Water was pouring down fast within minutes it pounded on the leaves. The wind darted this way and that, probably like me, trying to find the driest area possible.

My mind spun. The trees looked all the same to me. Crap, oh crap. There was no way for me to get out.

Shelter. That’s what I needed first, before I worried about escaping, I needed to stay away from the storm.

By frantically running in a random direction, I found a bunch of boulders leaning casually on each other. With luck I was able to snugly fit between a dry area next to two of them.

I looked at my watch. It was three o’clock; I was supposed to be home half an hour before. Granted both my parents were working, so no one had any clue that I was gone.

A job, I thought, if I had a job I’d have a cell phone and I wouldn’t worry about being lost in a storm.

Time passed but the rain had taken its time becoming worse every time I glanced nervously at my watch.

After a while I started to shiver and as an hour passed it was so unbearably cold I was certain my blood was almost solid and that at any moment my heart would be unable to pump it.

4:47 pm was when eyes blinked heavily at the watch, the storm was still strong and it has eroded away my will to continue to consciously shiver. No one knew where I was, and no one would ever find me. I was to sleep in my eternal cell even after my captor left.

As I slowly slipped out of consciousness, I experienced the most unorganized flash backs I’d ever have.

Things, emotions, faces, all paid their respects to me and left. Except...David. He dodged the streams of memories and was the one thing, the last thing, I dreamed of before a sheet of black.

Sound came to me first: a stream babbled rapidly as if to fill me in on everything I missed when I was asleep. Then feel: I felt the warmth inside of me, but the rest felt chilled and soggy. And then sight: at first there were just blurs of colors, but a couple blinks made them vivid and outlined.

“Don’t let go Bridg,” I at first dismissed it as the whisper of the wind but it came back again, “don’t let go.”

I felt the warmth of someone’s hand holding mine and looked up to see an obscured figure with a familiar lop-sided smile....who did it belong to again? My brain ignored the question, I closed my eyes again.

“W-what happened?” I muttered, trying to unstick my lax heavy lips.

Rain. Cold. The cave. It all returned to my memory.

“You’re safe now,” I opened my eyes again, it was David.

His hand pushed off my soggy bangs that still were drowned in water. He pulled me closer, and I stared at the sun.

It smiled warmly, but its grin wasn’t wide enough to reach me.

“So cold,” I muttered; it seemed I was incapable of keeping my thoughts in my head. I was too cold to even shiver.

“I know,” David’s concerned eyes tried to keep my gaze, as if by looking away, I’d go back into a coma.

“Stay awake, Bridget.”

But I refused to listen; the silence of my mind was easier to obey: To give in, to just disconnect from everything. But soon a beeping noise that kept a steady rhythm interrupted my objective.

As I became more conscious of my surroundings, the faster it beeped.

“I’m sorry Mr. and Mrs. Banning, but visiting hours are over.”

Banning. My last name. Pieces of my memory started to mend themselves.

There was murmured protest and then the voice spoke again.

“She’ll be ok, and we’ll notify you when she regains consciousness,” a woman’s voice said.

“Who found, her?” asked another woman...it was my mom, “We searched everywhere for Bridget, but couldn’t find her.”

“He said he was a close friend, he didn’t give his name,” answered the lady.

There was a silence where I believe my parents gave either themselves or the nurse a confused look because she continued on.

“Dark hair, green eyes, and rather charming I would say.”

“I can’t think of anyone we know,” my dad’s voice was extremely puzzled.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said again, “but that’s all I know, he stayed a while when your daughter was admitted, but left before you showed up.”

There was a moment of silence, and then my mom said, “Well, as long as we know she’s safe, that’s all we care about.”

I felt a hand on mine, and then a wet kiss on my forehead.

Minutes later, I had enough strength to open my eyes right as the parents walked out and the woman closed the door behind them.

Shreds of moonlight snuck through the blinds, helping my eyes make out the vivid outlines of the objects around me. I could see the metal footboard of my bed, and the blinking lights of medical machines.

I heard the beeping of the mechanical machines, and the clicks of the doctors shoes who ran down the hall console both patients and their families.

I was alone; no one was in the other bed in the room. It was just me, the unfamiliar noises, and the questions that filled my head: Who saved me? How did I get here?

I curled up and tugged the soft linen sheets closer to me, trying to fall back asleep. I closed my eyes, but my past contemplations reentered my thoughts, making it harder to sleep.

I felt a cool hand touch my forehead, and I quickly sat up.

The soft melodic laugh shocked me even more.

“David?” I said aloud, I didn’t intend to, but anxiety made me act more impulsively than normal.

I could barely make out his face with what light fell upon him, though could see he was sitting in a chair next to me. He turned on the lamp above my head.

I had to close my eyes a while until they adjusted to the light. Then I could see him, as clearly as I pictured him in my head, except he seemed slightly transparent, kind of like a ghost in a movie.

He laughed, my eyes were probably as big as the ones in manga drawings, “I promise you, you’re not going crazy.”

I still stared at him skeptically, not knowing what to say, what to ask, or if I was loosing my mind or not.

“So much for not needing me, huh?”

‘He said he was a close friend...dark hair, green eyes, and rather charming...’ David had saved me.

“But...how?” I asked looking him in the eyes, “You’re imaginary.”

He frowned, as if not knowing how to answer my question. He reached over and pressed a button on the side of my bed.

I frowned too, not understanding what he was trying to do.

He only smiled back at me and slowly disappeared.

A nurse with long auburn hair threw the door opened and rushed in; she looked at me in surprise.

“Can I help you miss?” it was the voice of the woman that talked to my parents.

I paused not knowing what to say, “Could you tell me where I am? And how I got here?”

“You’re at the hospital, a man who was supposedly a close friend brought you in.”

I anxiously tugged at the bed sheet, “Did he say where he found me?”

The nurse frowned and shrugged, “He said you got lost in the woods, while in the middle of that storm.”

She looked at the window where the storm was still raging, “You’re lucky you didn’t get really hurt.”

I smiled uneasily.

“Is something wrong?” the nurse asked, turning on the ceiling lights.

“Can I go home?” I hated being at a hospital, and having to spend the whole night there alone would make my stay only worse.

The nurse shook her head, “We want to keep you here for a bit, just until we know you’re ok. You’ll probably be able to leave by tomorrow.”

I looked down and clenched the sheets, I wanted to cry; I was scared.

“Is there anything else?” she asked in a gentler tone.

I looked up at her, “Could you tell my parents that I’m alright?”

The nurse smiled, “I’ll do that now. You should get some rest.”

I nodded, lying back down as she shut off the lights and closed the door. The light above my head was still on, but I didn’t mind, I didn’t think I could sleep anyways.

“David?” I whispered.

“Yes?” I could hear his voice next to me.
Slowly he appeared again, sitting on the chair.

“Where did you go?” I asked.

He smiled, “Who said I left?”

I smiled back, and took his hand in mine, “So what are you then, an angel?”

He shrugged, “Of sorts.”
He squeezed my hand gently, “But more importantly I’m a friend, who’s here to help you, no matter how old you are.”

I looked away sheepishly; he knew what my problem was all along.

“What’s wrong about still being a kid at heart?”

I didn’t answer, because I really didn’t know. But I was afraid of the expectations of growing up; I thought it meant to give up all childish habits. But what was wrong with having David?

“Do you want me to go?” He asked.

I looked all around the dimly lit room, it was unfamiliar and lonely, and I didn’t want to stay there by myself. I squeezed his hand feeling the warmth and comfort, as it held mine, and the warmth and comfort that came from him just being there.

“No.”