The Elementals

“We’re lost.” I say angrily, annoyed at myself.

We’ve already traveled past the extent of the fire. We’re in thicker woods now. The rain keeps pouring down. I don’t mind, but Coal tried to burst into flames every few minutes, kept getting repeatedly drenched, and then finally - after I started laughing each time - decided just to stay glowing red with heat so the droplets hiss off him.

“We?” Coal stops next to me.

I punch him, forgetting about how he’s a human heater. He must be running out of energy though, because his skin is cool. “It’s not like you were a big help.”

“I think I was a huge help.” He says, rubbing his arm.

“Okay,” I say, turning towards him. “Where are we?”

Coal opens his mouth. Then he says, “Blueberries.”

“What?”

He points behind me. I look, and see a bush with dark berries. My stomach rumbles. “You sure they’re blueberries?”

“Yep,” He strides over to them and pops one in his mouth.

Seeing that Coal hasn’t keeled over dead, I practically run to the bush. I pick one berry and bite down on it. I moan softly with pleasure. It tastes so good after having nothing for hours.

“Told you.” Coal says smugly, throwing a couple berries into the air and letting them drop into his mouth. He has stopped glowing, and is soaked within seconds. He shivers, clearly not liking the rain. I would make a snarky reply, but I want to eat more blueberries. Then I freeze. I thought I heard something. Like snuffling. I peer around the bush and my heart skips a beat.

A pair of beady eyes is looking back at me.

The bear grunts, shoving its nose at me. Its body is massive and hulking, and its knotted fur is hanging down, weighed down by the water. A bear. Of all the places in the woods, we just happen to come across the one with a flipping bear.

“Coal,” I say slowly. “Don’t grizzly bears eat blueberries?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Don’t move.”

The bear comes around the bush and pushes its nose into the leaves, annoyed at not being able to find any berries. I glance out my hands. They’re stained with berry juice. The bear sniffs the air angrily, turning its head back and forth. I back away nervously.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Whatever you do, don’t panic.

Then, focusing on me, it growls low, deep in its throat. The bear stands up on its hind legs, towering over me. One of its large paws raises, revealing inch long claws.

Alright, now you can panic. Panic, panic, panic.

I duck as the bear swipes at me. I’m not fast enough though. The claws dig into my side and I’m thrown to the ground. My hands splash in the dirty puddles, and they come up tinted red with my blood. I stay there for a second, the scratches burning fiercely, and try to remember how to breathe. The bear grunts in anger behind me, bringing me back to my senses. I block out the pain, and get up off my hands.

“Run!” I shout at Coal, trying to scramble to my feet.

“Not a chance, Flippers.” He says, yanking me up.

The bear roars thunderously. I try to run and then trip because the pain in my side shoots through me like an arrow. I’m not sure I can get up this time. I pedal my feet uselessly in the mud, slipping and sliding in the nauseating rusty red color. Coal recognizes my vulnerable state and before I can say anything he spins around and leaps at the bear, which is loping heavily after us.

It looks taken aback -like what the heck is this puny human doing? - but its confusion doesn’t last long. It lumbers after me, shaking Coal off. Coal’s hands ignite. He punches the bear in the back, and it makes a horrible screaming noise. The bear turns, faster than I would think possible for such a large animal, and slams the back of its paw into Coal’s chest. Coal flies back into a tree, smashing his head back with a sickening crack. The bear is snapping and snarling everywhere. Coal struggles up and goes in to sock the bear again, but the flames don’t last in the rain. The bear jumps on him and all I can see is matted brown fur.

“Coal!” I scream. Rage and fear boil inside me. My side hurts really badly but I try to collect my scattered thoughts. The raindrops turn to hail balls the size of baseballs, and start flinging themselves at the bear at pitching speed. It roars in pain but then the snarl turns to a whimper and it gallops off into the darkness. I crawl over to him, gasping at the intensity of pain that rips through me. “Coal?”

There are long gash marks along his shoulder, and a deep cut above his eyebrow. One leg is scratched badly by his ankle. Coal doesn’t answer. I grab him under his arms and start dragging him. I know I won’t be able to stand up. I desperately look for some form of shelter. I spot a cave/windfall thing formed by fallen trees and I pull Coal under it. There’s a slight dip in the ground and I lean him up against the dirt. He groans.

“What is wrong with you?” I yell at him. “Why did you attack a bear? It might’ve eaten you or something!”

“Now you know how I feel when you pull your little self-sacrificing stunts.” Coal coughs. “Before I die I need-”

“You’re not going to die.” I cut him off. I’m not sure whether I’m more angry or relieved or upset.

“But I have to-”

"No." I snap. “You can tell me when you’re better because you are not going to die!”

I crawl outside and collect some water. Bringing it back, I try to wash out the cuts, but I don’t want to keep reopening them. I don’t have anything else that would stop the bleeding. I try freezing the water on the cuts slightly. It works somewhat, but it’s going to give him frostbite. I take of my sweatshirt and start the tearing the left arm into strips with a chunk of ice. My hand goes numb quickly.

“You’re going to get cold.” Coal says.

“Yeah, so?” I challenge, trying to patch up his cuts with the fabric.

“I’m serious; you could get hypothermia or something.”

“I don’t care-”

“Well I do, alright?” he snaps. I halt, surprised. “You keep doing this, putting yourself in harm’s way. I couldn’t deal with it if anything happened to you because of me. So just stop it!”

Where did that come from? I try not to glance at the burn, now visible without the sweatshirt on. Coal winces suddenly.

“What is it?” I ask.

“My head.” He says through clenched teeth.

“Let me look at it.” I demand and without waiting for permission I turn his head. There’s a knot on the back, and it’s bleeding slightly. I can only hope that nothing is damaged internally and it resolves itself because I have no idea how to even start treating it. I kinda suck at medics and let’s just say the CPR dummies from the training classes the orphans were required to take are deader than dead.

“How bad is it?” Coal asks.

“Um, not that bad...” I say, torn between whether to tell him the truth.

“I told you,” he grimaces as I let go of his head and it hits the ground. “You’re a terrible liar.”

He’s fading. My hands rub together in nervous dread, not sure what to do. Should I let him fall asleep, or keep him awake? Isn’t there something that says not to let them sleep or they’ll slip into a coma and die? Or choke and die? Or just die?

“I need to tell you something.” He says feebly.

He’s not going to give this thing up, I realize. Leaning in closer so I can hear him better, I ask, “What?”

“Just that I-” He says. Meeting my gaze, he leans forward and kisses me. My brain shuts down for a second before my eyes snap open and I backpedal.

Coal kissed me. On the lips. I fall backward and scramble away into the corner like I’ve been electrocuted. I sit there in the dark, knees pulled up to my chest, eyes wide as golf balls.

What was that?

I shiver from the cold. I crawl over quietly to get my torn sweatshirt. I dash back and press myself into the wet tree trunk, wishing it would absorb me into its bark. Maybe the bear will come back and eat me. Or aliens, aliens would be fine. Anything to get out of here. There’s no annoying, slightly evil chuckle, no sarcastic comment. In fact, I hear absolutely nothing at all.

I rush over to Coal. His eyes are closed, completely still. I start to panic. Is he dead?

I breathe a loud sigh of relief after I see the slight rise and fall of his chest. Then I go back to my corner. The sweatshirt doesn’t really help much, being wet and missing a sleeve and all. I’m not focused enough to dry it off. I’m sitting there in a daze, shaking.

What just happened? He kissed you, idiot. Well I know that. Why?

I can’t figure it out.

He cares about you, Tide.

I hear Breeze’s voice in my mind. That just brings on a whole new wave of emotions, as if I didn’t have enough to deal with already. I feel guilty and horrible and I hate myself for not finding them. I should have made some sort of trail to lead me back to them. Maybe scratched the trees or something. You know, Hansel and Gretel stuff. I twist my bracelet around my wrist. I don’t even know if I’m angry or sad or happy-

Happy?Why the heck would I be happy? I drop my face in my hands, groaning pathetically. My entire body aches, and the cuts on my side sting every time I shift. The sweatshirt sort of helps with the bleeding. Sort of. I make some more dying whale noises.

I don’t know where Breeze, Terra, Steel, Sparky and Maple are, Coal just flipped things inside out, and I’m just sitting here losing my mind.

Sweet dreams.