A Dangerous Affair

Everything after that moment became a blur to Stephanie. It was a frenzy of coughing and choking and turbulent water. Somehow she managed to claw the door open enough to swim out and then one thought hit her. It was no longer night, the sun startled and hurt her eyes as she twisted and turned in the water, trying to gain her bearings. Then she was being hauled upwards and she fell back onto a hard surface.

“Are you all right?” A voice cut into her consciousness but she seemed unable to answer it. “Can you sit up?”

She struggled upwards and shortly found herself seated, wrapped in a blanket that someone had put around her shoulders. The shoulders that minutes before had felt his touch. She could still feel his fingers entangled in her hair, the pressure of his forehead against hers.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat on that boat, wrapped in the blanket, before she got to shore and was taken away in an ambulance. Time seemed to have little meaning to her. She sat in the brightness of the sun, which seemed to be mocking her at that moment, staring blindly ahead of her. She felt an awful numbness; if she had been forced to sit there forever she wouldn’t have cared. Then there were people crowding her on the shore and a cacophony of noise threatened to overwhelm her.

She reached the hospital and was checked by a doctor but he concluded that she seemed to have no serious injuries. She sat in a small side room, wearing a hospital robe and waiting for some X ray results. The door was ajar and she could see people walking to and fro outside, people going about their business. She stood up and walked to the window, looking out she saw grass, trees, leaves blowing on the ground. Everything looked the same, how odd. She sat back on the chair and a nurse entered. Seeing the look on Stephanie’s face she squeezed her hand.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Stephanie felt as though she was viewing herself from outside her body, as though she were in a TV programme, the grieving woman being comforted by the sympathetic nurse.

“Sorry about your friend.”

With that Stephanie bolted towards the sink in the corner of the room and was violently sick.

The nurse stroked her back and then helped her over to the chair again, passing her a glass of water to sip. She sat with her head in her hands. Shortly she was aware of someone else entering the room and she heard hushed voices as the person talked to the nurse.

“Stephanie?”

She recognized the voice and looked up to see Brick standing over her.

“How are you feeling?” he said in a gentle voice. She had never heard him speak like that. Tears filled her eyes and she didn’t trust herself to answer him. Brick crouched down to her level then and covered his hands with hers.

“He’s alive you know.”

Her heart jumped but she frowned at him. She didn’t understand. Did he know what had happened?

“That second explosion allowed him to get free. He’s got a few burns and scratches but he’s fine. In fact he’s sitting up in bed giving the nurses a hard time and being his usual obnoxious self!” Brick said wryly.

She looked at him suspiciously, as though she didn’t believe him. “What second explosion? There wasn’t one that I saw.”

“You also didn’t see me when you were put into the ambulance, but I was there. You were in shock Stephanie.”

The information still failed to register properly in her confused mind.

Brick smiled at her, “There’s someone in the room three doors down who I think would like to see you.” She paused and he stood up. “Go on.” His eyes moved to the door. She took a deep breath and rose out of the chair, her mind a mixture of emotions.