... but Was it?

Breathe.

It’s as easy as counting the stars in the sky… One, two, three- when did the wind take her in his arms? She felt drunk from the sensations…

Did he think that she was some kind of angel that he needed to drag down to Earth?

Breathe…

All it takes is half a moment, a long pause, a flicker of a butterfly’s whisper into the universe; you can either run blindly forward… Or you can open your eyes.

Breathe!

Was it the air suddenly exploding in her lungs, a shock of life, that caused her eyes to snap open and a gasp to fall out of her lips?

Or was opening her eyes, seeing the scene before her that frightened the wind and the life back into her body, pulling her soul back from the clutches of the smirking shadows below; her heart ached for the woman down below, never able to escape.

Suddenly every inch of her body woke up as well; covered in goosebumps, realizing the water dripping off her, she felt her entire chest squeeze in on itself - she’d been -

“You’re okay;” his voice… He was not asking, but telling her. But she could not focus on his words or his face- the people in the background. There were so many.

She could hear their questions and cries- she knew why they were angry.

She felt the warmth of his hand on her shoulder; there was no question, her body relaxed half a moment more.

“Oh my God!” the screeching octave of the new voice in this new voice- a voice she didn’t -

The man threw himself down in front of her, grabbing her face - What happened to the kind one before?

“Are you okay? What happened? What did you do-?”

He disappeared.

“That is enough.”

His voice…

His eyes bore into hers without question. But she knew that she needed to give an answer. Not to him, but to everyone else.

She had one minute… One minute to decide.

Just. Breathe.

She saw blue eyes pleading and brown eyes staring.

The water dripping from her hair kept tapping her on the small of her back; her throat felt tight, like she swallowed a golf ball.

It was the wrong time, the wrong moment, and so inappropriate- but she just wanted to scream at being touched so intimately.

She knew what she had done; she’d known the moment the wind stole her back; the water crashing on the rocks made her want to run back.

Breathe. Come back.

“Are you okay? What happened?” His sharp voice stung like a slap in the face, and she jerked back, feeling it in her mind as though it had actually happened.

Placing her hand on her cheek delicately, she stared at him with a furrowed brow, feeling her chest get tighter as her heart started pounding louder. She wondered if everyone could hear it.

“Are you okay?” He asked again, blue eyes growing more impatient, needing to hear her voice, needing to quell the things buzzing in his own head.

And, then… Finally she found her voice. It matched the confusion her face now wore;

“Who are you?’