She smiled. “Liar.” She shifted around in the sheets and pulled her knees up to her chest, fidgeting nonstop. I could see that part of her mind was still living in her nightmare.
“Tell me what you need,” I said. “Tell me what to do.”
“Just hold me,” she replied. Her eyes shut.
I scooted in closer and wrapped my arms around her. My chin rested against the top of her head as I held her.
I moved my lips to her forehead, giving her a gentle kiss. My lips lingered to her tears, and I softly kissed those away. My lips then moved to her mouth as I watched her inhale and exhale. My eyes shut as my lips grazed against hers. She grazed against mine. Her breaths became mine, and mine fell into hers. “You are okay tonight,” I promised her. And if she wasn’t she would be by morning. Either way, I wasn’t leaving her side.
She pushed her lips against mine, pressing her fingers against my chest. My tongue swept against her bottom lip before I sucked gently.
“I had a nightmare, too,” I told her. “I felt like I was drowning again.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” she whispered.
I closed my eyes and saw the water. I felt it. It felt so real, so cold, so close. Then Maggie kissed my lips and reminded me that I didn’t have to drown alone. “Yes,” I replied.
“Tell me what it felt like,” she said, her voice filled with care. “Tell me what it felt like in the water.”
“Panic. It happened so fast, but in my head it felt like slow motion. My mind spun as I tried to get back to the boat,” I said.
Her lips moved to the scar on my neck, and she kissed it gently, before moving down my shoulder blade.
“When the propeller struck me the first time, I was certain that was it. I knew I was going to die. That sounds dramatic for me to say now—”
Maggie cut in. “There’s nothing dramatic about that.”
“Now, I have the nightmares and it all feels as if it’s happening again. I feel the cold water. I feel the propeller in my skin and wake up expecting to bleed.” I held my arm out, staring at my injured hand.
Her lips trailed down my left arm, and I tensed up the closer she grew to my hand. “What does it feel like?” she asked, resting her kiss on my forearm.
“There’s still this kind of phantom pain that happens. It feels as if someone is clamping against the finger super tight while setting a blowtorch to it. That comes and goes, though. When I get cold, my hand turns purple. I hate the scars. They are a constant reminder of what happened.”
“Everyone has scars. Some people are just better at hiding them.”
I smiled and kissed her forehead. “Honestly I think the anxiety and flashbacks are the worst part.”
Her eyes grew heavy. “Yeah. I know what you mean.” She sat up and bit her bottom lip. “Is it okay if I talk about my scars, too?”
“Of course.”
Maggie’s voice was timid. I saw the fear in her eyes from the idea of speaking to life what had happened in the woods all those years ago. I’d known how hard it was going to be for her, but even with her voice shaking, she still spoke.
“Her name was Julia. Sometimes my memory tried to convince me her name was Julie, but it wasn’t. It was definitely Julia,” she said.
“Who?”
“The woman who died in the woods.”
I sat up straighter, too, more alert.
“Her name was Julia, and she was leaving her husband.” She told me every piece of detail that had happened. She told me how he looked, she told me the color of Julia’s hair, her panic, her cries. She recalled the scents, his touch, his voice. For over twenty years Maggie relived her horror over and over again, never forgetting a piece of it. As she kept going, her body began shaking, but she didn’t stop. She continued telling me the story of the day that changed her life. I listened, growing angry, and scared, and sad for her. I couldn’t imagine seeing the things she saw as a child. I couldn’t imagine moving past watching someone be murdered before my eyes.
“I thought I was going to die, too, Brooks. The same way you thought your life was ending—that’s what I felt. It could’ve easily gone that way, too. If you had fallen forward, the propeller could’ve taken your life. If I didn’t get away from the man, he would’ve killed me.”
“How did you get away?”
Her eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes glimmered. “You called my name, scaring him off. You saved my life.”