Eunia did not dare open her eyes when she was swallowed by the water. She felt the boy, Malgeen's hand tight on hers. They were slowly descending down the water level. Why isn't
Malgeen pulling us up? If we keep going like this, we would drown! She thought, panic stricken. She felt water going inside her ears, making her head ache. It was too much pain, she could not tolerate it. Her lungs were burning due to lack of oxygen and her throat felt as if somebody was cutting it with a razor. She started squirming around in the water in desperation, loosening her grip with Malgeen.
All she wanted was to reach the surface and be able to breathe again. She glanced at the boy, who was struggling to hold her weight and pull them both to the surface.
The coldness of the lake water started settling in. Eunia's body felt numb and stiff. Suddenly, her body stopped squirming. She was unable to move her limbs. She opened her mouth in fear and trepidation that she was going to drown. The lake water invaded her nose, tempting her to breathe it in. She was trying hard to fight it. She tried to kick her legs but her body was not responding to her. It was completely shut down.
She was almost certain that she was going to drown when she felt Malgeen shift positions next to her. Still not letting go of her hand he moved behind her. He then wrapped both of his hands around her waist and lifted her just a little above his head. Then he started kicking at the water in such a way that they were rising, slowly. She could feel it, they were getting closer to the surface.
And a few seconds later their heads emerged out of the water, both of them gasping for air, Malgeen still kicking at the water so that they stayed afloat. Once they had soothed their lungs with fresh oxygen, He adjusted his position so that Eunia was on his back.
"Wrap your legs around my waist and hold on tight, okay? I'm going to head for the edge now."
Eunia nodded and did as he said. The cold wind hit her soaked body sending shivers down her bones. Her sinuses hurt and her throat was still burning. Maybe she had inhaled some of the water. She felt like throwing up.
Atleast they did not drown. She was safe.
Soon they reached the edge. Malgeen lifted her a little more so that she could climb up on the dry land. Then she helped him up too by pulling at his hands. Then they both laid there, shivering and all soaked up, finally being able to breathe properly. Eunia glanced sideways at Malgeen. His curly hair was plastered onto his forehead making it look like he was wearing a helmet. His chest was rapidly rising and falling, as he was trying to refresh his body with the much needed air.
But he was moving, he was breathing. So it was true, they had made it out alive.
Eunia put both her palms on the ground and tried to lift her body into a sitting position. Her elbows were shaking with the effort and her back still felt stiff from exhaustion. But she managed to sit up, her legs stretched out in front of her. She started rotating her shoulders and her neck to remove the stiffness and reactivating her muscles. Beside her, Malgeen seemed to be doing the same thing. He looked more tired than her though. Eunia summoned all the strength that was left in her body and stood up. She felt dizzy. Her head was still throbbing from pain. Her teeth were chattering from the cold winds. She walked up to the boy and offered him her hand for support. He took it and he was now standing up too.
"Are you all right?" She asked him, which seemed like the only other polite thing to do at that moment.
He met her eyes and rubbed the back of his hands against his nose. "I think I'm going to catch a cold." He said.
Just as he said it, Eunia sneezed. And then she sneezed again. She looked up at him and laughed.
"I think" she said "I already caught the cold."
Malgeen looked confused. "And why is that so funny?", he asked.
"I don't know, maybe I'm going crazy." She said. "We wouldn't have been sick if you had been quicker to pull us up to the surface." She added with a yawn.
Malgeen folded his arms clearly not pleased with what she said.
"You do realise that I saved your life, right?" He said, pushing away the hair stuck to his forehead. "If it weren't for me you would be dead and your body would've been rotting away from that forest I picked you up from!"
"Well I never asked to be saved anyway!" She yelled and walked away from him.
"Where are you even going?",he asked as he followed her.
"Anywhere where I don't have to see your face."She replied haughtily.
Malgeen sighed and muttered something about girls being stubborn.
"Look, I don't even know your name." He said frustrated. "I was ordered by my mother that I am responsible for your well being from now on, and you are not making it easy for me."
At that she stopped walking and turned to face him, her arms folded.
Malgeen folded his arms as well, raising his eyebrows. Perhaps he wanted to show her that he could be stubborn as well.
"Eunia." She said. "That's my name, I think."
"You think?", he said, bringing his brows closer to eachother, perplexed.
"Yes." That was all she said.
Malgeen pressed his lips in a firm line, and decided it was best not to question her right now, so he just said, "Okay, Eunia." He extended his hand towards her,"My name is Malgeen."
"I already know that", she said as he shook his hand, as a gesture of peace.
"Really? I don't remember telling you-"
"I heard the woman, your mother call you by that name, back at that.. place" she interrupted.
Malgeen nodded his head, as if to say that what she said made sense, then he walked towards a tree and sat down under it. Maybe all that talking made him tired again.
An hour passed. Eunia had propped her head against a tree trunk and dozed off. She was too tired and her body was begging for rest, so she figured it was best for her to take a nap. Now she was awake. Malgeen was lying under the shade of a nearby tree. His eyes were closed. Maybe he dozed off as well.
She wanted to ask him what they were supposed to do now that they were here, but decided against it as she did not want to wake him up from his sleep. He must have been really exhausted trying to keep both of them afloat in the lake. He deserved rest. She kind of felt guilty about what she said to him earlier. She hadn't meant to be rude, but now that she thought about it, her behavior was awful. She decided that she would apologize to him when he woke up.
Until then, she was free to do whatever she wanted. She took this as an opportunity to view her surroundings more properly. She was in a forest again, this one deeper than the one Malgeen found her in. It was packed with huge trees and shrubs and in front of her was the lake. If she had not been drowning in that lake a few hours ago, she would have called the lake beautiful. It had clean, crystal clear water with a green tint to it. You could see the reflection of the trees on its surface, their leaves swaying as the wind blew through them.
Then she heard Malgeen stir. She stood up and walked towards him.
"Had good rest?" She asked, trying to be polite again.
Malgeen looked at her with half-open and said "I don't understand you. One moment you're all polite and then the next second you're this moody, stubborn brat"
"About that, listen I know I might have been a little bit rude, but I promise I'm not like that always-" She said, but Malgeen interrupted her, he said "a little bit?"
Eunia rolled her eyes. "Fine, I was terribly rude to you before and I should not have behaved that way." He was still looking at her, expecting more. She sighed. "I'm sorry. Thank you for saving my life even though I never asked for it and you only did it because your mother told you to."
Malgeen smiled. "There, that wasn't so hard was it?"
Eunia stomped on his foot.
"Oww! What was that for?" He groaned.
Eunia ignored him. She asked,"Do you know where we are? Or what we're suppose to do now that we're here?"
Malgeen looked around. After a few rounds here and there, he concluded, "No I don't where we are." He looked more worried than herself. The colour was draining out of his skin and he started pacing back and forth. "How am I supposed to get back home now? Mother said she would send us to place I would know. Why would I ever know a place like this!" He said restlessly as he continued to pace.
"Calm down. Atleast we're not dead. We could've been in an even worse situation."Eunia said, trying her best to be positive.
He stopped pacing abruptly and said,"Calm down and what? Spend my whole life with you in this forest? Live like animals and survive on insects? Absolutely not! There is no way I'm going to spend my whole life here. I have to get back home at any cost!" He was yelling now.
"Hey, you would make it back home safely okay? But for now the most practical thing to do is to find food. I'm hungry."
Malgeen glared at her. Then he sighed. "Fine. We'll go look for food." He paused."There must be plenty of berries and fruits in this forest." He said.
At that,Eunia smiled, "So we're going berry hunting? Sounds fun."
Malgeen was still frowning "That sounds so strange."
"It does not!" Eunia countered.
And off they went through the forest.