Take My Hand
Chapter Five
That was the last sentence she wrote. Why? Maria thought. Why stop there?
You know why. A little voice in her mind retorted.
Shortly after reaching the river bank, Jake slipped. The normally calm water was strangely ragged that day. He didn’t have a chance.
Silent tears formed and ran down the front of Maria’s face. She remembered that day. Running into Joes, screaming for someone to help, the police finding his body down stream, covered in bloody cuts. Afterwards she discovered what he found. When she was 13, Jake had promised her that he’d one day find a place that they could run away to. Just for a while. Not too far away, but just so that they could be by themselves.
She found that place that day.
He was taking her to a little house that he had helped create. Unknown to Maria, Jake had gotten his cousin Daniel to help him make a small cottage like place. It wasn’t big, it wasn’t perfectly made but it was warming. This is where Maria kept her journals. Jake had written a letter, saying how the place was hers to run away to, so long as he was welcome.
“I miss you. God how I miss you.” she paused, “We had the best fun…”
The liquor had fully entered her system, and though she didn’t feel it, she knew it was filling her with some sort of contentment.
Take my hand!
She heard a voice coming from all around. Slowly, she put the journal back with the note in the box and stood still.
Please… Just reach a little further!
Maria took a deep breath, not realizing she hadn’t been breathing. A strange suffocating feeling erupted into her body. She began coughing, spluttering, trying to get a dose of oxygen.
Maria![/i[
She shut her eyes, and then violently opened them. The sun stung her, but the water rushing around her body was worse.
“Maria! Stretch out your hand!” it was Jake.
But... he was dead. Wasn’t he?
“Maria!”
Without a second thought, she flung her arms out to him. He swiftly pulled her up onto the bank of the river, away from the water.
But how could this be? Jake hadn’t been alive for five years… he couldn’t be here. Not unless…
“What happened?” she finally asked after taking several jagged, uneven breaths.
“We were going to the river so I could show you the surprise… but you just stopped and kinda fell in.”
[i[No. No, no, no! Maria screamed in her head. No, you’re dead, I’m in the house. I’m dreaming, it has to be. It doesn’t work like that.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked, reading her confused expression.
“You. This. You’re dead. You drowned. How can I be here when I was just in the cottage? Huh? How does that even work!?” she shouted.
This doesn’t work. It can’t. But wait…
“What year is this?” Maria asked forcefully.
“Uh.. 2001. Why?”
2001? No, it was 2005. 2001 was when Jake died. She couldn’t have possibly gone back in time. That doesn’t work. It never has.
But what if I didn’t? That would make sense… none of it ever happened. I still have a family and my best friend. I don’t have a job. I’m not 19. Maybe I just made it all up. Maybe it was another black out.
“Hey, come on, let’s get you home. I can show you the surprise another day.” Jake smiled and helped Maria to her feet. Why would I think something like that though?
Maria and Jake started walking back to Joes, going along the river bed. It was three minutes later that everything went wrong.
Jake had insisted that he walked closer to the river than Maria, just to make sure that she didn’t slip. He didn’t intend for the water to pick up, he didn’t intend for the bank to be that slippery. And he didn’t intend on falling himself.
It all happened in a matter of seconds, before Maria didn’t see what was happening. And before she knew it, Jake was gone too deep.
You know why. A little voice in her mind retorted.
Shortly after reaching the river bank, Jake slipped. The normally calm water was strangely ragged that day. He didn’t have a chance.
Silent tears formed and ran down the front of Maria’s face. She remembered that day. Running into Joes, screaming for someone to help, the police finding his body down stream, covered in bloody cuts. Afterwards she discovered what he found. When she was 13, Jake had promised her that he’d one day find a place that they could run away to. Just for a while. Not too far away, but just so that they could be by themselves.
She found that place that day.
He was taking her to a little house that he had helped create. Unknown to Maria, Jake had gotten his cousin Daniel to help him make a small cottage like place. It wasn’t big, it wasn’t perfectly made but it was warming. This is where Maria kept her journals. Jake had written a letter, saying how the place was hers to run away to, so long as he was welcome.
“I miss you. God how I miss you.” she paused, “We had the best fun…”
The liquor had fully entered her system, and though she didn’t feel it, she knew it was filling her with some sort of contentment.
Take my hand!
She heard a voice coming from all around. Slowly, she put the journal back with the note in the box and stood still.
Please… Just reach a little further!
Maria took a deep breath, not realizing she hadn’t been breathing. A strange suffocating feeling erupted into her body. She began coughing, spluttering, trying to get a dose of oxygen.
Maria![/i[
She shut her eyes, and then violently opened them. The sun stung her, but the water rushing around her body was worse.
“Maria! Stretch out your hand!” it was Jake.
But... he was dead. Wasn’t he?
“Maria!”
Without a second thought, she flung her arms out to him. He swiftly pulled her up onto the bank of the river, away from the water.
But how could this be? Jake hadn’t been alive for five years… he couldn’t be here. Not unless…
“What happened?” she finally asked after taking several jagged, uneven breaths.
“We were going to the river so I could show you the surprise… but you just stopped and kinda fell in.”
[i[No. No, no, no! Maria screamed in her head. No, you’re dead, I’m in the house. I’m dreaming, it has to be. It doesn’t work like that.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked, reading her confused expression.
“You. This. You’re dead. You drowned. How can I be here when I was just in the cottage? Huh? How does that even work!?” she shouted.
This doesn’t work. It can’t. But wait…
“What year is this?” Maria asked forcefully.
“Uh.. 2001. Why?”
2001? No, it was 2005. 2001 was when Jake died. She couldn’t have possibly gone back in time. That doesn’t work. It never has.
But what if I didn’t? That would make sense… none of it ever happened. I still have a family and my best friend. I don’t have a job. I’m not 19. Maybe I just made it all up. Maybe it was another black out.
“Hey, come on, let’s get you home. I can show you the surprise another day.” Jake smiled and helped Maria to her feet. Why would I think something like that though?
Maria and Jake started walking back to Joes, going along the river bed. It was three minutes later that everything went wrong.
Jake had insisted that he walked closer to the river than Maria, just to make sure that she didn’t slip. He didn’t intend for the water to pick up, he didn’t intend for the bank to be that slippery. And he didn’t intend on falling himself.
It all happened in a matter of seconds, before Maria didn’t see what was happening. And before she knew it, Jake was gone too deep.