Puzzle pieces spin in my mind, still not quite fitting together. I felt Jason because he was panicking at that very moment, one floor below me. Liv was still angry when I found her after the fight with her parents. Those things were happening in real time. But old buildings and graveyards?
I cast my gaze over the carpet of fallen leaves. “But no one’s been buried here for a hundred years.”
Leo stares straight ahead, rubbing his jaw. “The stronger the emotions, the longer their energy lingers.”
A grief potent enough to last a century; and I can feel it. Does that mean emotional energy isn’t bound by space or time?
These are possibilities I can’t fathom, that I don’t evenwantto fathom. Shoving them to the back of my mind, I continue on my way toward the river. Leo jogs up beside me and remains quiet as we roam through the rest of the ruins. I keep my eyes open for a broken teacup or an old brass button, but nothing turns up. I’m sure if artifacts were left here, other curious hikers found them decades ago. We pause for a drink at the top of the leafy slope, and once refreshed, wander back down to the trail.
Leo seems on edge. As we hike along the ditch of the old railroad track, he keeps darting glances at me. Finally, I ask him, “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing.”
I tease, “You haven’t gotten us lost, have you?”
He chuckles. “No. There should be a bridge coming up soon, and once we cross it, we’ll be on our way back.”
As the bridge comes into view, he relaxes, his pace slowing and his hands going slack in his coat pockets. Around the next bend, we come upon another pair of hikers, the first we’ve seen in a long while. The four of us exchange greetings as we pass, but when they’re out of earshot, I lean closer to Leo and whisper, “They look worn out.”
“I noticed that.”
“Do you think the trail is more strenuous on the other side?”
“It shouldn’t be, but if it’s too much, we can always turn around and go back the way we came.”
He’s saying that for me. He could handle a demanding hike. I determine here and now to manage it, no matter how steep the path is.
A squirrel scampers up a tree right beside me, making me jump. We both laugh and Leo says, “You’re not going…”
But I can’t make out the rest of his words. It’s as though I’ve plunged to the bottom of a pond and he’s still above it, talking to me through five feet of water.
Blood pounds in my skull and rushes in my ears. Above me and behind me, to my right and my left, walls of blackness close in. I can’t see and I can’t hear. But I can feel. Terror grips my heart with sharp claws and dread collapses in on me, crushing my lungs and bones. A scream sticks in my throat.
I flail and claw, grasping for purchase. For help. For one last breath.
I’m going to die. Dear god, I don’t want to die!
Hands sink into the tender flesh undermy arms.
Pull me out! Help me! I don’t want to die.
I cling to my rescuer as my feet leave the ground. “It’s okay,” he says, my body jostling in his arms. “I’ve got you.”
Leo.
The panic falls away fast, like water cascading off the face of a rock. I can breathe and see and hear. The sun shines through the treetops and the breeze rustles the leaves. I’m safe.
Leo sinks to the ground, clasping me tightly. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I didn’t…I thought…”
I hear my own voice, like it belongs to someone else. “What happened?”
He shakes his head as he gazes over me at the path. “We were walking and talking and then you just…collapsed. It was like you were drowning.”
“Drowning?”
He presses a warm hand to my cold face. “Look at me.” I do, and find a storm in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
As I huddle in his lap, my confusion subsides and the past few minutes come roaring back. “It was awful.” I wrap my arms around his neck and pull myself closer.
