Chapter 17 - Depths of Despair

7:44 am Jarod was not sure if the sting of the cold water was soothing on his burning back or added torture to his soul either way, he had to suppress the searing pain, to focus on what to do next…

JAROD:
“I, I, Hhavee to ffiinnd Hheerr”

* He looked all around, he saw the rig on fire, the distance of the oceans, a distant shore, but all he wanted to see was Miss Parker... where was she? He starts talking to himself…

JAROD:
”Concentrate Jarod … No, No, she is not here...  Not there! Not there …  There she is!”

* He sees her … just 50 free away. For anybody else it could just as well been 50 miles... The freezing water, the swim, the damage, the burns, the pain and an impossible situation in the middle of the ocean, it all seemed impossible for someone else …

Miss Parker could not keep herself afloat.  She was sinking fast. All her Parker survival, all her driving force, this was the one thing that she could not face, she could not think ... only the panic of a 10 year old child….The damage was too severe … and she didn’t have her mom’s watch

The tide carried Jarod in every direction but where he was going. It took every pretender skill he learned… fire fighter, fighting the pain, swimming across the bay, tides, flowing currents. He dives for her again and again. He could not remember anything that she had ever done wrong to him. All he remembered was the feelings he had for her. Every precious moment came crashing through his head….

No matter what she has ever done to him, he could only remember all the things that she did right. In his mind, they were only trapped in someone else’s rules! To him, she was beautiful!

JAROD:
“I will never give up Sydney… Never …She has to be here…..I will not come up if I do not find her… If she dies, I die with her”

* With that last thought, Jarod takes a deep breath and plunges into the depths. His body was in immense pain. He was tired, exhausted out of breath and out of energy. He was searching frantically to find her. If fights the urge to surface, realizing hopelessly that she did not have that choice, he relaxes with the pain of losing Miss Parker. His mind went still. All of a sudden, he bumps into something. He feels it. It is a body, long hair, soft face. No time left to think he grabs her and lunges to the surface.

Jarod:
"Sh, sh, she is n,n,n, not b,b… breathing!"

* He grabs her and started breathing into her mouth. He kept at it. He rolls on his back with her in his arms to get a few breaths in his lungs… He squeezes her again and starts mouth to mouth

Jarod:
“Breath …. Breath …. You never gave up on anything in your life you …. Breath …  you BITCH!”

* Jarod feels a twitch … Miss Parker turns and coughs frantically… groggily opens her eyes and says…

MISS PARKER:
“You … have … really… never ... seen … my … bitch … side!

* She passes out. Jared cries to the air and pulls her to his chest and starts to swim and swim, and swim. He turned around a few times and then turned back towards the shore. Jarod was exausted, but refused to give up… as the deepth became shallower… Miss Parker opens here eyes and puts her feet on the bottom lifts up her head and says to Jarod …

MISS PARKER:
“Jarod I can’t climb, I may have broken my arm”

JAROD:
“You can make it Miss Parker, trust me you have to!”

MISS PARKER:
“Jarod, something did happen between us… you saved my life! How are we going to live, once we get back to the Centre? Will we ever be free Jarod?”

JAROD:
“If we want to be”

MISS PARKER:
“What Ethan knew about the scrolls, he thought it to me! … Are we cursed or set free?  Are we the 4th generation or a new generation?”

JAROD:
“I don’t know about curses or prophecies. I do know that we make it what it is. And that no mater how bad it gets, there is still a chance to make things right as long as we are still alive!”

* They reached a point where they could both stand and walk to shore … Jarod turns and picks her up so tenderly

JAROD:
“OH, Miss Parker …Happy Valentines day!”

* It took what felt like an exhausting eternity. They reached the shore and climbed up to the road. They reached the top. Across the road was a bus stop and a phone booth. They were both so involved with each other, that the empty road could have been a desert island in the middle of nowhere. They saw nothing but each other … walking across the road they did not even hear the approaching car.

Sometimes fate turns a twisted tail. The car slammed on its breaks but it was too late, only a second to think. Jarod pushed Miss Parker as hard as he could to miss the skidding car by inches. Jarod’s fate was not that lucky… the car hit him going well over 40 miles per hour. He was hit so hard he flew over the cliff back into the ocean grave below. The Last sound he heard was the scream of Miss Parkers shouting….

MISS PARKER:
“JAROD!!!”

* Jarod’s body fell fifty feet down before it hit the water. He tried to yell “MOM” but only bubbles came out of his lungs and refilled with water. Jarod’s last pretend was a sea creature. His lungs filled with water. Everything went black. He was floating above his own body. He watched his body being pulled to shore.

Someone yelling
“Call an ambulance.

* Jarod life flashed before him.… He could not speak, but he knew he had drowned!

Ambulance driver.
"He is not breathing, no heart beat…"

Clear… zap…
clear… zap …
clear … zap …

MISS PARKER
“One more time …

Ambulance driver.
Clear … zap ………..

*There was 10 seconds of silence before he finally said …

Ambulance driver.
"I’m sorry Miss Parker. ..  He is gone! If we had only been sooner"

* There was a flat line tone echoing in the ambulance… JAROD was pronounced Dead on Arrival (DOA) as the ambulance pulled into the hospital.