Chapter 1 - River

At the Riverside



Artemis could see sunlight shining through the tree branches lighting the air around her like golden laser beams. The day was warm and the dew on the unnaturally green grass was starting to soak through her socks. The dirt path started to turn before Artemis found herself in front of the stream she had been looking for. The water in the stream was presently clear, but above it were what seemed like small snowflakes appearing out of nowhere and then vanishing before they hit the stream. Artemis sighed before bending down to kneel beside the stream and dip her hand slowly into the cool welcoming water. As always it felt like the forest was singing its own little song and Artemis found herself humming along to something she had only recently heard on the radio. `What are you doing', a voice quietly slipped into her mind. `Nothing, I just felt a bit lonely so I thought you might want some company', Artemis looked up along the river and across the other side to where a swing moved silently back and forth but no one was there and Artemis suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine. `Lillith I know you would never leave the stream, so where are you?' she spoke half to herself. She felt a nudge by her hand and suddenly jolted upright. There was a small rabbit by her hand; it was white with black spots and gazed up at her with innocent brown eyes. Jade relaxed a bit and bent down once more so that she might pat the rabbit, but as her hand went towards it she noticed that her hand was laced with blood shimmering in the forests light. `What the tosh!' Artemis began to shout but before she could say anything else she looked down to see the rabbit was gone. Looking around Artemis caught a final glimpse of a fox trotting along the path. There was no pain in her arm so she guessed that the blood was the rabbit's, but such a large amount for a tiny bunny and she hadn't noticed any wounds. Artemis quickly started to jog along the path towards a nearby bridge where she felt the fox had surely gone, but as she turned to go across the bridge she saw Pru looking at her quizzically.

“What are you doing here Artemis”, jade spoke her hair was long, black and shined with blue lines in the sunlight just as Artemis's shined green. “I'm looking for a fox that might have ran by here a second ago”, Artemis replied solemnly. “Why do you worry about Jade so much, when you look so tired and worn down”, this time she answered more sternly and Artemis could see concern rising in her eyes. This time Artemis looked down to see her raven brown school skirt and matching shirt but they were almost half covered in blood. “Promise me you won't stay in this place, promise me you won't speak to Lillith or play her flute”, now Pru's voice was rising into a shrill of fear.



Jade woke up; she could feel beads of sweat glistening on her face. It was freaky enough that she had dreamt about Pru but the thought of Artemis coming back to life just freaked her out. She remembered the lifeless face of her former friend when they had first found her in a river near the school. She played back the memory in her head, only the week before Artemis had told her that she would never be able to see Pru again and she was right. Pru lived with her mother and had been a nice friend to hand around with until one morning the police found her mother had been killed with a heart attack in the middle of the night and Pru was missing; never to be seen again. Then Jade thought about the dream she had just seen, she remembered she was looking for a fox and Pru had mentioned that it had the same name as her but she was also looking for a girl named Lillith who supposedly played the flute. Jade didn't know anyone called Lillith but she knew quite a few people at school played the flute. It was then she became aware that she had been sitting in the dark for a while now and looked over at her alarm clock. `2:15 just perfect she groaned now wide-awake; the half-light of the early morning seeping through the crimson curtains that drew across the window beside her bed.



The school day had gone pretty much as normal; the birds were singing the bullies were bullying and Jade heard none of this because she was daydreaming. The only exception from normality was of course Antoinette, as she came up to Artemis during lunch break. “While chasing after your loved ones don't forget those who care for you”. After school she had gone home, played the play station two against her brother had dinner and gone straight to bed. `The rabbit was poisoned, such a shame', Jade suddenly looked up, she had thought she heard Pru's pitying voice but instead she saw only the darkness of her room as she lay back down and went to sleep.



A warm breeze brushed across Artemis's cheek. She was looking at a patch of grass at the bottom of a tree where a fox lay curled up in what looked like deathly pain. The fox called Jade that died to get the poisoned rabbit. Turning around she saw the swing hanging from two tree branches just like last time only now someone was on it and Jade knew immediately that this was the girl named Lillith. Lillith had a beautiful face, long brown hair and a pink dress and was playing the flute while slowly swinging. As Artemis strolled over she saw Lillith open her eyes and angelically jump off her swing. “You must be getting tired, it is sad this is your last visit, but I could help if you'd like”, she spoke in a carefree voice and as Artemis looked down she once more saw her clothes begin to stain red. “If this is what you mean by tired”, she said pointing to the Crimson stain growing on her top. “Then I will go soon but before I do please let me see Pru, one last time”. Lillith stared at Artemis curiously and Artemis couldn't help looking into her deep green eyes. “Pru belongs to the river now and may not see you at the moment but if you were to stay that would be different”, Lillith took a quick breath, smiled and raised both her arms to bring her flute up to shoulder length, then as silent as the wind slowly disappeared. Artemis looked on stunned as the flute fell to the ground where Lillith was standing. Artemis bent over and picked up the flute. It was wooden and delicate, decorated with vines carved spiralling around it. Artemis knew she could play it beautifully if she would just raise the mouthpiece to her lips. Now she moved deftly to the swing. Reaching it Artemis placed down the flute on the seat and turned to face the stream. On the stream floated the shadowed face of Pru. “I knew you`d come, there are people who might miss me in the real world, so I guess this is farewell”, Artemis said barely managing to keep her voice from wavering. “The fox died because it wanted something that was already gone, and I must admit there were times that I wished you to stay, but in the end it is not the way things should be”.



Black…

Jade could hear the voice of someone crying. Finally she opened her eyes, she was in a bed with white sheets; her mum was crying on a chair next to her. Suddenly it all seemed to sink, Jade was in a hospital.



The morning was over all tiring as Jade met her relatives and it was explained to her that she been shot by a madman in the street. Fortunately the bullet only just missed her heart but hit several important arteries. The shock had caused Jade to be unable to recall the events but that would clear up in time. After her last visitor had left Jade decided it was time for a short rest and closed her eyes. She already knew what would be there when she opened them again.



Moonlight shone through the window in the hospital ward. Jade woke up to see Antoinette standing by the curtains. “Why can't you come in at a normal time, like say `during the day”, Jade commented cynically. Antoinette stared out the window. “Living people don't usually find the valley, I guess that's why you looked like Artemis”. Antoinette concluded. “Then you could have helped Artemis while she still lived”. Jade rasped suddenly feeling very weak. “That was not my affair”, Antoinette stopped and turned around with a smug smile. “But you could at least say thank you, I hope to see you back at school by the end of May anyway”. Antoinette looked down at Jade her raven brown eye's glinting in the moon light, then strode out of the room through the open door and disappeared down the hospital corridor.



Like the fox that decided that it was worth eating a rabbit; even if the rabbit it was poisoned, Artemis drowned trying to reach a friend that was already departed from this world. In a way Jade might have thrown away her life in the same manner but the fact still remained that Jade understood that there were still people who cared about her and needed her and she wouldn't let them down.

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