at me, “You really are over reacting aren’t you?”

“Ha ha. But I really am sorry. Its just…..well terrible! I mean I was about to ask him who the guy that saw the air horse was! I mean, what if he could help us or something?” It all just spilled out of my mouth.

“What if he couldn’t?” Collin replied.

“I know, he’s probably dead anyway, jeez, anyone who could possibly give us answers is already dead!”

Collin came over and embraced me with a big hug right in the school hallway. I hadn’t realized that our friendship had already taken to the next level without us even trying. I think by now we should be dating, but I was afraid to be the one to ask. I mean, wasn’t it the guys’ job to ask anyway? Sheesh.

Maybe we belonged together, but thinking about it made me realize how little time we’d spent with each other and now we were on the verge of dating. Odd. I realized that he was never going to ask. So I decided I should give it a try. I looked u p at him, trying to hide my eyes under my lashes (not working very well) and spoke softly, trying to make the words come out right, “Collin? Do….well do you think we….be long together?”

“Yes.”

“Really.” It didn’t come out as a question, rather a statement.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not that I think.”

“Cool. I guess we’re dating!” He said satisfied.

“Wait – what?” I sounded a little too surprised.

“Is that a bad thing?”

Ha ha, he was using the same words again to describe different emotions. “But what will my mom think?” I said a little breathless.

“I’m pretty sure she knows me well enough.”

He sounded pretty smug.

“OK then, a couple we are!”

He was about to hug me again, but then we heard another shriek coming from the cafeteria. This was a very entertaining school year.

“Great. Let’s go”

I could’ve sworn that as soon as we got there he shoved me out of the way as if to protect me.

“Jeez! I’m your girlfriend, not a priceless porcelain doll!” I screamed.

“It doesn’t look like you’d wanna go in there anyway,” he sighed, “but if you must, take a look.”

So I did. And right in front of me was a big, fiery thoroughbred horse. He kicked the air and stampeded out of the cafeteria burning my shoulder as he ran away.

“OW!” I screamed. Within that moment, Collin had me in his arms and was racing to the nurse’s yet again.

“Help, she burnt herself in the science lab!”

Another save made by Collin. The nurse had me on a bed and literally had to force Collin out of the office. I looked down at my reddened shoulder thinking, now Collin defiantly won’t let me help. I sighed. As soon as I was covered up and sent back into “science” class Collin was waiting.

“AHHH! You scared me!” I screamed a little winded.

“Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“This is something I’m going to have to get used to.” I muttered under my breath.

“What?”

“Nothing, just you, never letting me out of your sight ever again.” I sighed.

“You know I wouldn’t do that. Ever.”

“Good to know.”

* * * * *

It was a few days later that Collin and I found ourselves out by the creek near his house. It was a small l og cabin with a few of his horses named Jasper, Fizz, their miniature donkey, and Star Bucks. The barn was made up of oak wood. His house was small but fun to hang out in.

He would always ride Jasper, a big chestnut Quarter horse with an off- centered blaze racing down his beautiful face. And I would take stride with him on his father’s mare Star (or Star Bucks.) She was a beautiful Arabian with only one marking. (It semi looked like a coffee mug on the top of her forehead hence the name Star Bucks.) Here at his house I felt at peace, actually, too much peace.

“What do you wanna do now?”

“Dunno.”

“COLLIN!” I shrieked.

“WHAT? WHAT IS IT?”

“There’s somethin’ in the woods, and it doesn’t feel friendly.”

Collin whipped his head around (fast enough that I could hear the crack) and stared at the woods.

“Rose…”

“What?”

“Run.”

We both got up and mounted, cantering off. I could hear the sound of horse’s hooves behind us. When we hit the log in the middle of the trail I was unaware of it until I fell hitting the ground.

The hooves behind us lurched to a halt right behind me. So did Star Bucks’ . They both dismounted and were standing over me. As soon as I stood up, the stranger caught my arm before Collin could, then I was flung into the saddle and we were flying away from Collin, but that didn’t stop him. He charged right after us. When the man in front of me reached out for a branch to chuck at Collin, I immediately responded to his actions. I stretched out as far as I could so the branch couldn’t find its way to Collin’s head. I was vaguely aware of Collin’s desperate scream only before I fell unconscious.

* * * * *

When I woke up, we were in a small room, a closet to be exact, with wood pellets surrounding the area.

“Ugh…Collin?”

“What?”

“Where are we?”

“Well let’s see. You knocked yourself unconscious, then, I chased you, and that maniac threw us in this closet.”

“Wait. So we were….Kidnapped?”

“Um….yup.”

“AHHHH!”

“Shush! We’re going to get out. Don’t worry.”

But I didn’t stop; I kept pacing trying to find a way to get us out of here. This was insane. What would some guy try to kidnap us for? Was this for the water horse? If it was a set up for her…maybe we should try to find a way out to save her.

“Rose. Rose. ROSE!”

What?”

“This guy is an idiot!”

“How so?”

“Look closely Rose, there’s a window…and a broom to smash it with. Jeez. I wouldn’t be surprised if we looked in a bag and there was some food.”

I guess I hadn’t been looking hard enough!

“Great! Let’s go!”

As soon as Collin broke the window, the strange man smashed the door down, chasing after us (though it wasn’t much of a chase seeing as the room was tiny.)

“GO!” Collin barked at me.

“Hurry!”

“Don’t worry, I’m right behind you.”

When I got out, I was surprised at how blinding the sunlight was. How long had I been out? But that was a question for later. Right now I was more focused on Collin escaping. He answered my question, “GO! I’ll be fine! Right behind you!”

I ran.

* * * * *

As soon as we were reunited, we hugged and then found ourselves face to face with the water horse, yet again.

“What are you doing here?” I asked sarcastically knowing I wouldn’t get an answer.

The question is, what are you doing here? This is the villain in your fairy tale. What are you doing with him?

“WHAT!?!?!?!?”

“What is it Rose?”

“There was a voice in my head. It was telling me that the guy in there is the villain in my “fairy tale.”

“OK then?”

Yes, it is OK.

“STOP!” I screamed to the voice. It was a soft and airy tone, like a bell chiming midnight. It sounded more relaxed than it was annoyed with me.

Patience is key, Rose.

That was more than enough for me. I ran away screaming at the top of my lungs.

“ROSE COME BACK!” Collin cried.

“But it- it knows my n-name! I sobbed into his panting shoulder after he caught up with me.

“It’s ok, it’s ok.” He cooed.

“How can it be ok when this, thing, knows my name and is screaming it in my head?”

“Don’t worry. If it’s not threatening to kill, it’s not going to hurt you.”

“I know, but it’s…it’s still so annoying.”

He laughed at my choice of words. “Look at the bright side, Rose, you’re a mind reader!”

“I don’t wan t to be a mind reader though; it’ll get in the way!”

“Or not.” He smiled.

“Ho w so?” The curiosity was killing me.

“Well, what if we needed to know something and it could tell us the answer?”

I gasped, what if I could ask about the air horse and the man? Collin seemed to read my mind when he said, “Maybe you could do that. Try.”

“Um…ok?”

“Think.”

“Got it.” I winked; I knew this wasn’t going to work. And then I thought, Um…hi…I was just wondering if you could…um... tell us about the man who saw the air horse? I want to know his location at this very moment so we can go find him. Please? It worked.

Of course you can.

I smiled, thanks.

You’re welcome. Okay let’s see, he was last…inside your house.

WHAT?!?!?!

Inside your house. The voice said satisfactorily. I looked at Collin, but obviously he wouldn’t have any answers; this was inside my head!

Where is he now!?!?!

Heaven.

“Well that’s just great.” I huffed.

“What?” asked Collin, showing his overprotective-ness once again.

“The man started at my house and now he’s in heaven. WHY’D YA HAVE TO DO THIS TO US GOD?!?! WHY!?”

“Rose, calm down. Hey wait. ”

“What?”

“The voice said the man was in your house right?”

“Yeah why?”

“I think I know who he was.”







                                                                                              Chapter 4



“Who do you think he is?” I asked Collin curiously.

“The same man that told you the stories of the Osanen horses.”

“Osanen?” I had no idea what that meant.

“It means Element in Finnish. I read about this stuff in a book somewhere. But there was a man named Gregory Osanen. He was the one who made20a prophecy for….”

“COLLIN!”

He had just collapsed, and I wasn’t going to let him leave me like my grandfather. I screamed again. “COLLIN, COLLIN WAKE UP!”

“Huh?” he groaned and rolled over and rubbed his head.

“Collin, oh my god, you almost made me have an anxiety attack! Don’t ever do that again. What was that even about?”

“That Osanen guy….he…he made a prophecy…..about us. I read about it in that same book. We are supposed to fall in love, very fast. Exactly what happened. Except we are supposed to fall in love under the full moon, near a pond that…well doesn’t have a name. Just some random pond. Then, when the Osanen horses were separated we would be the one to reunite them.

I stared at him like he was crazy. Pond? Where was this pond he was talking about? We fell in love in the hallway of the school! I know….not very romantic on our part, but still. Pond?

At this time Collin was still on the ground. I guess I was pacing back and forth or something, because he was giving me a strange look. I held out my hand and he grasped it and I pulled him up. But it didn’t work. His hand was slippery with sweat, and he slid out of my hand and hit the ground with a thud.

“Oops.” I said.

He gl ared at me and picked himself up. “Thanks…” he said sarcastically.

I grinned. I really wanted to know was why the water horse was here in the first place.

Because you couldn’t do this without me .

This really is going to take some getting used to. She could answer all the questions in my head. I wanted to try again; walking away from Collin who was still rubbing his back.

What are you? I questioned.

I am a spirit by the name of Vesi. I am nothing but water. I am sure your grandfather has told you of me.

Yes, he has. But how would you know?

Your grandfather wasn’t the only one telling you the story you know.

But, we were the only ones there! How is that possible?!?

I provided the lovely details in your mind; that way, when the time came, you would know exactly where to find us.

“Wow.” I awed.

Collin was with me now; I guess I hadn’t noticed him get up, and asked in a general tone, “What’s up?”

“The Water – well Vesi she gave me the details of all the horses when my grandfather told me the story,” I explained to him, “and now we know where to find them!”

Then I asked another question, where do you live? Grandpa never told me.

=0 D

Where ever you do, Rose. I looked over at the blue-ish horse, who seemed to ripple when a light breeze hit. She whinnied at me when I looked up. I replied with a smile, only for it to disappear when she thought, hop on.

“Why would we do that?” I screeched.

Oh just do it already, I promise the safety of your return.

“What will my mom think about this? Where are we even going?” I hadn’t meant for that to be out loud, but now it was hard to tell if I was thinking it or saying it.

We won’t be gone for that long, Rose; we will only be gone for the day. I promised you, did I not?

True, but how can we ride…water?

It’s doable. Trust me.

So Collin and I hopped on the…horse…and we took off.

I only screamed, “STOP!” when we were headed towards the ocean.

Its ok, I can run on water. Remember that little thing called, trust?

Yes, I sighed, I do.

Then we lunged into the water; I was waiting for a splash and then seconds later being soaked; but that didn’t happen. I don’t think I ever would have realized that we were even on water until I looked down. The salty waves were rolling right under her feet; well hooves; and she just, walked over them....and on the m. I felt something shifting behind me. I looked over my shoulder only to see Collin dismounting.

“COLLIN! What are you doing?!?!?”

“If she can walk on water, why can’t I?” He replied.

“NO! STOP!” But it was too late; Collin had jumped off and plunged into the water. But he didn’t stand up, well he didn’t come up. HELP HIM! I thought to Vesi.

Calm down, calm down, I’ll be right back.

“OK.”

All of a sudden, there was nothing under me. Vesi had just disappeared underneath me and I fell into the water. I almost went underwater when I heard the voice of Vesi protrude my thoughts, don’t worry Collin will be fine…when I find him.

YOU STILL HAVEN’T FOUND HIM!?!?!

No, but I can see him, remember –

I cut her off, yeah yeah, I know, trust.

I swam to shore where she told me to go, and sat there waiting.

No, I was saying, remember that we are deep in the ocean; no human would ever be able to find him.

“COLLIN!”I choked out. I didn’t realize that I was crying. But when I did realize, it caught my attention. I didn’t cry this much when grandpa died, why should Collin’s death be any more painful? Were we that close? But just as I was considering this, I heard a splash farther away, and a rasping breath.

When they reached the small shore, he saw my face and tried to smile. “Rose, I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“Collin, you can barely breathe!” I yelled at him.

“I’m fine.”

“Oh my god! Collin, just sleep! I’m sick of fighting with you!”

“Fine, fine. Whatever you want.”

I smiled. I had just won a fight with Collin. I looked up at the water horse and said aloud, “Look, Collin isn’t any help to us right now. Can we just go back to my house for now?”

She seemed to sigh and replied to my mind, Sure, I guess. But we will come back. And hopefully…Collin won’t act like a moron.

I laughed. This was probably the wisest horse I’ve ever met, and here she is, insulting my boyfriend. I looked down at Collin to see his reaction to my laughter, but he was already dead asleep.

* * * * *

“How are you feeling?” I asked Collin as he woke up on the sofa.

“Terrible! What happened?!”

“You tried to walk on water and failed miserably.” I said casually.

“Ugh…I was that much of an idiot? But that doesn’t matter right now, how are you fe eling?”

There goes Collin, back to his normal self again. But I guess I should have been expecting that.

“Look. I’m fine. What happened?”

He took a moment to answer. Probably trying to find the right words or something, I don’t know. But then he said, “I’m…not really sure…”

My mother walked into the room at that time, holding a small container with a pink liquid. “Oh Collin, thank god! Are you all right? Here take your medicine.”

“So that’s how I was knocked out!”

“Collin! Just drink it.” I said, annoyed.

So Collin forced the gooey liquid down his throat, wincing at the bitter taste. Then he sat up. “All better! That medicine really does the trick!”

“Collin.” Both mom and I sighed.

He looked up at our annoyed faces and then decided he better lay down. “Hey…um…can Rose and I be…alone for like two seconds?”

“Alright, but I’ll be counting in the kitchen.”

“Then make it two minutes.” He smiled.

As soon as mom left the room, Collin asked me, “How long have I been out?”

“’Bout a day…I think.”

“Well at least I beat your record!” He replied happily.

“Really? How long was I out when we were…” my voice sunk into a whisper, “kidnapped.”

“Three days.”

“Three!”

“Yeah, long enough for this to happen.” He pointed to his shoulder where a small scar was forming.

“Collin,” I gasped, “what happened?”

“Well he was about to ‘dispose’ of you, and when I tried to stop him…well see…he had a knife…and…”

He pulled off short. He couldn’t find the words to describe to me how bad he was willing to hurt himself just to save me. He was probably waiting for is heroic trophy and hug, but for some reason I was angry!

“Collin! You idiot!” I screamed at him and slapped his bad arm. He winced, but kept a smile on his tired face. “You could’ve….could’ve…..” I couldn’t finish. The words hurt too much to even think them. Collin gladly finished for me, “killed myself?”

“Yes.”

“But, I’m not dead. Isn’t that a good thing?” He teased.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t find words to answer. So I hugged him. He played along until he heard my mom heading towards the kitchen room entryway saying, “Five, four, three, two, one.”