The Third Chapter: In Which the Main Charecter Dies

London enters a memory with extreme consequences

Cole ran to the bookshelf, pulled out a book, ran back to London, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her to the platform.

        "Ready?" He asked. She nodded. They both looked up into the mirrored skylight.

 

        "Don't open your eyes yet." She heard Cole say.

        "Ok." She kept her eyes closed.

       "You've never been to the ocean right?" He asked. She shook her head. "Can you smell it?" London took a breath through her nose and coughed.

        "My god it smells like fish." She laughed. "And seaweed, and salt."

        "Ok, open them." He said. She did. She was standing on a small boat within a couple inches of Cole. She examined her surroundings.

        "It's blue!" She exclaimed, sitting down so she could reach into the water. "It's so blue." Cole sat down across from her.

        "Of course it's blue, what color did you think it was?"

        "I don't know, a really dark blue that's almost black I guess." She stared down into the water. She could see fish swimming far below the boat, but then the water became darker about a hundred feet down, and nothing was visible. She would be able to see better had the water been still, but some tough waves rocked the boat. "Oh my god." She whispered, there was an unbearable excitement growing in her heart. She looked up at Cole to see if he was feeling the same thing. He smiled reassuringly.

       "Wait a second." She said, the smile leaving her face. "Did you say the boat was going to be capsized?"

       "Yeah but we'll be fine. Should happen any second now." he said, peering out at the waves. "Oh there it is, see that one?" He said, pointing at a far away wave. It rushed towards the boat like a missile, growing in size. "Ready?" He said as it got closer.     

       "No." London said. Cole spread his arms out as the wave prepared to pounce, not hearing what London said. But then she screamed as the wave crashed over the boat. The boat sank under the weight of the water. Cole and London and Cole from the past went down with the boat. Her ears filled with water, sending an intense roaring sound through her head as the wave crashed over. Then silence. London had her eyes closed when the seawater entered the boat, but when the roar of the water had seized, she opened them. Her eyes were instantly hit with the burn of salt water. It was in her eyes, her mouth, her nose, but worst of all, it was in her lungs. She attempted to cough out the water, bubbles rising from her lips to the frothy surface. Her air was gone. London's chest heaved, yearning for air but she wouldn't open her mouth because she knew all she would get would be water. She reached up towards the surface that she couldn't reach towards a hand that wasn't there. No one's coming to save me. She thought to herself. Her vision was only color, the surface of the water was a bright green. Realizing it was useless to look for help from the surface, she looked down at where she was going. All she could see was black. Creeping towards her, reaching towards her. It would soon drag her under. Feeling one last surge of hope, she looked back towards the surface. Green was the most beautiful color in the world. In the universe. If I'm to die, let me die with my face to the sun. She thought, the urge to breathe was unbearable. She meant that to be the last words that nobody would hear. Instead of white destroying her vision, it was darkness. And so she died with her face to the sun, with only darkness to give her her last communion.

        "Keep me alive. Keep me alive. Keep me alive." London murmured. London's feet were on the platform, the sun in her eyes, but all she could see was the blackness. She sank to the floor. "Keep me alive. Keep me alive." It was at the sound of her words that Cole opened his eyes. Edwin, examining a row of empty books, heard the sound of London falling. Cole blinked a couple times, his way of dealing with minor lags.

        "London!" Edwin exclaimed, running from the shelves to the collapsed girl.

        "Keep me alive. Keep me alive." She whispered over and over again, her eyes wide open, her body trembling.

        "What the hell did you do?!" The question fully snapped Cole out of his trance. He then saw London in her state of shock.

        "Oh my god.." He crouched down on the ground next to her. He shook her gently. "What's she saying?" Cole leaned in closer in order to hear her message. Edwin began pacing back and forth, he ran his fingers through his hair as he walked.

        "Cole if you don't tell me right now I swear..." He said. Cole finally heard what London was saying.

        "We need to get her out of here." He said, turning to Edwin. Scooping up London from under her knees and shoulders, Cole lifted her off the floor. Edwin took a breath and silently agreed to help him then and question him later. Cole carried her upstairs and into one of the guest bedrooms. He set her down on the single bed next to the window and let out a breath.

         "Okay." He said, turning to Edwin. "Let me deal with this. And then I'll tell you what happened." Then sat down on the floor next to London's bed.

         "Can you just give me the short of it?" Edwin asked.

         "She thinks she drowned." Cole said without looking away from his patient. He took her pulse. It was completely fine.

         "What are you supposed to do then? Give her CPR?"

         "If all else fails."

         "Keep me alive. Keep me alive. Keep me alive." She continued to murmur. London, in her somewhat hysterical state, didn't know what she was saying. She couldn't feel anything, she couldn't see anything. It was as if she had been wrapped in a black curtain and thrown in a pool. All that existed was silence. But then, she began to hear a faint whispering.

         "What are you doing?" Edwin asked, hearing Cole speaking softly and quickly to London. Cole raised a hand, telling him to be quiet.

         London listened. She felt unable to think, but she was capable of listening. At first it was just a monotonous, continuous whisper. But then she noticed a separation between the quick sounds. From there, she began to pick up words. Words like 'listen' 'you're' and 'hear'. Frantically, she tried to decipher the rest of the message.

         "Listen London, you're alive. Listen London you're alive. Listen London you're alive." She could hear it clearly now. But there was nothing she could do to respond. She found that she was screaming into the darkness. "Stop talking." Was the next order. London immediately quieted her screaming. It was more difficult to hear the speaker with it anyways.

         The guest bedroom was almost completely quiet. The only sound was Edwin's breathing and Cole's voice. London had gone silent.

         "Good. You can hear me. You're doing great. Just stay with me okay?" The voice asked. She wanted to respond, but it was a question that wasn't meant to be answered. "Alright. I know where you are, you can't feel anything. You're floating in space. And you can't tell where the space ends and you begin." London wanted to tell it that it was right. But she remained silent. "I want you to find where you are. I'm going to grab your hand, and you try to figure out just where your hand is. Okay?" London began to feel cold, she couldn't pinpoint where exactly it was, but it was there. "I'm running my hands over your fingertips now." The voice said. Fingertips. London thought, marking their position in space. "Now your fingers." Fingers. She could feel cold on each one. "Your palm." She suddenly realized that though the rest of her body was scattered throughout the universe, she could find her hand. Then suddenly the cold was gone. "Okay, you should know where your hand is. I'm going to ask you to do something very extreme now. But you can handle it. I'm going to put my hand in yours, and you try to move your fingers. Take your time. It's gonna be okay."

           Cole placed his hand on hers. At first, nothing happened. Edwin had come across the room and sat next to Cole on the floor, watching his every move. They waited with anticipation. Edwin was clearly anxious, but Cole was certain. His expression was blank. Then, her fingers began to twitch.

            "You're doing great. Now try to squeeze my hand." Cole said. All of London's fingers twitched, back and forth as if she was gathering her strength in order to eventually wrap her fingers fully around his hand.

            Feeling confident in her abilities to move her fingers, she quickly moved all of them around the cold.    

           "Great. Now all the rest should be easy. You're laying on a bed right now, can you feel it beneath you?" London released her grip, then tightened it again. She could feel it. The feeling was little more than pressure but it was there.

           Cole then took his hand away, and only used it for means of communication. Through careful direction, London eventually mapped out herself from the rest of the universe. She became aware that she wasn't floating in space anymore. She was in a bed. The voice was probably someone sitting next to the bed. But best of all, she was alive. Finally, after the last bit of coaxing, she regained her ability to see. She had shut her eyes, and when she opened them, Cole was staring back at her. And the voice gave her the last piece of the puzzle.

          "Who am I?" The voice asked.

         "Cole." She said softly. "Cole Wilkinson." Upon hearing the sound of her own voice again, she threw her arms around Cole. She wanted to tell him how grateful she was for bringing her out of the darkness, but there weren't any words. So instead, she told him the only words she knew to say, though they were insufficient. "Thank you." For whatever reason, Cole didn't hug back. He didn't push her away, but let her hug him. He cleared his throat.

          "You shouldn't thank me. I'm to blame. I brought you into that memory." Cole said solemnly.

          "There's no way you would've known what was going to happen. It was an accident. But you saved me. That was on purpose." She said. Cole sighed, gave her a quick hug back, then stood up. London scooched up until her back was against the headboard, though she could feel her legs, she didn't trust them to work for her. She watched Cole offer Edwin a hand up from the floor. Edwin gave a nostalgic smile and took his hand as he stood up. He then wrapped his arms around Cole. Cole hugged back. It crossed London's mind that guys don't usually hug each other like that. But then Edwin gave Cole a kiss on the cheek. Then it crossed London's mind that straight guys don't usually kiss each other. Cole brought his hands to Edwin's face, and planted a light kiss on his lips.

       "Are you gonna ask what just happened?" Edwin asked. Cole nodded.

        "It kind of involves the things I can't talk about." He said. Edwin shook his head.

        "Just tell me what you can." Cole smiled a little bit. London felt like she was intruding on a private moment, so she looked out the window. The windows looked antique and made the world outside look distorted. London didn't care about distortions, she was just happy to be able to see.   

         "You don't seem surprised," Edwin said. At first London thought he was talking to Cole, but when he didn't respond, she realized that she was meant to answer.

         "Surprised about what?" She asked. Edwin shot a look at Cole. "Oh, I'm not surprised. Not that.. you guys look or act stereotypically gay but there were hints I guess." She paused. "Plus I'm too exhausted to feel anything right now. What was it you called it? Lagging?"

         "Yeah."

         "What time is it?" She asked.

         "About four." Edwin answered after stealing a glance at his watch. London turned back to the window, nodding absently. Then, a thought occurring to her, she looked at Cole.

         "Is that what dying is really like?" Cole bit his lip, then smiled.

         "I wouldn't know. I haven't died yet." London gave a small smile, not entirely satisfied with the answer. But what did she expect him to say? She shifted on the bed.

         "I'll need to go home soon."

         "I can drive you." Cole offered. "It's not a good idea to drive with lag." She nodded, too tired to disagree. I did just die. She thought. Why not let someone take care of you?

         As Cole drove, London was silent. She had a lot on her mind and not much of a mind to contemplate it. She turned on the heating system though it wasn't very cold out. She rested her head against the window as they drove, positioning the heat towards her face. The only words exchanged through the drive were directions. After about twenty minutes of driving, Cole pulled up in London's driveway.

         "You have a nice house." He commented.

         "It's a lot less pretty on the inside."

         "You've got your parents to look out for you. That makes it the nicest house in the world." He said thoughtfully. London, despite being in her driveway with all the ability to leave everything about today behind her, stayed out of curiosity.

        "Where are your parents Cole?" She asked.

        "Your guess is as good as mine." He said absently. There was a long pause. London placed a hand on Cole's.

         "I hope I find out someday." She said with a little smile.

         "I hope so too."