From a piece i'm half-working on...

Once safety was assured, Rachel fell into Freddy's arms, embracing him tightly. Tears streamed down her face in crystal clear streaks. Each drop round and sparkling in the sun.
"Oh Freddy," she managed through sobs, "You saved me." Her body curled up in his lap, his arms, and pressed warmly against him. She buried her face in his chest, and looking down he could see nothing but the dainty white part of her hair and her gentle sloped back. As Freddy held her, his heroism didn't cross his mind. He had only one thought, "How beautiful she is."
Despite her dance with death, Rachel glowed with joy as the turning hands neared twelve. Sunrays peeped out over her head and through the holes in her braids as she skipped ahead of Freddy. Dust smacked their backs in tiny explosions as the wind tossled their hair. Constant breeze pushed them along, toward the lake. No words had been uttered since Rachel's sobs, but they saw in each other's eyes the answer. "Escape, escape to the lake," each iris pleaded, and that was why they headed east. At the lake, you could pretend the world was good again, and urge yourself to keep on living. It was the only water they knew of that still existed.
Shadows dappled the ground with moving light and dust swirled at their feet, but it was cool and their walk was pleasant.
Freddy loved their walks to the lake, but this time felt different. He felt different. It must have been the scorpian, he thought, it had startled his nerves. For now he felt despair coarse through him, and he almost wept. He was so afraid of losing her, and now that he had seen her dance with mortality, his heart beat strong with fear. He felt as if his life depended on hers. That scared him even more.
Steps ahead, thoughts of a different kind formed behind Rachel's eyes. The blessing of youth had cleansed her mind of all the danger from earlier. Now, all she could think about was one thing: swimming. Rachel loved to swim. To her, nothing in the world coudl be better than feeling that cold water splash over her legs, and that shivering delight of dunking her head under. Excitement surged through her at the mere thought of it, and subconciously, she sped up.
"Wait up," she heard Freddy behind her, but she kept her pace steady.