The Departed

As Kellam walked behind the short blonde back towards the party he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He wasn't planning on hooking up with her but he did intend to have a bit of fun. That was before she started throwing up in a ditch and he was stuck holding her hair for an hour. He was a little upset that his night had been wasted but he wasn't completely heartless. He knew what it was like to party hard and end up hugging a porcelain bowl. His nights had ended that way many times before.

They walked in silence for most of the trip. He could feel her occasional glances and he knew she was probably more than a little embarrassed. When the light coming from the flames came into view the girl, who's name was Miranda, cleared her throat.

"Listen I am so sorry about that." Her words slurred slightly but she had sobered up quite a bit

"Don't even worry about it." She looked down her face a light shade of red. "Seriously, it's not a big deal. Here I'll prove it." He pulled her to a stop by her wrist. "Hand me your phone." Once the pearl white iPhone was in his hand he pressed a few buttons quickly and handed it back to her. She looked at it, a smile tugging at the corner of her lipstick-smeared-mouth when she saw his name in her contacts. "Give me a call sometime, when you aren't sick, and we can hang. Yeah?"

"Yeah." She confirmed, her smile growing wider. They began to walk again in a comfortable silence and Kellam was just itching to get back and see if Ansley had decided to stay without him.

Walking back into the throngs of people near the bonfire he scanned the area for Ansley. The smile on his face grew wider as he searched to no avail. He knew she would leave when he did. It was like he had told her, he was the party. A rough tap on his shoulder interrupted his mental victory speech.

"Looking for Ansley?" Daren's voice was like sand paper on a chalk board to Kellam. Fisting his hands tightly and grinding his teeth, his good mood was gone, disappearing with the smoke that emanated from the flames.

"I certainly don't need your help." He growled becoming even more infuriated at Daren's calm and cool demeanor.

"Are you sure? Because I know where she is." Kellam's silence was loud and Daren smiled victoriously. "Of course, I could always tell you where she isn't." He stopped turning around pretending to admire something far off. "And that's in your bed. Yes she told me but I am not sure that I believe that you aren't. I mean the most notorious playboy of the school isn't sleeping with his best friend? It's not very believable. Then again, she has always been a massive pru-" As Daren began to turn Kellam's fist shot out on its own accord catching him off guard and silencing his cruel words. The older boy lay sprawled out on the ground looking stunned but Kellam didn't waste any time before he was hovering over him and gripping his collar roughly, barely leaving him any room to breathe as he came face to face with him. Kellam noticed his right eye beginning to swell and smiled on the inside at that fact.

"I don't ever want to hear you speak about her that way! I warned you what would happen. Now tell me where she is. No games. The truth." His voice now low and menacing. Daren's breaths were coming quick and his calm attitude was long forgotten. His face began to turn a bright shade of red as he stared at the younger boy defiantly.

The party had ceased to exist around them. Since Daren's not-so-graceful fall broke the stereo that had been playing over-played rap beats the party was deadly silent and every eye was on them. At that moment, as the boys were staring dagger at each other, Kellam's question was answered. A shrill scream pierced the silence around them and Kellam was on his feet in seconds. He had heard that scream too many times to count and knew who it was immediately.

"Call 911!" He demanded to the crowd before taking off in the direction in which the continuing screams originated. He had seen Mirabel hanging out with her friends earlier that night and decided not to intervene but now that was looking more and more like a mistake.

When he reached her they were not to far from Mirabel's home and she was screaming and wiping at the ice frantically. Her hands were blood red from pounding on the ice and her dark brown hair was in disarray. His heart rate slowed some to see that she wasn't in any immediate danger but he could hear faint cracks as the ice adjusted to her weight so he began trying to coax her off the thick surface.

"Mirabel calm down. What happened?" Figuring she was probably buzzed, he knew she must've dropped something unimportant into the lake and was making a huge deal out of nothing. "It's okay just come off of the ice and I will help you look for what ever it is that you dropped. Okay?" She looked up, her eyes wild and her face make-up smeared.

"It's Ansley! Sh-She fell in. I can't find her! Help me find her!" Before the last words left her mouth his eyes had traveled to the small opening a few feet in front of him. And just like that his heart was once again in his throat constricting his breathing. He dropped to his knees beside the opening but there was no sign of her.

He could barely see his hand in front of his face in the dim light much less through the thick sheet of ice that kept him from the icy water. That kept him from Ansley. Seconds felt like years as he frantically searched the ice and he was becoming more and more worried not knowing how long she had been under the water.

When he started to feel that all hope was lost he saw a slight movement under one of the more thin layers and knew it had to be her. He kicked at the ice but it only cracked slightly. He needed help.

Looking back towards the party he saw Jay walking out onto the ice, steadying himself with a large stick. Kellam's eyes lit up at the sight. Jay, seeing a sobbing Mirabel and a hysterical Kellam, had a sinking feeling that something very bad happened to Ansley but his heart wouldn't allow him to think that way. Things were just starting to turn around for the two and she was one of his best friends.

Kellam grabbed the sturdy branch from Jay and raised it above his head before slamming it against the thinning area of ice. Jay helped by kicking the lose ice on the sides the best he could and when he caught sight of the flowing blonde hair that was slowly sinking he became as frantic as his friend.

As Jay continued to kick quickly making the hole bigger and bigger Kellam dropped to his knees right beside the opening and grabbed a hold of her shirt before she could sink to far. Cracking filled the already panic filled atmosphere and Kellam fell in as well.

The cold water met his heated skin and soaked his warm clothes weighing him down but he ignored the stinging sensation that the icy water caused and wrapped his arm around Ansley's waist dragging her as well as himself to the top.

When he reached the top he was met by a group of guys and a few girls who pulled her out before lifting him out as well. Many people came up to him trying to wrap him with warm clothes but he simply pushed the people as well as their offerings away as he drug himself over to Ansley. Jay had wrapped his jacket around her body and was checking her pulse his face solemn. A crimson puddle was forming underneath her white blonde hair and Cassandra as well as Mirabel were both trying to stop the heavy bleeding.

"There's no pulse." Jay spoke loudly sounding frantic. Kellam was upset at his friends lack of hope and moved him out of the way. He put his ear to her mouth to discover that she wasn't breathing just as he had feared and immediately held her nose placing his lips to her own blue ones. He breathed out a large breath and began trying to resuscitate her.

He heard the approaching sirens but the only thing he was really focused on was his own breaths and her lack there of. He kept this up and nothing was happening. She wouldn't breathe but he wasn't giving up anytime soon, even when a few people tried to get him to stop.

Two sets of strong arms wrapped around him pulling him off her as he saw paramedics take his place. They continued to do what Kellam had been doing and after a few minutes the tension in the air was electric as everyone stood around and watched.

"Come on, come on, don't you die on me!" The paramedic, a man in his late forties screamed as he pressed down on her unmoving chest again and again with no results. He was putting in so much effort that his face began to turn red and slowly everyone began to lose hope. When she spit up water everyone was overjoyed but what happened next crushed everyones hopes all over again. Her breaths began to come a little too quickly and Kellam struggled against the hands once more to get to her.

"She's going into shock!" They were loading her up on a gurney quickly and he was still struggling with the arms to get to her when Jay's voice was in his ear.

"You need to calm down Man. You will only slow them down if you try to go and besides that, Mirabel needs you." Mirabel. The name was foreign in his mind but when he looked to his right to see her things became much more clear.

Tears were still running freely down her face and Kellam knew he needed to calm down if not for himself, for her. Kellam stopped moving, becoming limp in their hold to show he was done and the two unknown guys let him go. He looked back at Mirabel with sorrowful eyes and that was all it took for her to run to him and jump into his comforting arms as she cried.

Jay an Cassandra began to lead the two off the icy surface carefully and Kellam barely registered the large crowd that had gathered in the outskirts of the ice as they pushed passed. The four of them hurried to Jay's car not too far away and Jay drove quickly, no doubt breaking every single traffic rule there was. Kellam's arm was around Mira as she continued to cry into his chest and he too felt as if he should cry but the tears never came.

As they hurried through the corridors of the large hospital Kellam felt like he was in a dream. He floated through the dull white halls as the tight enclosed spaces, the pungent smells of strong surface cleaners, and overall death filled his senses making the nauseous feeling he felt that much stronger. They reached a desk and a tired looking, young, red headed woman who clicked away on a computer looked up with a bright smile which fell when she saw the teenagers distressed faces.

Her face was sympathetic but she wasn't able to divulge any information to the teenagers so she simply gestured them to a large waiting room and forced them to sit in the uncomfortable plastic chairs to wait for news on the fate on their best friend and sister. Kellam sat beside Mira, silent tears continued to roll down her cheeks, his expression neutral as he stared at the wall in front of him. Ansley's parents arrived thirty minutes later and Kellam would've never known had Mirabel not sought comfort in the arms of her father where he stood near Cassie and Jay.

Kellam couldn't feel a thing. He tested the word out in his mind over and over.

'Ansley could die.'.

'Ansley is dying.'.

'Dead'. The words left behind a sour taste. They didn't fit together. It wasn't right. It was like a cheap puzzle with one piece having been cut wrong and it just won't fit in order to complete the puzzle. When it is done the entire thing looks as it should except for that one stray piece in the middle that is just a little too protruded and ruins the entire thing. In this case death was that stray piece and it was cut completely wrong. It just wasn't possible. He knew she would live. She had to live. He tried to imagine his life without her and his mind went blank. For him, a life without her was like a life without food or oxygen. He had spent his whole life with her and It just wasn't possible.

A light rubbing on his shoulder made him jump violently, pulling him from his own mind and immediately, without looking, he knew the comforting gesture was coming from Mrs. Porter. She had done this many times before when he would leave a party and stumble to Ansley's house not wanting to be, or to deal with the problems that always awaited him, at home. He would end up leaning over a toilet that night or early the next morning and she was always there offering a comforting gesture, a bottle of water, and two Advil.

He looked up for a brief moment and was taken aback by her appearance. Ansley's mother was know for how put together she was. Today though, her light blonde hair was in disarray, she had on no makeup which made the bags underneath her chocolate brown eyes painfully noticeable, and she was dressed in a pair of old, grey, sweats.

She offered him a reassuring smile but he could see the tears of anguish that she held back for his sake and the respect he had for her multiplied. He knew she cared about others but here she was comforting him about losing his best friend when she could just as easily lose a daughter.

"Hunny?" Kellam looked up to see George Porter, who too was looking just as disheveled as his wife, standing next to a male doctor. Felicity looked to Kellam once more but he nodded to let her know he was fine and that it was okay to return to her husband.

The elderly doctor with salt and pepper hair and dressed in light blue scrubs removed his gloves and gestured to the other end of the hall near the doors. He spoke quickly and his face remained solemn. Kellam stood quickly but remained routed in place as he watched them converse. One part of him wanted to ambush the doctor, demanding the diagnosis but the other side wanted to stay there and pretend that he was telling her parents that Ansley was very lucky and would be fine. He held onto that optimism like always. Ansley had said on more than one occasion that that was what she loved about him.

From the moment that he had found out she was trapped underneath the ice he held onto that hope but when he saw Felicity burst into tears and burry herself in her husbands chest he knew that the optimism had been in vane. Kellam had finally lost his grip on the hope that he was holding to so tightly and he felt like his heart had been put through a wood chipper then consumed by a black hole. He was no longer numb as the realization set in. As a great sadness nestled its way into his heart. That sadness only grew when he saw George shed a few tears as well struggling to hold onto his composure as he to leaned into his wife for support.

Kellam felt empty and destroyed as he crumpled to the floor a painful emotion that spread through his body causing him to lose complete control of himself for the first time in his life. The word depression was no where near the pain he felt and it almost seamed to kind to label it as such. People walking by gave him weird or pitying looks no doubt wondering what had gotten this muscular man to break down but he didn't care because he had just lost his best friend and the love of his life.