Under the Surface

Part 5

A long time passed before another memory was upon them. This time, the memory belonged to them both.

First the memory resided with Ethan. He was sixteen now, only around two months younger than his current self, and he was walking hand in hand with a girl with wavy chestnut hair and sparkling blue eyes that reflected the city lights around them.

Erica, he thought longingly, and walked towards the couple who were strolling along the London high street.

They had stopped outside a shop window where Erica was pointing at two Victorian style dolls. Ethan realized now where he had seen those two porcelain children before, guiding him deeper into the water.

‘Wait.’ Rose said, tugging on his arm.

‘It’s not like they can see us.’ Ethan retorted, almost angrily, and shrugged away from her grip. Rose had no choice but to follow – the further away the couple walked the quicker the blackness of the edge of the memory crept towards her. She had to follow Ethan, no matter how much he was scaring her at this point. His fascination with the girl in the memory was almost morbid.

Ethan could not help but stare at the brown head of hair bobbing in between the crowds. How could she, his Erica, how could she be dead?

She seemed so alive, so unstoppable in her living, that death seemed impossible. However, she had died and he didn't save her. That's what made him go to the lake that they often visited together, the lake that he… Ethan shuddered, not wanting to think about it anymore.
He just absorbed himself into the memory, focused on the alive Erica in front of him. At least he could see her again, if only for one more time.

He had stopped living with his dad by now and Erica had taken him in. She was eighteen, the daughter of a rich family, and she lived in her own trendy apartment in Camden. They had met in a café a few months earlier and she had sat at his table because there was no others available in the crowded cafe. Ethan had just been in a fight with his dad, and had run out of the house. It was winter and too cold to walk outside. The small café near his pokey apartment was like a warm haven in the middle of London. Even though Erica could see the fresh scarring on Ethan's face, they began to chat for hours about anything and everything like they'd known each other for years. They arranged to meet again.

Then Ethan told Erica about his situation, and she took him away from the feared place he called home. Finally, he was saved.

That memory was on the night that Erica died. The last night that he’d see her. The night that her life was extinguished forever.

There was nothing he could do to change this, so he watched each excruciating movement she made, waiting for those movements to be violently stopped for eternity.
Rose caught up, giving up dodging people for they simply faded through her, and put a hand on his shoulder.

‘Don’t leave me again.’ She said quietly, scared that she could lose him. Ethan said nothing, made no movement to acknowledge her. He simply watched the girl in front of him with chestnut brown hair and bold green eyes.

She was dead, but he was still irrevocably in love with her.

Rose looked at Ethan in concern. He was acting so strangely. Then something else made her look away.

She was looking at herself, walking down the same street as Ethan and Erica. By instinct, she left Ethan in pursuit of her old self.

Rose in the memory was crying as she walked and made no effort to wipe away the tears. She soon turned down a dark alleyway and Rose followed, leaving Ethan's memory for her own. The memory Rose knocked on a door, a red door with chipped paint and graffiti sprayed on, with a suitcase in her hand.

A man answered the door, his face making Rose's heart pang with the thoughts it triggered. Love, apprehension, betrayal, hatred. The full on sight of his dirty blonde hair, playful green eyes and dark tanned skin made her want to cry.

She still missed him.

The Rose in the memory was pleading with this man.

'Please, Nick, please. I have nowhere else to go anymore.' if the floor wasn't so dirty she would have been on her hands and knees.

The man shook his head adamantly.

'What the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you to get lost.' His beautiful face was twisted in hatred, making both Roses cringe. 'Deal with her.' he said to someone concealed by the door. She heard the metallic shink of a gun being loaded. Rose knew what was going to happen. She ran.

Rose watched the girl ran back up the alleyway and she followed. She heard the footfalls of someone else behind her. She slowed down when she realized that she could see Ethan and Erica at the entrance leading into the street. The other Rose, in a fit of tears, didn't notice Ethan and Erica standing there. Erica had stopped Ethan because she had noticed the crying girl and wanted to help.

Rose kept on running and she ran past Erica. The man following behind held out the gun and shot. Erica didn't dodge in time.

Her body jolted with the impact of the bullet, like she had received a severe electric shock. Then she started falling to the ground until Ethan caught her, his face pale and stuck in a mask of horror. She was dead.

Rose kept on running, away from the killer and the dead girl. Ethan held Erica's body limply in his arms, too shocked for a reaction.

Their memories had collided and caused nothing but destruction.

Ethan and Rose looked at each other, shocked. They had not realized until then that their paths had crossed in such a tragic way. Both walked towards each other, but did not utter a word.

Both were crying, for themselves, for one another, for Erica.

Then, before they reached each other, the memory melted away, leaving them in the cave once again. The stopped abruptly at their new surrounding.

Rose hesitated and then decided to speak.

'So... she died because of me.' she said, eyes lowered to the ground. She started to cry.
Ethan shook his head.

'Erica didn't die because of you. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You couldn't have stopped the bullet in time, so there's no way it's your fault.'

Ethan stopped when he realized he was speaking to himself as much as he was trying to comfort Rose.

He had blamed himself for Erica's death so much, even though he couldn't have stopped the bullet in time. He couldn't have caused or prevented her death.

Erica's fate was only caused by fate itself.

'I guess you're right.' Rose said, looking up at him. Tears were still glistening in her eyes.
Ethan smiled at her sadly.

'All we can do is keep on walking.' he said and she nodded in agreement.

And walk they did.

They didn't have to walk far before a blinding light was shining at them. It was the end of the cave.

Ethan looked at Rose and she looked back. Neither said anything - there was nothing left to say.

Both walked into the light...