Savior

Frankie’s first kiss was pounding and forceful.

The tan woman pressed against lips her over and over again, inflaming her lungs with her own air until Frankie’s eyes were forced the rest of the way open. The green gaze locked centimetres above hers had in it all the compassion and desperation in the world alike.

As she coughed up water, this woman stood above her. Tall and graceful, Frankie couldn’t make out her expression- was it grateful? Or judgemental? She couldn’t tell. She was just annoyed to have been so cruelly awoken from her dream.

“Can you speak? What’s your name?” The woman in the sleek aqua swimsuit said.

“F-Frankie! Her name is Frankie, miss!” Katie stood beside her, shouting.

“I need to hear it from her.”

Frankie coughed up one last gulp of water, throat stinging.

“Frankie… what’s it to you?”

“Why did you try to kill yourself, Frankie?”

“What…?”

She hadn’t contemplated what she was doing in the slightest. It was an action that completed itself. A forgone conclusion of sorts.

“I dunno…”

To her surprise, the woman picked her up gently. Though she previously spoke as if she had every intent to harshly punish her, the lady was now as calm as a flat ocean, and benevolent as a kind goddess.

“I’m here to help you, okay? A lifeguard’s job doesn’t end once her visitor is on land. Not this one’s.”