Face Of The Monster

~26~

The sunlight felt warm on her face. For a moment, convinced the water had seized her underneath its protruding belly, Lillian stopped breathing and clutched her eyes shut.

But there was no water, anymore. Lillian took a deep breath, a sweet sense of relief filling her lungs. Here, there was air and warmth and safety. What more could she ask for?

Lillian opened her eyes slowly, letting herself adjust to the dim, natural light around her. She realized several things all at once. For one, she was lying down and completely naked. For another, she was in a fully furnished room she had never seen before. And, she noticed, there was no door. Only a round opening in the stone. A cave, then. She was lying naked in a furnished cave, completely alone.

Who could have possibly rescued her? The last thing she remembered was the frigid water wrapping its arms around her, pulling her under. She could still hear the screams of her crewmates in her ears, the tortured moans of her lover as he crumbled and shrank under the weight of his catastrophe.

Lillian touched her wrist. No metal cuff; just a heavy purple bruise.

She heard a faint rustling outside. Startled, Lillian curled in on herself like a burnt piece of paper and cowered in the corner of the bed, watching over her arms as the sound grew closer. Her heart hammered with panic. Lillian could not stop thinking of that night in the pub, of the man luring her away into the woods with his false promises. She shivered, too terrified to look any longer. She tried to hide her naked body in her arms.

"Oh. You're awake."

The sweet, flutey voice washed over Lillian like warm water. She opened her eyes, her body submerged in relief. "Agatha. Thank goodness."

"Hello, Darling." Agatha smiled at her from behind a sheen of long, dark hair, her eyes cast bashfully downwards. "Do you feel alright?"

Lillian looked her up and down only to find that Agatha, too, had been rid of her chains. The flakey black burns on her arms and legs and neck remained, charred and angry, but the bonds themselves had disappeared. "Your chains are gone!" she exclaimed.

She expected Agatha's face to light up with confirmation, but it only settled into a troubled frown. "You mustn't worry about that now, Lillian. You need your rest."

Lillian beckoned her closer, patting the bed beside her. The mattress was soft as a baby's skin, downy and weightless as a cloud. Agatha sank into it with a sigh. Only then did Lillian realize how incredibly tired she looked. She drew Agatha's head to her shoulder and demanded, "Tell me what happened. Where am I? What happened to your chains? To mine? Where's the crew, and Gabriel?"

Agatha's eyes fluttered shut, her weight falling on Lillian's body. "You will find out later, my love. For now, sleep."

But Lillian wanted answers. The more she thought about it, the more it pained her. That chain, she had been told, was keeping Gabriel alive. If it no longer existed, did that mean he had died? Had he and the rest of the crew sunk deep beneath the turmoil of the waves, the apathy of the moon above? Had he reached a lifeboat, or had he dropped to a cold, painful death? Lillian felt tears prickling in her eyes. "Please just tell me if he is alive," she begged. "The chain isn't here any longer. Does that mean--?"

"Oh, no, Dear. That isn't what that means at all."

"Then what does it mean?" Lillian asked.

Agatha stroked her hair back from her face, eyes quiet and watchful. "It means this isn't real, Darling. You are still floating in the sea, chained to your Gabriel. He is still dragging you under."

Lillian's heart tingled with confusion, with fear. "Then what is this? A dream?"

"Oh, not a dream." Agatha smiled, a sweet, shy smile that stole Lillian's heart the moment it took her face. "Dreams are coincidence, my love. This? This is meant to be."

"Meant to be?"

"Yes. I created this." Agatha sighed, looking out the open door of the cave. There, if she craned her neck, Lillian could see gentle waves caressing the shore, a beach of golden sand littered with shells. "I created it for us."

Lillian felt the tears pressing on her eyes again, making the world seem wavy and dim. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. "You made this for us?" she repeated. "But what happens when one of us leaves?"

Agatha's face darkened. "Who ever said one of us was leaving?"