No Matter How Small Chapter Six

Leaf reached the water's surface, as she coughed and sputtered out water.  Her legs were kicking wildly while her arms were flailing everywhere, as they tried to keep her head above water.  She looked around her as she watched rain drops fall like bomb shells.  She desperately tried dodging them with barely any luck.  "Help!  Somebody!  Help me!  Grandpa!  Met!  Cred!  Please!  Help me!"  Leaf called out, as another rain drop fell in front of her, pushing her head underwater for a few seconds before her head bobbed back up for air.

Leaf turned her head to the house where a giant window was.  Zack was sitting on his couch as he read his book of Science and Biology with Scooter lying beside him.  Beside the window, there were two doors that led to the backyard- the first one was a wooden door while the second one behind it was a screen door that let you go outside.  The wooden door was open while the screen door was closed, letting air pass through its screen.

She was desperate.  Leaf had no idea if or when her clan members were going to come and rescue her.  They might not have even heard her.  She tried to reach the pool's edge so she could try and climb out, but the rain drops kept pushing her away.

Leaf looked back at Zack in the window as he turned a page of his book, completely unaware of the little Animite in the pool.  She could feel tears reach her eyes in fright of death; of drowning right on the spot.  She couldn't take it any longer.  With one gasp of air, Leaf yelled out to Zack as loudly as she could, "ZACK!"

Zack jumped a little, his book falling from his hands.  "Leaf?"  She could hear him question, as his head tilted down, looking for her.  "Where are you?"

Leaf smiled.  He had heard her.  Her tiny voice reached his giant ears.  "Zack!  In the lake!  Help me!"  She yelled, waving her arms wildly to try and get his attention.

Zack turned his head, looking out the window.  He saw something small squirming in the pool.  He narrowed his eyes to get a better look when he realized it was her; Leaf.  Leaf heard him gasp, horrendously inside the house as he quickly bolted up off the couch and toward the screen door, trying to get it open.  However, with the house being old as it was, the screen door was jammed and not letting Zack open it to the outside world.

"Zack!  Help!  Please!"  Leaf screamed again.  

"Hold on!"  He screamed back before turning back to the jammed door, as he pushed and pulled on the door handle.

Leaf could feel hope rise in her chest as she looked up toward Zack.  She was going to be saved.  She was going to live.  She wasn't going to die.  Or so she thought…

Leaf was about to yell something else out to Zack when a giant rain drop hit the top of her head, pushing  her down and knocking the air out of her.  She gasped underwater, which was a huge mistake, as more water entered her mouth and lungs.  Underwater, she could hear Zack's voice scream her name.  Leaf felt her eyesight start to fade, the water surrounding her blurring her eyes.  

So this is what it was like to die; to have the life sucked out of you.  Leaf could feel her life fading away into nothing.  She could just feel her heart stop pumping for air as her lungs were already filled with water.  She didn't want to die; not yet, anyway.  She still wanted to spend time with Grandpa, Met, and Cred.  And she also wanted to spend time with Zack.  His beautiful brown eyes looking down at her were hypnotizing while her green eyes looked up at him in a trance.  She wanted to see his beautiful face again one last time.

As her body sunk deeper into the depths of the pool, Leaf heard a loud splash ring in her cat ears.  Her eyes slowly glanced to what it was when she felt something supporting her from underneath; something big that she had never felt before.  It felt like a giant bed; a giant warm, leathery bed that surrounded her as it pushed her up and out of the lake.  Leaf was surprised when she saw Zack's giant face above her when she was out of the lake.  "Zack?"  She quietly questioned with one last breath, before her mind drifted off and her eyes closed.

***

"Leaf!"  I screamed down at the girl in my hand.  "You are not going to die, do you hear me?!"  

How could this happen?  How could I let this happen?  I knew I should've helped her, but she was too stubborn to let me.  I'm so stupid!  When I heard Leaf call out my name from the pool, I realized just how dumb and moronic I was to let her get water alone on a rainy day by the pool when she couldn't swim.  I felt my heart stop when I saw Leaf's body sinking deeper into the pool.  Luckily she was only a few inches deep, so I could easily get her out.

I continued to look down at Leaf, as I put her little cold, wet body against my chest, in hopes of getting her warm with my body heat.  She was not going to die.  Not if I had anything to say about it.

I quickly rushed into the house, closing the screen door behind me before running into the dining room and carefully setting Leaf's lifeless body on the table.  Once done, I pulled up a chair and put my head above Leaf's body.  She needed to get the water out of her lungs.  But how could I help her?  I couldn't do CPR if my lips were too big for her.  So what could I do?

An idea suddenly, emerged into my head as I jumped out of my chair and ran into the kitchen, searching through all of the cupboards and drawers until I found what I needed- a thin bendy straw.  With the item tucked inside my tight fist I rushed back to the dining room and sat back down in the chair.  

Leaf's body was starting to get pale as more of her life was drained out of her.  I put my face over her as I lightly pushed on Leaf's chest with my finger, hoping for a miracle.  "Come on, Leaf."  I said, before carefully putting one end of the bendy straw in Leaf's mouth while I connected the other end inside my mouth.  Gently, I used my free hand to try and pinch Leaf's nose as I blew some air through the bendy straw and into Leaf's body.  I removed the straw from her mouth and put my ear to Leaf's tiny chest; nothing.  I tried again; still nothing.  I continued this until what seemed like the fourth or fifth time I put my ear to Leaf's chest, I heard a faint beat and suddenly, felt something wet on the side of my head.

I removed my ear from Leaf's chest, as I put a hand to my head, feeling something wet; water.  I gasped as I heard coughing from below me and looked down, seeing Leaf roughly coughing up water and onto the wooden table under her.
  
I smiled with relief.  "Leaf, are you okay?"

Leaf coughed a few more times before looking up at me with exhausted eyes as the color returned to her face.  "Zack?"  She asked, slowly sitting up.

I brought my head down to her eye level as I nodded and smiled.  "Yes?"

Her eyes suddenly, widened, gasping as if remembering what all that has happened to her and predicting what did happen to her while she was unconscious.  She looked around at the table and at the water that she had recently coughed up before looking back at me.  That was when light tears struck her eyes as I saw her bottom lip quiver.  

I gasped a little and leaned a little closer to her, my chin resting on the table.  "Leaf?  Are you okay?  What's wrong?"  I asked.  Leaf didn't answer me; instead, she slowly stood up and then quickly ran to my face with all the energy she had left, hugging my cheek as the tears streamed down her face.

"Thank you."  She sobbed.  "I knew I could count on you."  Leaf hiccupped as her breathing was wavering with every sob she let out.

I was a little shocked at first, but then I brought a hand up to my cheek, lightly against Leaf's back, as I lifted my head off the table with Leaf holding on tightly to my cheek.  She sniffled against my skin, hugging me tighter.  I put my other hand under her so she wouldn't fall as I rubbed her back with my index finger.  "It's okay.  I would never let anything happen to you."  I said, as Leaf fell off my cheek and into my giant palm.  I smiled down at her.  "Just don't scare me like that, okay?"  Leaf looked down and nodded.
  
I laughed, making Leaf look back up in surprise.  "Now, come on.  Wipe away those tears."  I said, as I cautiously brought a finger to Leaf's face, gently removing the tears off her cheeks.  I could feel her cheeks burn under my skin.  Was she embarrassed?

Leaf smiled up at me as I drew back my finger.  "Thank you…Zack."

"No problem."

Leaf was about to say something when I heard a tiny sneeze escape her.  I looked down, seeing her folding her arms across her chest while also rubbing them to try and get warm.  I then, realized that she was still soaking wet from her trip to the swimming pool.

"Oh.  You're cold."  I noticed, setting Leaf down on the table.  "Hold on.  I'll get something to dry you off with."  I said, walking out of the dining room and into the downstairs bathroom, looking in the cupboard above the sink and finding a couple stacks of washcloths.   I grabbed a blue one off one of the stacks before closing the cupboard and returning back to the dining room where Leaf waited, patiently for me on the dining room table.

I slowly brought the wash cloth up to Leaf's shivering body, wrapping it completely around her.  "There you go."  I said, as I started to rub the cloth against her head, drying off her cat ears.

"Thanks."  She said, as her cheeks got red again.  I don't understand.  What was so embarrassing about having someone help you dry off?

I sigh with a hint of confusion, before smiling.  "It's no problem.  Here, lie down and I'll help you dry off the front of your body, okay?"

Leaf's cheeks burned an even deeper red than before.  "What do you mean by that?"

I instantly, realize what she's implying to as my cheeks started to get red too.  "No, that's not what I meant.  I'm just doing this as a friend, not as a pervert!  Okay?"

Leaf nodded and said, "I know.  I'm sorry."  Then she slowly laid down, her back flat against the table while her eyes connected with mine at all times, obviously still worried about what I might do.  Didn't she know that I wasn't that kind of guy?  Apparently not.

I shook my head, before looking down at Leaf and using the washcloth, started to dry off her stomach.  "You know…you really scared me back there."  I said, trying to add conversation to this awkward moment.

Leaf nodded again.  "I know.  I'm sorry for that."

"It's okay.   You're alive and breathing, so that's all that matters."

"Yeah."

I started to clean off her arms when I said, "So you don't know how to swim?"

Leaf shrugged.  "It's not that I don't know how to swim, it's just that I hate water and am deeply afraid of it.  And when I'm scared, I panic and try to get away from it, forgetting everything else around me."

"So, you do know how to swim?"

"Yes.  Grandpa taught me when I was little, before my fear of water developed.  He said that I was a beautiful swimmer until my fear came."

I smirked.  "I'd believe that."  I slowly went to Leaf's legs, letting the washcloth soak up all the water.  "I bet you didn't know this, but I can't swim."

Leaf's eyes suddenly widened in shock as they looked up at me.  "What?"

I nodded.  "Yeah.  I don't have a fear like you do; I've just never been able to swim.  No matter how many times my family has tried to teach me, I could never do it.  So whenever we went to the swimming pool, I'd either be in the shallow end or I'd be on the sidelines, reading a book while dipping my feet in the pool."

"I didn't know that."

"I didn't think you would."  I said.  I removed the washcloth from Leaf's body, as I then said, "Here, turn around, so I can get your back."

"Okay."  Leaf responded, as she slowly turned around, so she was lying on her stomach.  Her long, black hair was completely soaked with water as they draped down her back in thick clumps; her tail was in the same condition but was in between her legs.

I sighed.  "Do you want me to dry your hair off too?"

"Sure.  That'd be nice.  Thank you."  Leaf replied.

"No problem."  I said, as with my right index finger, I sneaked it behind Leaf's long hair and pushed it up so I could wrap it in the washcloth, drying it off.  I could hear Leaf quietly purr.  I guess she was half-cat if she actually does that when she enjoys something.  

I smiled.  "Okay.  I think your hair's almost done."

"Alright."  She said, folding her arms in front of her and laying her head in them.

I was about to put Leaf's hair back down on her back when something caught my eye.  My eyes widened at the sight that I saw.  Leaf's hair fell from my finger and onto the side of Leaf's body.  

Leaf looked up, tilting her head backward to look at me.  "Zack?  Is something wrong?"

I didn't answer, as I looked down at her back.  The back of her dress was pulled down, as it had gotten soggy from the water, revealing her bare skin.  But that's not what shocked me.  It was what was on her skin that shocked me.  Cut vertically, in Leaf's upper back, were two thin marks, forming an 'X'.

"Dear God."  I whispered.

"Zack, what's wrong?  Zack?"  Leaf asked again, worried.

I still didn't answer, as the dream flooded my mind; the horrible memory that I had to live through ever since that day at the park when the two men took her away from me; took her away from my life.  

"K-Kayla?" I asked.