Not A Bad Place / Salem

[Tatum Reynolds]

Trigger warning: self harm

Tonight was a bad night.

For Tatum, bad nights were nights that her insomnia took over and denied her the only release she had from whatever horrors the day had brought. She paced restlessly around her room, scratching her fingernails into her wrists and leaving angry red marks. Her heart was beating fast and she was sweating. Just fucking sleep. Get in the fucking bed and sleep. Tears were falling down her face as she sat on the floor against the wall.

"Why can't I just sleep?" She whispered, pressing her palms against the sides of her head. Insomnia was frustrating, especially when she already hadn't slept for the past two days. It made her so angry that it triggered self destructive habits. Pain helped her calm down. She made a quick grab for a pair of scissors on her desk and drove the blade into her forearm, gasping at the pain and dropping the scissors. She immediately calmed. The pain grounded her. She watched the blood ooze out and placed a hand over her open mouth, amazed at what she'd just done. She'd never done anything like that.

The gash wasn't severe, and the blood was subdued by a small amount of gauze. Tatum applied the wrap with trembling hands and wiped her tears. There had to be a better way to stop an anxiety attack. Self harm wasn't the only option...

She began walking. She walked out of her dorm, out of the building, and down the path that led to the lake. She didn't know where she was going, but she was walking. She didn't stop when she reached the lake. Without any sort of hesitation she walked into the cold water, goosebumps rising up on her moonlit skin. She felt the water soak her legging and eventually her t-shirt. Tatum walked until the water was up to her neck, and then she dunked under.

The water felt nice. It was cold, but it made her feel alive. This wouldn't be a bad spot to stay. She thought. This wouldn't be a bad place to die.

Her lungs screamed for air, but she closed her eyes and let what little air was left leave her mouth. Her body sank slowly below the surface. Her mind was sleep deprived and driven by unstable emotions that overtook her.

Surely, she knew better.

[Salem Hirch]

Sleep? What did Salem need sleep for? It wasn't like he was in school or needed to study or anything, no...couldn't be that. That was the case however. The boy could not sleep. Not much of a surprise really, sure things had been tense for him lately, but he was sure they'd get better. Right? "Things couldn't get worse, could they?" Salem thought to himself as he stared out the window. His insomnia had most definitely kicked in and he needed to move. 

Shaking his blonde hair, he finally managed to pull himself out of his chair and stretched. A walk around the lake would be great this time of night. For the most part, no one would be there and it was a pretty cool night. So, he didn't bother throwing on his shirt and just walked down to his favorite spot. A little warn out spot under a tree and settled in. It was so peaceful, so quiet; Salem could almost go to sleep out here. Only in a pair of pajama bottoms or not, he was comfortable. 

A soft breeze lifted his hair some and he looked up to see a girl slowly slipping into the lake. He had seen the red head around school before, had even seen Anthony talking to the girl. Salem had yet to be properly introduced to the girl, but he new her power had nothing to do with being able to breathe under water. And...she was taking an awful long time to come back up. 

For a moment he watched, scanning the entire lack as fast as he could, just hoping he had missed her. There was no wake in the water. A bit of panic went through him, but he stood and ran to the spot where he last saw her. Another bit of panic hit him and he swallowed it. There was no time for it now, without another thought, Salem dove heard first into the cold water. His hands grasping in the dark for the girl. It felt like years were going by, he even had to resurface twice, but finally his arms wrapped around something that felt vaguely like a person and started to pull it up. 

Just hoping he had gotten it right and had actually grabbed the girl.

[Tatum Reynolds]

It wasn't as if she wanted to die. She wanted to live, but she wanted to live a life that wasn't her's. She wanted so badly to be different. So desperately she wanted to escape the feeling of being trapped in her own mind.

The world was getting darker. She could feel herself sinking deeper and deeper, her arms and hair floating above her body. She felt herself slipping away into unconsciousness. Her thoughts began to fade. It was too late to turn back. Not a bad place to stay.

She was being pulled. The last bit of consciousness allowed her to open her eyes and watch the surface of the water draw closer. She was being forced out of her escape, but there was nothing she could do about it. When her face hit the cool air she gasped for air, coughing up water. Her vision was too blurry to identify who was holding her. She coughed until her throat was raw and grasped the stranger's shoulders, allowing herself to be pulled to where she could touch.

Tatum pulled herself onto shore and wiped the water out of her eyes with trembling hands. Her breathing was heavy as she filled her lungs with much needed oxygen. She tried to gather her thoughts in this stage of confusion. She looked at the boy who'd drug her out and tried to focus on him.

"Where...where did you come from?" She managed, edging her way onto dry land. Her head was spinning. Did she really just try to kill herself? Where did that come from? Tatum Reynolds didn't self destruct. She might be depressed - but she didn't go to these extremes. Her insomnia coupled with mood swings were a bad mix.

She tried to stand but her legs were jelly and she sank to the ground again. It took her two tries to finally find her balance. "Wow, I'm dizzy." She muttered, sitting back down on the sand anyways. She was finally slipping back into her right mind - if that even existed. "Thanks for, uh...saving me. I don't swim well." She didn't really feel like explaining her suicidal actions to a stranger. But this stranger looked familiar.

"Oh, hey Salem." He probably didn't know her name, but she knew that they've had at least a few classes together over the years. Not many people actually did know her name, to them she was just "that redhead". She usually knew people well before they knew her.