Under the Surface

They had been walking for a long time and Ethan's aching body begged him to stop. His mind, determined to carry on, won against his body and he carried on walking. I'll carry on until I die he thought and then caught him self. I'm already dead! He thought with a sudden morbid humour.

Rose gave Ethan a sidelong glance every now and then whilst they walked, wanting to absorb and remember every one of his features. His black, messy hair had a gossamer shine to it because of the water that drenched it. His dark blue eyes were filled with pain and sorrow. His pale skin looked drawn and almost grey in the dim torchlight.

'Don't you need to rest?' she asked, concerned for him.

'We must keep going. We must...' he trailed off and concentrated on the darkness that was constantly ahead of them. Rose wondered if there would ever be light at the end of the tunnel.

A thrashing pain pulsed up her leg and she bit her lip to stop her crying out. She was no medical expert, but she could tell that she had broken a bone. That was the only feasible explanation for the insane amount of pain she was feeling. She did not want to complain though - that would only make things harder for Ethan.

She had to keep going, just like him. She felt like everything would be all right as soon as they reached the end of the tunnel. She just wanted to escape the eerie, claustrophobic place, which had been filled with her worst memory only hours before. She didn't want to experience that again.

As soon as she had thought this, she experienced the same dizzy, disorientated feeling that had accompanied her memory the last time. A sense of fear clawed at her insides.
'What's going on?' Ethan cried out, though his voice seemed like an echo to her. Was he going to see her memory too?

The cave walls melted away into a scene of white snow covering a large country house. Even though snow was still spiraling towards the ground, neither Ethan nor Rose felt cold. Rose only felt cold in her heart, knowing what she was about to see.

'Where are we?' She heard Ethan say from beside her and suddenly she felt less scared. At least he was here with her.

'This is my memory.' she explained and walked forward because her instincts told her to. Ethan followed. They walked towards the house; its roof and chimney were covered in a blanket of snow. The lights were on, beaming a welcoming yellow light out of the small, stone bordered windows. Ethan wanted to feel the warmth inside of the house.

'This is my house. I lived here with my parents and my little brother.' she said, her voice injected with nostalgia of her home. Ethan looked at her and she had a small smile on her face. She was happy to be home, if even just in memory.

They were near the front door when it opened and they saw a girl identical to Rose step outside. She looked angry and upset and she turned to face the house. A man, who looked like the girl's father, loomed in the doorway.

'You can go to London, but don't expect to come back to us when you're penniless and pregnant!' he yelled and slammed the door.

The girl turned with deliberate deftness away from the house and started walking through the snow.

'I don't know what I was doing.' Rose admitted. 'I didn't even have a suitcase with me!' She was still smiling whilst watching herself, bemused at her own naivety. The door opened again, more timidly this time, and a woman appeared at the door. The likeness between her and Rose was remarkable, but this woman's face was lined, she was plumper and her eyes were etched with fatigue.

'Wait!' the woman called in a worried voice. 'You can't leave with nothing, Rosie. I'll pack you some things quickly...' she turned quickly and ran back into the house.

The Rose in the memory wavered, choosing between pride and practicality. In the end she chose the latter and waited uneasily in the snow. Her mother reappeared in record time with a small suitcase in one hand and a coat in the other.

'I've just put you some clothes, food and washing things. Also, you'll catch your death if you don't wear a coat!' The mother reprimanded, sounding more sad than angry.

'Thanks mum.' Rose said, smiling sadly as she put on the thick black coat. Then tears were sparkling as they rolled down her face and she wiped them away. Her mother was also crying and they hugged hurriedly before Rose turned and walked away. Her mother, though only in thin clothes, did not go back into the house until she had walked out of sight.

Then the snow melted away and the whole scene dissipated to leave them back in the cave.
'That was...' Ethan began, but couldn't find a word to describe it.

'See what I mean? Memories!' Rose exclaimed. Fresh tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was thinking about her mother, waiting in the snow, just incase she came back. She wished she had turned back at that moment. 'But I never thought that you could see them too.'

Then Rose realized that she was standing up on her own. Her leg didn't hurt one bit.
'What? My leg has healed!' She exclaimed again in disbelief.

'Healed...' Ethan repeated, staring at her healthy looking leg in awe. 'I think it was the memory. Maybe it healed you...' he said thoughtfully.

'It seems impossible, but it's also impossible that we're here in the first place!' Rose said and they both laughed. The tense atmosphere from seeing Rose's memory seemed to have been lifted and they carried on walking. Rose wasn't sure if it was the fact that she had been walking closely to Ethan all that time, or that he had seen her memory, but she felt comfortable with him. She felt she could completely trust him, even though they had only just met.

The cave passageway wound on but this walk was much easier for both of them, because after the memory they felt healthier and rested. Ethan was eager to reach the end of the path, but felt scared incase he had to experience a memory; especially one he'd rather forget.