H2O | ✔

Chapter Nine : Stranger to It All

Xander

Halloween, four weeks after Mesi woke up...

I stood there, watching her from across the room. I could feel the bile rising in my throat. Seeing her there... Seeing her doing that like nothing ever happened. In a way, nothing ever did happen to her.

Not all of us had that luxury.

It felt like such a betrayal. I knew it wasn't Mesi's fault, but it still hurt.

Standing there, watching her, that was was when I really realized that she didn't remember anything before that day. I knew in my head that she'd forgotten Sam and me, but it wasn't until I saw her there—until I felt that ache in my chest—that I truly knew, with ever once of my being, that Mesi had no idea who Sam, or I, really were.

She was swimming. Mesi was gliding, one hand after the other reaching past her head to reenter the water.

She was just as good as she'd been when Sam was alive. Her heart was in it just as much as it was when she believed the water was more than just water. When she believed that water was the embodiment of her and everything to come in her life. All of the big milestones and achievements. She'd never been more right. Water was the thing that changed Mesi's life more than anything else ever could.

As Mesi floated for a while, I felt all hope of her ever returning to her old self leave my body. If water couldn't get Mesi to remember Sam, nothing would.

It's where she met him! It's where they had their first kiss! It's where she lost him. Water was Mesi and Sam's beginning and end and everything in the middle.

That feeling...it was worse than I'd ever imagined it would be. Finally admitting that Mesi wasn't coming back to me was one of the hardest things I'd ever have to do. Both people to experience the story of Sam and Mesi were dead.

There was a splash as Mesi jumped out of the pool and grabbed her towel to dry off. She had no idea, but that was the first time she'd broken the plane of land and water since Sam died.

I felt like crying. I wasn't sure if it was because she'd finally gotten back in the water and I was happy for her, or if it was because of all that it came with.

"How was I?" She smiled and wiped her face of any clinging droplets.

I cleared my throat but I still croaked,"Why did you decide to start swimming?"

"Oh," she laughed,"well, the water just looked so beautiful, so one day I put on my swimsuit and jumped in. The captain of the swim team happened to see me and she offered me a spot. My parents said I used to love swimming, but I only really remember being on some junior team back in middle school."

"Yeah, you were...great." I forced a smile on my face. There was no point in explaining what the water really meant. She would never understand it, because she would never be the same Mesi she was before.

She gave me a weird look before saying,"Thanks. I should probably go get dressed, but I'll meet you outside the locker room and then we can get some hot chocolate?"

I nodded, and continued nodding as she walked away and could no longer see me. All I could do was stand there and nod at the invisible Mesi still in front of me, still going on about all of the things that would have broken her just weeks ago.

For a moment, just a moment, I let myself fall apart. I sunk to my knees, hands above my head and gripping the top of the half-wall separating the stands from the pool area. I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming out in pain as a few stray tears managed to escape my eyes. They fell silently to the tiled floor below.