Breath of Heaven

My best friend Molly died the day I met Sam. You never think
your friends are going to die, especially when you are sixteen. I
never thought about death that much. To think a friend could die
seemed impossible. When I think about it now, it seems like that was
the day I really started living. Before Molly died I was just going
through the motions of life. Afterwards, after everything that
happened, I realized this was when it all started.
Molly and I were boating with my boyfriend Lucas and Molly’s
boyfriend Caleb when it happened. The sun was out, it was July and
it was hot. We were taking turns waterskiing behind Lucas’s parents
huge speed boat. The water was refreshingly cool and blue. Molly
was just getting ready to have her turn.
“Not too fast now,” she yelled to Lucas, who was driving. He
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raised his hand to show he heard her. He brushed the blonde hair
from his gray eyes and turned away. I stared at the back of his
head. He was so beautiful. I had a hard time believing he was my
boyfriend. I was pretty but not beautiful. Molly was beautiful.
Her long, straight, black hair cascaded down her back. Her skin was
dark tan. She looked like a cover girl on some teen magazine. Her
legs were long and muscular. She could eat whatever she wanted and
not get fat. The boys were always looking at her. How come I ended
up with the captain of the football team and not Molly? I didn’t
know.
On the day Molly died we were double dating, me with Lucas, and
Molly, with one of his friends, Caleb. Lucas wanted to get Caleb
hooked up with Molly for some time. She finally went on a date with
him in June. They had been dating pretty steadily since then.
Because the day was so beautiful and I was with my friends and
having fun, I had no indication things would go so haywire. What
could be better than spending the day with the hottest boy in school
who just happened to be my boyfriend? The sun was hot, the water
was cold. It was nearly perfect.
It was Molly’s turn to ski. She was very athletic and had skied
a couple of times before, but she didn’t want to go too fast. Lucas
knew this and promised he would take it easy. Molly got up on her
first try and at the beginning things were going smoothly. Molly
looked so beautiful in the sun with her black hair and tan skin. Her
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smile was broad and her teeth were sparkling. I could tell Lucas
was enjoying the power of the boat in his hands. He was at ease
behind the wheel of anything. Caleb was drinking a beer. I have to
admit so was Lucas and I. I knew it was wrong and my parents would
kill me if they knew but it was only one and who would see us out
here on the lake?
When Molly fell no one saw her at first. Lucas had sped up and
when I asked him to slow down for Molly, he ignored me. I looked
back at Molly and shrugged my shoulders. She gave me a mad look and
gave the thumbs down sign once more. I shook Lucas and shouted over
the sound of the motor. He looked at me and I could have sworn I saw
some sort of spark in his eyes. The spark looked like actual fire to
me. I knew it couldn’t have been real. Then he turned away, I
forgot about the spark, and Lucas went even faster. I was a little
more than irked.
Since I was never sure I was good enough to be dating Lucas in
the first place I usually kept my mouth shut if I didn’t like
something. I usually just smiled and said “OK. Whatever you want to
do is fine with me.” I didn’t like that about myself but I didn’t
know how to stop doing it and still date the hottest guy in school.
Lucas brought a certain amount of thrill to my life. He knew how to
push the envelope. He would press situations to see how far he could
go without getting in trouble; or too much trouble anyway. His
parents were never around. He could do whatever he wanted. My pulse
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raced every time I saw him. There was always an adventure to be had
with Lucas around.
When I told Lucas to slow down he basically ignored me. But
this time it involved my friend and I didn’t want anything to happen
to Molly. I shook his shoulder and shouted again, “Hey! Slow down,
I said.”
“Make me!” Lucas answered laughing.
“I mean it, slow down! You’re scaring me!”
“Oh, knock it off, Livie, you know you love it!” Lucas shouted
back.
I turned and looked back at Molly and screamed. Molly was being
dragged behind the boat, her leg caught in the ski and the ski caught
in the rope. She was bouncing on top of the water like a ball on a
gym floor. Caleb was laying back on one of the captain’s chairs with
his eyes closed, totally oblivious to what was going on. I screamed
again and started to pull at Lucas.
He shook me off and then casually looked back at Molly. He saw
her flopping on the water like a rag doll. Then he did an
unimaginable thing. He sped up. It was for a brief amount of time,
but I was absolutely baffled by it. I grabbed him again.
“Stop! Stop! You’ll kill her!” I screamed at him. He shook me
off and headed for shore. I tried one more time and Lucas pushed me
hard enough so that I landed on the floor of the boat with an “ooff!”
Lucas finally started to slow down as he headed toward the
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shore. I picked myself up and got ready to jump into the water. I
was so frightened I could barely breathe. We got as close to shore as
we could without grounding the boat. I jumped into the water and swam
to Molly.
She wasn’t moving. She looked broken. I pulled her to shore
and untangled her from the skis and rope. Lucas and Caleb came over
to help but I pushed them away.
“Leave her alone!” I shouted. “You did this to her!” I
accused Lucas and glared at him angrily.
I turned toward Molly again and gently pulled her lifeless body
onto the sand. Her lips were blue, her chest was still. My foot got
tangled in the rope and I fell face first into the sand. When I got
back up someone was helping me with Molly. I didn’t know where he
had come from and I didn’t really care. As long as it wasn’t Lucas
or Caleb it didn’t matter. I didn’t even look closely at the guy.
All I could see was Molly and her closed eyes.
The guy gently moved the hair off her face. I didn’t realize it
at the time but I was crying and could barely see what was in front
of me. Then he touched me. It was like a bolt of lightning striking
me. My arm felt hot where his hand had touched me. My eyes cleared
and I looked at him for the first time. He said, “It’s alright.”
I stopped and watched him. He turned back toward Molly and
seemed to whisper something in her ear. Then he put his mouth over
hers and softly blew into her mouth. I heard a sound like whispering
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pines or a breeze on the ocean. It was as if I heard the wings of
butterflies flapping.