I stared down at the river churning below me. Every once in a while, the current would tear a chunk of ice away from the bank and hurl it into the swirling waters. My breath hung in an icy cloud around my face, and my body was beginning to shiver even though I myself couldn't feel the cold. No freezing temperature could compare to how cold and empty I felt inside.
I took a step forward until my toes hung over the edge of the bank. Icy grass crunched under my feet. I studied the icy blue color of the water. I decided that if this was the last color I saw, it would be fine. It was beautiful. I closed my eyes and stepped into empty air.
My body hit the frigid water, and it caused me to gasp, but instead of air, I drew in water. My lungs began to burn despite the coldness, and they begged me, urged me to go back to the surface and get them more air. But my limbs, already stiff and numb from standing by the riverbank, refused to move in a way that would grant their wish. Plus, my winter coat weighed me down, and it was slowly dragging me to the bottom of the river. Slowly, the blackness began to cloud my mind, and I welcomed it with wide-open arms.
Warm and soft, I smiled, so this was what it was like being dead? It was so cozy and comfortable. I turned towards the warmth and nestled my face into it.
"You are mistaken if you assume you are no longer living," a voice said, someone close to me, "I pulled you from the river when I saw you jump into it."
My eyes snapped open, and the first thing I saw was a man sitting beside me and a bed I didn't remember climbing into. His back was turned away from me, and a blanket was wrapped around his shoulders. I could see that his head was covered in thick black hair, but besides that, I couldn't make out any other features.
It looked like I was in a one-room cabin of sorts. My eyes wandered around the small room, and I saw that the walls were covered with the stuffed heads of various beasts. Dire wolves, centaurs, and silkies stared back at me with their glassy eyes. Somewhere in the room, a fire burned.
I looked down to see that a pile of furs had been laid on top of me, and when I lifted them further, I saw that I was naked.
"Um, excuse me, where are my clothes?"'I asked, letting the furs drop down onto my body again so I was covered. The stranger turned around to look at me.
The first feature of his was his eyes, which were a dark purple in color. He had a well-defined chin and a chiseled jaw line. His nose was straight and proportionate to the rest of his face. He had to be one of the most handsome men I had seen in my life.
"They are drying by the fire. They were soaked, and I had to take them off you to warm you."
My eyes wandered down to where the two corners of the blanket he had around him were wrapped. I could see a bit of his bare chest peeking out from it.
"And where are your clothes?" I asked him.
"Also drying by the fire, they were soaked too," he said, and I nodded, "I jumped into the river to retrieve you."
"Oh," I said, simply looking away from him.
"You seem awfully calm for someone who was woken up beside someone she is unfamiliar with, without her clothing on."
I looked back up at him and shrugged, "This is pretty much a typical weekend for me. Do you have any protection on you?" I asked and let the sheets fall from me, exposing my upper half, "I have to thank you for saying me, even though I didn't want you to."
The man quickly looked away from me, "That won't be needed," he said quickly, and turned away so he was once again looking away from me.
I eased the blankets off me and crawled over to him, and placed my hands on his shoulders, and began to gently ease the blankets off him until his bare back was exposed. I brushed some of my long sunflower colored blonde hair away from my face and planted a kiss on his back. His skin was the color of snow, but it was so warm to the touch.
"Why don't you say that wouldn't be necessary? I know I'm not worth much but..."
He turned around abruptly and pushed me down gently and crawled on top of me, and placed his hands on either side of my body. He looked down at me with his strange purple eyes.
"Why do you say you're not worth much?"
I looked up at him, a weak attempt at a smile pulling at my lips, "I'm a magic dud. And my mother hates me, and my dad is dying. All the girls hate me. All the boys just want to bang me, not that I'm complaining about that. I almost killed myself, and now I want to sleep with the stranger who saved me. I'm pretty messed up and broken if you ask me. Broken things are worthless."
"Are you living ?" he asked me.
"Um, yeah, unless you were lying to me and I am actually dead," I said and giggled.
"Life is a precious thing, and since you are alive, that makes you precious. You don't throw precious things away," he said, and leaned down and kissed me.
Nine and a half months later, I held my beautiful daughter, Violet, in my arms.