Henry grabbed a firm hold of my shoulders. “Molly, please, darling, for me, I need you to take a few deep breaths. I just need to make sure that you’re okay. You just experienced a lot.” I stared back at him wide eyed as a bunch of confusing images flashed through my mind. Her hair, her face, just like Ruth’s, the split in the cement, the falling statue. The statue that looked just like Ruth. What the fuck, what the actual fuck, my heart began to race again as my body shook. Was I going insane? Completely insane? Was I going so insane over that stupid conversation with Dylan last night that I really should have cleared before I came out here?
“It’s okay, I’m right here with you,” said Henry. “You’re okay, and you’re safe, just take a few deep breaths for me please darling.” He had never called me darling before, but I didn’t mind it. In fact, I think I liked it. I guess he had every right to call me that now. I was his darling, I had accepted that rose. I followed his lead as he kept a tight hold of me grounding me to the bed, sucking in long deep breaths of air, and exhaling slowly. I did the same, losing count of how many breaths that we had taken together, and my body began to relax into the bed beneath me.
Henry let go of his hold, gently brushing the side of my face again. “You’re okay,” he whispered. “You’re okay, Molly, you’re safe and I’ve got you.”
“We’re underneath the yacht, aren’t we?” I said and he nodded.
“Yes, we’re in one of the bedrooms,” Henry replied. One of them, I wondered how many bedrooms were in this place. I slowly lifted myself off the bed, coming to a seated position as Henry shuffled back from me, giving me room to move.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Molly? Do you need to be sick again?”
I furrowed my brow and shook my head, but my eyes were caught on the luxurious white and gold room that I was laying in. The large bed in the middle, was backed by a gold headboard that was also doubling as a separation wall, and I had no doubt that there was a bathroom behind us. There was a door in both corners and the whole far wall was a large mirror.I grimaced as I caught a glimpse of myself. I was looking far from the girl that I left the island as, my face was pale, my eyes were a little red with dark circles underneath. I looked like I was a teenager again, drinking all night with no sleep. And don’t even get me started on my matted hair, dark and wet.
“Sick again?” my voice croaked. My throat was so dry and there was a godawful taste in my mouth. But I remember what I saw, her face, the cracking, the red hair that was in my hands I swore it was in my hands. I felt it. Henry leaned into me, grabbing hold of the side of my arm, his thumb gently rubbing my shoulder, like he was doing some sort of silent medical exam.
“Molly, you took in a lot of water, your lungs were full, you were floating on the bottom of the ocean in between the statues. I’m so glad that I found you, I was too busy swimming around myself, that I pulled you up just in time. Do you not remember?” he said, his brow furrowed, eyes filled with worry. I shook my head slowly. I had a clear image in my mind, but it was far from the one that he was telling me. My head began to throb, and Henry passed me a glass of something that looked like water, but tasted like sweet lemon as soon as I bought it to my lips.
“It’s electrolytes, it will help,” he said.
I nodded, taking in another drink as I got myself comfortable on the bed, crossing my legs in front of me, and learning my back against the gold headboard.
“Henry, I’m so sorry, I’m so confused right now. Do you mind filling me in on what exactly happened.”
He nodded. “Of course, but you don’t have to be sorry, never be sorry. I’m just glad you’re feeling okay. I feel so stupid for not checking how comfortable that you were in water, before I thought that it was such a good idea for us to go out there. Is there anything else that I can get you, anything else that you need at all?”
I shook my head, “I thought I was a good swimmer. I know that I’m far from winning a swimming competition anytime soon. But I know that I can swim to save myself, at least I thought I could….”
“I don’t know if it was your swimming that got you, but I think you may have held your breath too long under the water or breathed too much water in and freaked out. I’m not too sure of what exactly happened before the moment that I found you and pulled you up out of the water, but that’s just a guess. You had me so worried, Molly. It scared the hell out of me, I never want to see you like that again,” he said, leaning in close to my eyes wide as I watched his bottom lip quiver.
“I got you out of the water and back pn boat as quick as I could, and just with a couple of chest pumps you were spluttering up water everywhere, you were cold and shaky, and I took you straight to the room. You vomited some more and I got you dry, you were trying to talk but you weren’t making much sense. I demanded that the captain take us straight back to the island and I called for the helicopter to get you to theclosest hospital as soon as possible. And Aaron really did make that happen, I tucked you in and got you warm in the process, and you fell straight asleep, you looked so peaceful almost back to normal. When Aaron showed up, he brought a doctor with in who did some quick checks over you but believed that you were fine, you’d just swallowed a lot of water, and also taken in a lot of sun.”
“A doctor has already seen me? While I was asleep?” I asked, all of this information was so confusing, knowing that a doctor looked over my body while I lay here dead asleep also felt a little invasive. But at the same time, I was so incredibly grateful Henry had saved my life.
“Yes, but he’s inside, he wants to do some other tests when you’re up for it and he’s bought some vitamin drips with him that are going to make you feel a whole lot better.”
“Right…” I said, still so shaken, all of this just felt like a dream, or some really weird trip. “How long have I been asleep for?”
“You slept most of the afternoon. It’s six pm.”
“Six p.m.,” I shouted, but my voice was still croaky as I sipped in more of the lemon drink. “Wow, this all just feels…” I didn’t know how to explain how I felt right now, maybe I just had some cabin fever, I needed to see some sunlight or at least what was left of it. Maybe breathe in some fresh air.
But then my eyes met Henry’s. What had I done? Why couldn’t I have just got my breathing right? I had done this before, and we had even gone over it together before I jumpedinto the water. And now he was sitting in front of me, staring at me like that. Like I was golden, a prized possession, one that he almost lost. His eyes filled with pain yet relief. Our first official day as a couple and I had turned it into something that trigged his deepest hurt, the one that we shared and the one that would never fade, losing someone that you loved.
“Henry, you saved me,” I said, reaching my hands out to him, grabbing a tight hold of his thigh as I held him tight pulling him even closer to me.
“Of course,” he sighed, and I launched my body towards him, wrapping my arms around him. I knew I had hurt him from what happened. He didn’t need to tell me that I already knew. And I wanted to take the craziness of today away, I wanted to take away the fear, the hurt, I wanted today to be nothing but a distant memory and start over.
But still… I couldn’t shake the images that felt so real, I still felt her hair in between my hands.
“Henry…”
“Yes?” he said his voice muffled in my ear.
“Can I talk to you about something?”
“Of course,” he said as he let go of my embrace.
“My recollection of what I saw, was, well, let’s just say… very different.”
