Double Life: memories

After a long while she took her shirt off and then she stood to take off her pants. She was wearing a swimming suit under her clothes. It was strange to see her in a swimsuit and gloves and she seemed to be a little self-conscious about it, her hands were at her back.

“How do you feel about swimming” she recovered her stance

“I rather not”

“This part of the river is really shallow” she motioned for him to come and he shook his head “just your feet” she smiled as she sat on a rock, her feet in the water “it´s warm” once again he shook his head

“ok”

“I´m sorry” he said to her back.

“Don´t be, just come” her tone was happy “come on! You bought the swimming trunks, didn’t you? At least use them”

They sat together on the rock. “What is it?” she asked. He was very quiet and his shoulders were slumped.

“I´m… I´m scared” he said in a whisper

“It´s not that bad, you´ll be ok” she got in the water meanwhile he stayed on the rock.

“I…”

“Mh, don´t worry, I remember you can´t get near water and that explains why you don´t shower” she teased lighten the mood, he shook his head

“I don´t take baths in the bathtub though” he confessed with a light blush in his cheeks

“I wouldn´t let you drown –she said with a light smile- I have to take care of the life I saved” she ended with a joke. He chuckled this time.

“I know” he put his feet in the water “it´s cold!” he protested immediately

“I lied” she poked her tongue, he narrowed his eyes. “Come” she extended her hand.

They sat on another rock that was in the water that only covered them to their knees; the sun was warm and let them stay in the cold water for a while.

“I´m sorry you had that bad experience –she said suddenly- I can only imagine what it must feel…”

“It´s ok, it´s not much, I just won´t be a swimmer” they were still holding hands

“I have a dream, a nightmare –she explained- in my dream I´m playing in a back yard, I´m at home but that was not my home, then my ball fells in the pool and I try to reach it but I can’t and I fall into the water, I gasp for air and it makes it worse, no one listens to me but I don´t even have a voice, I go to the bottom of the pool and somehow see myself floating on the surface, it´s like I saw myself from the bottom, eventually the “me” on the surface is taken out while the “me” at the bottom stays there, I lift my hand to be taken out too…”

“What happens?”

“No one comes back and when I realize that, I wake up” they remained silent for a long time.

“Did you fell into the pool like that?”

“No, we didn´t even have a pool”

“Did I tell you my nightmare last time?” his eyebrows were knitted

“No…why?”

“My nightmare is a lot like that, except that instead of being just a nightmare they are memories I think” he said. Nichole knitted her eyebrows a little, her mind couldn´t let it pass that she had that dream and he had that memory, but she saved her thoughts for when she´d be alone to think.

“But you got taken out, you´re ok now” she smiled

“Yeah… Aaron says he remembers thinking I was dead”

“He saw you?”

“He saw me when they took me out. I don´t remember being taken out or anything after that, I only remembered waking up in a new home. I spent a long time in the hospital, I think”

“No pools in the new house” she lifted an eyebrow

“Not in that one but we moved to another one with a pool, Aaron likes swimming a lot”

“He must’ve learned because of you”

“How do you know?”

“If it had been Mii, I would´ve wanted to be prepared just in case it happened again”

“Well, then you too have that in common” Josh smiled.

“Let´s go out of here, it´s too cold” she said getting up, she knew he was uncomfortable there.

“Sorry if I pushed you to get in the water….” She apologized when they got back to the school after their day out; it was about an hour before dinner time.

“Why…?”

“You seemed upset last time when your twin joined me in the pool and I promised…” she explained barely above a whisper. His eyes widened. “Later”

“Thank you” he said she was away already; he thought she hadn´t heard it but she turned around to smile and waved.