Afterlife.

And that was it; my emotional white flag was up.

I surrendered to the tears as sobbed, curled up in the grass, surrounded by broken memories. The tree shielded me, protected me and I was thankful to it for its services.

After the breakdown in Daniel’s study, I went about my daily life with a mechanical precision, but the passion of such a robot. I cried in my bed at night. I was plagued by the dreams that Anne once had.

Then, one day, I ran.

I ran as far as I could, away from the hurt and the tears on my pillow and ended up at the tree. It was set in the grounds of a country house and the 300 year old branches surrounded me like the warmth I longed for. Here was where I cried.

And God, did I cry. I sobbed with all of the pain I was being crushed by and would emerge from the branches cleansed. Every day. Every day, after work I would go to the tree and quench its thirst with my tears.

Daniel didn’t know. He was holed up in his office reading his “heart books” as they were referred to as. I didn’t want him to know. So it came as a shock when I heard the clicking thuds of his crutches on the pathway near the tree and his voice calling out to me.

“Phil? Phil, where are you? I know you’re around here somewhere this old lady told me!” He was hollering at the top of his voice.

I started to climb up the tree and tested the strength of the second branch when he started up again.

“Please Phil. Please. Just tell me what’s wrong. I feel so helpless again.”

I started to cry and tried to keep my sobs from making so much noise. I started to hoist my left leg up and stopped when I felt him grip my ankle.

“Please.”

I let myself fall back down onto the grass and tugged him down next to me, vaugely feeling my ankle cry out against the impact.

“I just want things to go back to normal. Back when that was normal.” I cried, pointing at the scattered photo frames. He gently laid the crutches down next to them and bundled me into his arms. I clung to him like I was trying to keep afloat and in return he stroked my hair until it was smooth with static.

“I need you to come home with me Phillipa. I need you to be okay.” He choked out. I sniffled and nodded. We stood up, I gathered the photos to my breast and we pushed aside the curtain of leaves to reveal the darkening country park.

Our progress was slow and the rhythmic click of his crutches was the only sound to break the wall of silence between us. I was suddenly bothered by this awkward feeling and let out a piercing scream.

“What?!” He looked so desperately frantic that I let out a cackling laugh.

“It was too quiet. So quiet- it hurts.”

“I know. This...silence. It-“

“No Daniel my ankle; it really hurts. I think I twisted it when I dropped out of the willow.” I grimaced and tried to walk without hurting myself.

“We’ll need to get a taxi. Then when we get home I’ll check you over, I’m sure that if you’d broken it we’d know about it.” I let out a kind of gasping chuckle and we broke onto the main road near the Parks. Dan flagged down a taxi and handed me inside like I was a Lady and I shifted to the far seat.

Once we got home I flopped down on the sofa and Daniel rolled up my jeans and released my swollen ankle from the confines of my sandals. I gasped out when his fingers probed deftly at the tendons and deep into the gaps in the bone. He made a little appreciative noise, clucked his tongue and he nodded.

“Just as I thought. You have indeed sprained it. But I don’t know how!”

“What do you mean? Simple terms please Dr Daniel.”

“You’ve sprained the deltoid ligament but it’s so unusual. Usually, if you’ve sprained this you’ve broken your ankle or sometimes your leg… I don’t think you have though you didn’t complain of any pain in your leg and I can’t feel anything. Anyway, it just means that you’ll have to rest it and we’ll take you to the hospital in the morning for an X-ray and some extra pain relief.”

“What now?” I was confused.

“Ice.” He smiled at me and went to find it. A cushion was placed under my foot to elevate it and ibuprofen was taken. I pulled him down next to me as the drowsiness of the ibuprofen took hold. I wanted to make something clear. Something important.

“You’ve helped me. I want to help you.” I looked into his eyes until he caught my meaning.

“Really?” He breathed the word like a dream.

I nodded and sealed my fate.