The month continued on and Vanessa and Talon were stuck in their same routine. Talon would wake, take care of his mother, and Vanessa if it was a night she slept there; and if she managed to get any sleep at all. He'd greet Mindy at the door, brief her for the day and then head to the coffee shop to work with Marcus and whatever new employee made it through the week. Vanessa would go to work, and most nights, they would have dinner together.
Talon felt like he was finally learning more about Vanessa. He knew her boss, Jeffrey, was a douche, and that she hated her job. She was tired of working for lawyers who just didn't seem to have any human emotion. Today, he was glad she didn't have to go to work. He hated when she came home from work and was frustrated with the day, but not interested in talking about it. All Talon wanted to do was help.
But today would be better. Vanessa didn't have to go to work and Talon was able to switch shifts with the newbie; meaning both of them had the day off and could spend it together. Talon had special plans as well. He wanted to take Vanessa back to where she said yes. It was their one-month anniversary, and he thought it'd be cute to do another picnic.
Talon thought about how excited he was as he packed some more slices of cheese and meat into the picnic basket. He felt like he was on a cloud, floating through a dream world of love and bliss. This last month had gone so well, at least he felt like they were starting to fall into the perfect routine.
"Are you almost ready to go?" Vanessa smiled as she popped around the corner at the bottom of the stairs. Her light blue dress flowed around her legs as she walked over to the kitchen. Talon's breath slipped from his body, forcing him to remind himself he needed to breathe.
"Uh... Yeah, almost ready." Talon stuttered, too dumbfounded by how beautiful she looked in that little blue dress.
"Everything okay there?" Vanessa teased. She slipped around the counter and tried to peek into the basket, but Talon snapped the lid shut quickly.
"No sneaky looks from you!" Talon shook his finger in the air. "You need to wait until we get there to figure out what I packed for us."
"But what if I'm hungry now and wanted a little snack before we got there?" Vanessa shot him with her puppy dog eyes, nearly making him collapse. His legs were melting away from him, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stand much longer.
"Looks like we better get going then." Talon tried his best to hold it together. All he wanted to do was take her back upstairs and rip everything off of her, kissing every inch of her body.
When they got to the park, the sun was shining; the lake was busy with families, joggers covered the pathways, and random sunbathers had their towels sprawled across the lawn. It was the perfect spring day and because of this, they would have to walk further away from the parking lot to find a more private spot.
Talon pulled out the blanket and Vanessa grabbed the edges to help him set it up. Once the blanket was placed, Talon got to work on setting up the food. He pulled out a nice wood board and quickly started putting fancy cheeses in a line and trailed it with meats.
"This is some kind of char-cooty board. I think that's how you say it, but I'm not sure. When I was looking for ideas on the internet, the only thing I could remember was that it was really hard to spell, but everyone was in love with them right now."
"You mean charcuterie?" Vanessa chuckled as she watched Talon carefully place more crackers and other random items.
"Holy shit, is that how it's said?" Talon looked at her with pure shock in his eyes.
"YES!" Vanessa shouted, bringing her hand up to slap him in the chest. Talon shot off his elbow and fell backwards onto the grass.
"Uh, you got me." He groaned, holding his chest to feign injury.
"Okay okay, come on stop messing around, I'm starving and the food you packed looks so good." Vanessa teased as she peeked into the basket. Talon shot up and slammed the lid back down, nearly catching her fingers.
"Don't make me blindfold you." Talon muttered, holding the basket protectively against his chest.
"Do it." Vanessa said in the most alluring voice and it took everything in Talon to not cancel the picnic and rush back home.
Kisses were very quickly becoming not enough and Talon wanted even more of Vanessa. Yet the fear of pushing her away held him back, especially after he had to convince her to be his girlfriend.
Knots began to form in Talon's stomach, both from pent-up desires and nerves of how today would go. He meticulously placed things on the board, trying his best to distract himself from the raging war of emotions going on within him.
"Man, today is such a beautiful day." Vanessa smiled, leaning on her arms, looking out towards the lake. Families were splashing and ducks were swimming towards whoever had bread and snacks to share.
"It is, isn't it?" Talon asked as he placed the last cheese onto the board. He looked up just in time to see Vanessa's body tense. Her whole demeanor shifted from cool and fun to scared. More than scared, Vanessa was terrified!
"Hey what's going on?" Talon asked, lunging across the blanket to wrap his arms around her, spilling the food he'd just spent so much effort making perfect for her.
Vanessa trembled in his grip, her lip shaking as she tried to point her hand in the lake's direction.
"The... that... a little girl." Vanessa tried to get the words out, but they were trapped in her throat.
"What girl?" Talon asked. He searched the shoreline, looking for any sign of a little girl having issues.
"In the water... she... she's drowning in the water!" Vanessa shouted. She snapped out of her trembling state and slammed her body against Talon's arms.
"Hey. HEY!" Talon yelled in response. "There's no little girl. I can't see what you are seeing." He tried his best to calm his voice, but while he spoke, Vanessa was clawing at his arms. She scratched him with her nails, threatening to escape.
But Talon wasn't sure why he was holding her back. If there was a little girl drowning, then they should run and help, but there wasn't an ounce of panic in the air from anyone but Vanessa.
Talon searched the shoreline once more. The families were still there, and as he counted all the kids he remembered seeing, he noted that none of them were missing. He watched the water, looking for ripples or anything along the surface that would show signs of distress, but there was nothing there.
Vanessa managed to break free. She rushed the lake; her legs pulling her away from Talon faster than lightning. He jumped to his feet trailing after her, trying not to make eye contact with any of the judgemental looks from the other pedestrians.
"Vanessa, wait!" Talon shouted.
Vanessa stopped at the edge of the lake. Talon wasn't sure if it was because he had yelled, or because she saw something else.
"Where is she?" Talon asked, hoping to diffuse the situation, almost as if he would have if it were his mother having a freakout. Usually there's something else going on and the mind is just playing tricks on the person. But Vanessa? She didn't have any issues like his mother, did she? Sure, she hardly slept when she was at his house, and she was tracking her nights with emojis on her calendar, but as far as Talon knew, there wasn't anything inherently wrong with her.
Vanessa pointed to the water once more. Her hand was steady this time, her finger stretching as far as it could in the direction of the beach on the opposite side of the lake.
"She's over there. Can't you see her in the water? She keeps tripping and slipping under the surface. Why can't you hear her screaming?" Vanessa shook her head, but never allowed her eyes to leave the spot in the water. "She's screaming so loud, how can you not hear her?"
Talon tried to listen, and when he couldn't hear anything other than the chatter of people around them and the rustling of the leaves in the trees, he knew what was happening.
"Vanessa, you are having delusions. Come on, let's go gather up the food and we can head home and you can take a nap. Your brain needs a rest." Talon tried to keep his voice quiet.
"What the hell do you think is going on here? I'm not having delusions. You are if you can't see that girl drowning over there!" Vanessa shouted as she pushed Talon away. The attention from everyone was burning the back of his neck. Talon was dumbfounded. He had no clue what he was supposed to do. He knew a nice cup of tea would normally calm his mom down. That's if she paid any attention to the tea at all.
Talon stood at the edge of the water as Vanessa threw her phone on to the grass. "I'm going to get her, regardless of whether you believe me."
Vanessa took the first step into the chilly water, wading slowly towards the middle of the pond where she thought she had seen something.
"What the hell is she doing?"
"Someone needs to call the cops!"
"Who is she going after?"
The voices were growing louder around Talon, as people started piling to the edge of the water, watching as Vanessa treks further into the depths. Panic rose in Talon and continued to grow as the number of people around him grew.
"Is anyone going to help her?"
"I think she thinks someone is drowning?"
"Why isn't anyone helping her?"
"Is that her boyfriend over there?"
Talon's stomach twisted in knots as they shouted words around him. Everyone was confused, and he felt helpless. He knew he needed to do something, but he had no clue how he was supposed to help Vanessa. Everything about this was new for him, and suddenly he felt overwhelmed by the whole situation. This wasn't how their anniversary was supposed to go. This wasn't what Talon had planned.
"Why isn't he helping his friend?"
"Can anyone see where she went?"
More questions rushed through his mind as more feelings filled his gut. He searched the water, begging to see Vanessa's head above the surface. When it took him a few moments to find her, he began to panic. Talon took a seat on the ground, watching through the cracks between the people that have engulfed him at this point. Where did all these people come from?
He needed a moment to breathe. Just a minute to catch his breath and he would be good to go again. Talon took three deep breaths and jumped back to his feet. He grabbed her things then pushed through the crowd and watched the edge of the water. Counting the seconds in his head until he saw Vanessa surface once more. When she dove under the water again, Talon started counting.
"Where the hell did she go?"
Loud sirens echoed through the air. Red and blue lights cast shadows across the faces surrounding them as more shouting began as the first responders pushed through the crowd. For a second Talon thought he saw Vanessa pull someone out of the water, but she was alone, standing in the waist-deep lake with her hair dripping down her back.
What had Talon gotten himself into?