Ray of Hope

"Shoot," cursed Thea as she looked up.

It had been a long way down. She was lucky she wasn't injured in more places than one. Her hand throbbed and she could barely move her fingers. It was probably broken at this rate, but she couldn't be sure.

"Lisa! Are you up there?" The only answer she got back was an echo.

"Ugh. Where did that girl go?" They had gone on a drive into the middle of nowhere when they had stumbled on this eerily romantic grove. Just the two of them, the two bestest of friends.

Thea was pretty sure that she shouldn't have fallen. She hadn't been that far over the edge, so it didn't make sense. She remembered the slightest imprint of hands on her back before she fell, but it could've easily been Lisa trying to pull her back from the edge. It couldn't be for any other reason, could it?

Of course not. They had been partners in crime as far back as she remembered. The first time she met Lisa was in kindergarten.

"Go away! If you don't, I'm telling the teacher!" Lisa's high-pitched voice rose over the din of the kindergarten area.

The boy laughed. "That's not going to work and you know that." Thea couldn't stand it. Why was he picking on her? He should pick on someone his own size. Strolling away from her tight-knit group of friends, she walked up to the boy.

"Stop bugging her," her voice was mature, even for a 4 year old, "Or I'll make sure no one in the entire class will play with you."

The boy left then, sticking his tongue out at her in the process. She did the same.

"Are you ok?" Thea extended her hand to the fallen girl.

She didn't take her hand. Iinstead she stood up on her own. "I didn't need your help." Her voice was bitter.

"Well, my name is Thea. Do you wanna be friends?"

It wasn't until later that she learned that the boy was Lisa's brother.

Thea smiled at the memory. Lisa had just probably gone to get help. For sure, Lisa couldn't have hauled her up alone, even if she did have rope. Now she just had to sit tight until Lisa returned. She looked up once again. The sky was getting darker and dusk was approaching. However, a ray of light still shone down, illuminating Thea's face. Lisa was just like that to Thea, her own ray of hope in the darkest of places. She would save her, Thea was sure of it.

-0-

Her mouth was parched and it was becoming unbearable. She had fallen asleep, even though she had tried her hardest to stay awake. Sometime in between, night had passed and the noon-day light now shone down on her.

Lisa still hadn't come back. Now, Thea was getting a little irritated. It was like the time she had told Lisa a secret, but she hadn't kept it.

That was back in Grade School.

"Don't you think he's cute?" whispered Thea into her best friend's ear.

"Who?" Lisa sounded somewhat miffed from being disturbed from her self-proclaimed homework time.

"You see the guy sitting on the far left? The one with the black hair?"

"You mean, Jared?"

"You know him? HOW?" Thea's voice rose in excitement as she realized her dream to get closer to her crush was not as crazy as she thought.

"He's my brother's friend. How could I not know him?" Lisa rolled her eyes at the briefest mention of her brother.

"Tell me EVERYTHING about him." And so the conversation started.

Well, she hadn't exactly told Lisa it was a secret, but it shouldn't have gotten out that fast. That specific conversation had occurred at lunchtime, everyone knew by the time school was out. Lucky for her, Jared liked her back. However, that first relationship was more short-lived than most. From what she could remember, it lasted a week.

After that, her string of boyfriends never really ended.

Of course, Lisa always thought she was being fickle, but Thea knew deep inside that Lisa had been jealous. She had always been the popular one. She was always the most outspoken, fun-loving of the pair. Lisa had always been the serious one, focused on her work, on how her relationships with others would benefit her. Lisa was the planner and Thea was the player.

If only Lisa had planned for this to happen. Then Thea wouldn't be stuck in this rut, awaiting her dark-haired saviour.

-0-

She smelt like piss. It was the second day. 48 hours since she had fallen. It was getting incredibly hard to focus, especially after she had pissed on herself.

She missed Lisa, even after all the times she had betrayed her.

"I'm going to ask him out tomorrow. He's just so…yum," confided Thea to Lisa.

"Are you sure he likes you? I mean, you haven't ever said a word to him," stated Lisa skeptical.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Seriously, guys like hot girls. There's just no way around it. Look at it this way. If he had to choose between me and you, he would probably 80%, no 90% of the time, choose me. You know why? It's just because I'm prettier.

"No offense. It is true."

Thea remembered Lisa's face scrunch up in anger at that comment. She hadn't talked to her for the rest of the day. Her comment was probably a bit harsh, but it was true.

However, what shocked her most wasn't how Lisa took her comment. Instead, it was when Lisa started going out with her target the next day. She learned then, that his name was Travis.

It was a betrayal to the highest degree and for the next month Thea all but ignored Lisa. She only started talking to her again when she realized Lisa didn't particularly care.

It wasn't her fault she couldn't bear to think that Lisa could possibly exist without her.

-0-

Water. That's all she wanted.

Trust her luck to fall into a well, in the middle of nowhere, with absolutely no water in it.

And where the hell was Lisa? Her vision was blurry and she couldn't think properly at all anymore.

Only two main thoughts circulated through her head.

Water.

And that bitch, Lisa.

She wouldn't be surprised if Lisa never came. She never really liked that bitch in the first place. If only their places were switched. If only she had pushed Lisa down, instead of the other way around. Would've served her right to die here. No one liked her anyways.

Too bad that it had to be her.