Chapter Twenty #2
I agreed. With him, I could trust; with him, I was safe.
He had just saved my life for God’s sake.
I felt so stupid for keeping anything from him in the first place, I should have told him about Dylan this morning, why would he judge?
Everyone had a past. Maybe it was the stress of the conversation with him, of seeing him, of his love confession that had affected me more than I thought.
It would make sense of everything I saw, or everything that happened, at least I thought so.
“The last thing that I remember is watching you swimming around above the statue, I could only see the top of it from where I was, so I took myself to the surface, taking in a deep breath, to be able to swim down deeper. I watched you swim up as I dove myself down, and I was standing in the middle of the statue. It was so beautiful, the carving of all those women, it was so intricate, it was far from what I was expecting.” I paused, gulping down air, but Henry didn’t take his eyes off me.
“It was one of the girls that really took me by surprise, she just she looked so much like Ruth. She was the splitting image in fact. It just stunned me, I reached out to her, and the side of her face cracked, like the stone or what I believed to be stone cracked underneath my touch. I knew that was the moment that I gasped. I knew that was the moment when I took in too much water. I was going to swim straight to the surface, I was. I remember the exact moment. But then as her face cracked, I saw her long red hair flowing behind her, I reached out and I grabbed it, I felt it between my hands. When I woke up just now, I still felt it between my hands. I also felt you grab me. I felt your arms around me pulling me away from her. I remembered seeing was some sort of grey image falling down in front of me. It was like there was another statue being dropped from the water.” A small smile took over Henry’s face as he brushed his hand against my cheek, calming down my now panicked voice and racing heart.
“And then the next thing that I remember was waking up here….”
“Is that all that happened?” he said, “Is there any more to this story?”
I instantly shook my head. Now should have been the moment where I told him about Dylan, but I didn’t want it to take away from what I had felt and seen underneath the water.
“I mean it all makes sense as to why you would have seen what you did,” he said.
My mouth gaped open, unsure if I really heard him correctly or if my ears were full of water too.
“It does?” I said slowly.
“I mean yeah. I can explain it all if you like. Well, I can explain it all to the best of my ability,” he said, and I nodded, my body stiff.
“I did see you head to the surface, and then quickly bob back down, and then within seconds, that was when I saw you, well, just floating, I saw you fall back, lifeless. Whether you saw something in the statue, that made you fall back and gasp, well, it all makes perfect sense. I’m just so glad that I saw you when I did.
I won’t be leaving your side when in the water again, that’s for sure. ”
“Wait, I’m unsure if I completely understand what you’re saying. Surely, you’ve looked at the statues as close up as I have. Are you saying that you know that one looks like her? That maybe one could be her? Is that where the idea for her AI presence came from?”
Henry flashed me a warm smile, as his brows furrowed towards me and he shook his head.
“Molly, I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.
The images of the AI are completely made-up images of people, and there are so many of them.
I can show you them all. As for the statue, I can’t say that I’ve noticed one looking like Ruth before.
All I’m saying is if saw a resemblance, it makes sense that you freaked out and took in some water.
I probably would have done the same. But as for the cracking of the face and the hair…
I hate to tell you this, Molly, but when I pulled you up out of the water, the statue was still completely in place, from what I could see.
I think somewhere in between there is where you may have started to see visions.
It’s pretty normal in a moment of choking or losing oxygen,” said Henry.
I didn’t know what to say, I just nodded my head. It made sense, it made perfect sense, but it just felt so real. “Thank you for saving me,” I said.
“How are you feeling? I really think we should get you inside. You’re probably starving.”
The last thing that I had been thinking about was food, although now at the mention of it, I was a little hungry. Henry stood up off the bed, reaching out for my hand.”
“Wait, Henry, I’m so sorry for the stress that I’ve put you through.
As much as I want to go inside, I want even more to have a moment for us,” I sighed.
I did want that, a moment for us, a moment of intimacy before the whirlwind of what was waiting for us inside.
I wanted to forget about everything that I had said, everything that I had done and everything that had happened.
I wanted a moment to come back to us, to connect and calm the drama.
I wanted to thank him for everything that he had done for me today, whilst also apologizing for everything that I had put him through.
And I really wasn’t ready to be served dinner from Dylan yet. Which also made me remember, it was tonight that he had asked to meet me. Tonight were he wanted to plan our so-called escape.
I watched Henry bite the inside of his lip, slightly rocking on his heels, standing in between hesitation, but I kept my eyes on him.
Within our lock I knew he couldn’t say no to me.
He wanted me as much as I wanted him right now.
The only reason that he was eager to go back inside and leave this moment, was to make sure that I was okay.
But I was okay, or at least I would be okay, and I was going to show him.