The Essence of Water

OLD VERSION Chapter 31

Henry keeps the TV turned on so I can watch and listen to the news. The interview from where I was shot repeats a few times throughout broadcasts, but nothing useful shows up. Henry leaves to feed the sheep but for the most part he stays by my side with Jack. Henry sets me up in my old room and I take a shower and change into clothes that smell of home and happier times.

I stare at the flowered wallpaper and horse posters. Nothing's changed, and that comforts me, knowing that whatever might happen out in the world, this room will still be the same as it is in my memories. I trail a finger over the dresser where a small layer of dust has collected. I rub my hand over my side, it aches. The wound may be closed up, but I still feel it, like a bruise that hasn't been given proper time to heal. I don't tell Henry, he has enough on his mind as it is.

I walk down the stairs. Henry is taking leftovers out of the oven. "Feel better?" he asks.

"Yes thank you, it's been a while since I've gotten to take a shower like that." He puts two plates out and we sit down together, all evidence of my being operated on has been wiped clean, Gretchen won't ever suspect a thing. We eat Shepherd's Pie while Jack sits at our feet waiting for scraps. "I forgot how good she cooks." I say between bites.

"It's a redeeming quality." I snicker and help Henry clean up when we finish. I stare out the kitchen window.

"You know they watched our house for a while when you ran away the first time?"

I look at Henry, "Really?"

"Yeah, they thought you might come back here for help or something. But I knew you were too smart to."

"I was tempted," I admit.

"I'm sure you were, but after a few months they realized the same thing I did, and they eventually disappeared. You know Trish went off to college, and Rag followed her. She asked about you a few times, to see if I'd heard anything."

"Yeah?"

Henry nods, "I'd like to think she would have remained friends with you, even if she knew."

"I'd like to think that too." I look at Henry, "What about her brother?"

"Tyler? He got busted for selling drugs." I smile slightly and look back out the window. A shiver runs down my spine, like someone has called my name from far away. I go to the back door and slip on some shoes.

"Where you headed?" Henry asks.

"For a walk, don't worry, I'll be careful."

"Want Jack to go with you?"

"No, I need to be alone, besides if people see Jack with someone besides you they might stop me and I don't want that." I slip on my jacket and wave to Henry. I shiver again and walk out the door. The sun is slowly setting. I've still got about an hour and a half before it gets dark. I walk along the fields for a bit until I decide that it's safe enough to walk along the road. No one will recognize me with a hood on and I'll hear a car coming long before it reaches me. It takes me about a mile before I realize where I'm going, where I'm being called. And it's when I'm standing on the edge of the cliff that the hairs on the back of my nick prickle. I stare out over the ocean.

I take off my boots and stuff my socks into them. I slip off my jacket and laying my boots over it so it doesn't blow away. The wind is brisk with a scent of salt and the coming spring. I stand on the edge and watch the wave's crash against the rocks below me. I feel the power roaring beneath me with each wave that rolls in. It's calling my name, calling me back to where everything began. Come home Adie. It says, come home.

My vision flips and the world turns silver before my eyes. It stretches beyond the horizon and I hold my hands straight out in front of me, palms facing the ocean. The silver swirls and bubble below me, I'm at the tipping points, my stomach should be churning from the height but I have no fear of jumping into the waters depths. The ocean rises. Keep my hands in front of me and I raise the ocean. It climbs and climbs until a great wall of water stands before me. I see shimmers of fish's scales and seaweed. I step into the ocean, and then I let it fall.