by Vakey, Jenn
“You sound like Wooldridge,” she said. “I knew he would take time off from time to time, but I had no idea he was spending all of his time traveling around to the different conventions.”
“I think if more detectives made the effort, the solve rate for major crimes would go up. A lot of departments, especially the smaller ones, don’t have the resources to send their forensic investigators to the conferences. Unless the investigators take the initiative to go themselves, like I do, they aren’t going to know about the latest advances. Which way?” he asked as they came to a fork in the path. To the right, the path seemed to stay consistent with where they had already been, and the left began to incline.
“Let’s go up,” she said as she pointed to the left. “Maybe it’ll go up enough for us to get a good view of the area.” He let her take the lead, following only a few feet behind her as they started to proceed up.
“So the department doesn’t send you to the conferences?” she asked curiously. “I mean, you have to cover all of that traveling yourself?” She could see someone paying to attend one or two conferences, but Ben had been to half a dozen of them just in the time she had known him.
“The department has covered a few of them, and universities will also cover my expenses sometimes if they’re planning to include it in their curriculum,” he stated. “I do have to pay for quite a few of them, though. I consider it an investment in my future.”
“Wow,” she said as she glanced over her shoulder. “You must have tons of miles saved up then.”
“You have no idea,” he chuckled, flashing her an amused smile.
She smiled back at him, but before she could turn back around, she felt her foot drop down off of the path. Her body tensed as she fell sideways and her hip slammed into the ground. She reached out for something to stop her, but it was too late. She was toppling down the icy hill, hitting every rock and limb in her path. She reached her arms up to try to brace her head, but wasn’t fast enough. As she felt the sharp blow to the back of her head, everything around her went black.
She looked into the mirror stretching out in front of her and saw the long, white dress wrapped around her. She reached down and felt the silky material brushing against her fingers. It was softer than she could have imagined.
“You look beautiful, sweetheart,” her mother said over her shoulder. When she spun around to face her, the dress swayed with a soft crinkle. She felt like a princess. “You look even more amazing than I could have ever imagined. How do you feel?”
“Confused,” she said softly. “Everything is different. The dress, my hair; this isn’t how it happened.” She turned back around and faced the mirror again. The dress, though exactly the dress she had always pictured wearing, was not the same dress she had worn when she was married. Her hair was also up instead of lying in curls the way it had. “Why is everything different? I don’t understand?”
Amber reached up and adjusted the back of the dress before looking in the mirror at her daughter. “Your feelings are normal,” she said. “I remember how nervous I was on my wedding day. I thought for sure I was making a mistake, but it was just nerves. Trust me, baby, you’ve found an amazing man.”
“I know he is,” she replied, turning back toward her mother. “That’s not what I mean. This isn’t right; none of it. This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be.”
“Everything will be perfect, trust me. I’m going to go take my place,” Amber said as she walked to the door. “Don’t be late.”
Rilynne turned back to the mirror and admired the dress before walking to the door herself. She yanked it open and stepped through, looking for Wooldridge to escort her down the aisle. Instead, she found herself standing along the bank of the lake in Addison Valley. She spun around quickly, but saw no one else around. Ignoring the confusion flowing through her, she kicked off her shoes and lifted her dress up above her ankles. She dipped her toes into the warm water as the breeze brushed against her cheeks.
“It won’t last,” she heard a deep voice coming from behind her. The relaxation she had found quickly vanished as she let go of the grip on her dress and spun around. She heard the end of it drop down into the water, but she didn’t care.
“You!” she declared as she stepped toward him. Finally, something was the way it should have been. Of all things, though, she would have picked anything else. Mifflin stood in front of her in the same tuxedo he had worn almost two years before. “Not this,” she said as she moved closer. “You’re not going to ruin this memory for me.”
“It won’t last,” he said again. “When everyone finds out you’re a freak, you’ll be left with nothing. Even the people you’ve known for years will abandon you. You’ll have nothing but your memories.”
She threw the shoes in her hand and hit him square in the face, but he didn’t budge. “You aren’t going to take anything else from me!” she yelled. “I won’t let you. You can tell them anything you want to. See if anyone believes you!”
Despite the bravery in her voice, she was shaken. It had always been her greatest fear that someone would discover her secret. She couldn’t have imagined it would be someone like Mifflin; someone who wouldn’t think twice to use it against her.
With her dress dragging along the ground, she started sprinting toward him. When she was about five feet from him, a sudden fog overtook her. She pushed through it, but was unable to find Mifflin. She ran around, swinging her arms but all they met was air.
Chapter Eleven
“Rilynne,” she heard through the fog. “Rilynne, can you hear me?”
She opened her eyes and found Ben kneeling over her. He looked both frightened and amused as he looked down at her.
“What happened?” she groaned as she tried to push herself up.
As she pulled her elbows up to support her, Ben reached out his hand and stopped her. “You seemed to have thought it would be faster to fall down the hill instead of just walking down the path. I can’t say that it would have been my first choice, but you never have seemed to want to follow the conventional path.”
“Oh, shut up,” she said as she let her head drop back down to the ground beneath her. “Are you going to help me up or are you just going to sit there and stare at me all day?”
He replied with a grin and pinkened ears. “Are you all right?”
“Do I look all right?”
“You look good to me,” he said smoothly.
Rilynne fought off the urge to giggle as she slowly pushed herself up. “I don’t suppose there’s any way we can forget that this happened?”
“Not a chance,” he replied, shaking his head dramatically. “Let me see.” He grabbed her chin and turned it away to get a look at the back of her head. “Well, you aren’t bleeding. How does your head feel?”
“Honestly, like it was just hit with a giant rock. I can’t imagine why, though.”
She had just considered attempting to stand up when Ben dropped down beside her. “It’s getting late,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a chance we’ll make it back before dark. I can’t promise I can navigate these woods like the ones at home after the sun goes down. You just sit here until you know that you’re all right, and I’ll gather some wood to start a fire.”
“You aren’t suggesting that we stay here, are you?” she asked as he reached down and picked up a small log. “It’s going to be freezing tonight, and we aren’t exactly dressed for that kind of weather.”
He shot her the familiar impish grin she had grown accustomed to, and continued to gather firewood. “You have a jacket in your pack,” he said. “There’s also a blanket in there.”
She looked up at him curiously before reaching for the pack sitting next to her. Ben must have taken it off of her before she came to. After opening it, she pulled out a brand new purple jacket. “This still has the tags on it,” she said as she tugged them off. Before she put the tags back in the bag, she took a quick peek at them, nearly gasping when she found that it read just shy o
f three hundred. “How did you know we would need these?”
“If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you tend to be a bit clumsy,” he chortled. “I just wanted to make sure we were prepared in case you got us lost again.”
“I,” she started, but couldn’t come up with an argument against his statement. “Well, at least we’ll be warm. I don’t suppose you packed anything to eat in here?”
“Aside from the lunch that I packed for us, which we might as well eat now, I also have a couple packages of that jerky you love so much, and some dried fruit.” He dropped the sticks down a few feet in front of them, and reached for his pack. After taking out a jacket of his own, he grabbed a small gray cooler.
“Okay,” he said as he unzipped it. “I have everything for roast beef sandwiches, and before you ask, I didn’t forget the mayo and ranch. The packets are in one of the pockets. I also have some deviled eggs and several bags of chips.”
She took the container that held the eggs from him, and looked hesitantly at them. “Are you sure these are still good?” she asked. “We’ve been out here for several hours.”
He nodded as he took the lid off and popped one into his mouth. “The secret is to use dry ice,” he said, showing her a block wrapped in newspaper sitting in the bottom of the cooler. “As long as it doesn’t come in contact with water, it can keep food fresh for days. Actually, if your power ever goes out for an extended period of time, you can put a block of it in your refrigerator and it’ll keep everything cold.”
“You’re turning out to be quite useful,” she joked. “I might just have to keep you around for a while.”
“Well, someone has to make sure you’re all right after you run into trees or step off of ledges. If I didn’t know better, I would think you were a bit of a masochist,” he grinned. “Why don’t you start making the sandwiches while I get the fire going? The tomatoes and lettuce are already cut, so they just need to be assembled.”
Ben had the fire going even before Rilynne had time to grab everything out of the cooler. She had almost forgotten how good he was at it. By the time she had the sandwiches finished, he had camp fully set up.
“It’s a good thing it isn’t supposed to rain tonight,” he said as he sat back down beside her. “I didn’t even consider bringing a tent.”
“Did you bring a flashlight?” she asked. “It gets dark here an hour earlier than it does at home. We’ve only got about two hours of light left.”
By the groan that escaped him. Rilynne could tell the answer without him voicing it. She considered giving him a hard time, but instead just laid back on the blanket Ben stretched out for her. Now that they were no longer moving, she could feel the cold settling in. As she watched the breath leave her lips, she let out a quick shiver and sat up to move closer to the fire.
“Didn’t you grow up in weather much colder than this?” Ben smirked as she bundled up in the blanket.
She shot him a crossed glare before replying, “This last winter in Texas ruined me for cold winter. Even on the coldest days, it was hardly ever even in the forties. It’s also not like I spent a good deal of time sitting outside in the cold, let alone sleeping in it.”
He smiled puckishly as his ears flared red, but he didn’t voice whatever was now on his mind.
After giving him one last curious gaze, she wrapped the blanket tightly around her and fell back onto the ground. From where they sat, they had a clear view of the sky through the treetops. As the sun dropped below the tree line, the vibrant colors that had invaded the sky were replaced by a heavy darkness speckled with stars.
“You know, I didn’t know people actually dreamt when they were knocked out,” Ben said as they stared up at the sky.
Rilynne looked over at him curiously and could just make out the faint grin on his face as the light from the fire flickered across it.
“What?” she asked.
“I guess I had never given much thought to it before, but you were sure dreaming about something while you were out.”
“How could you tell?” She sat up and turned toward him, pulling the blanket back up around her when it fell.
His chuckle carried through the trees around them. “Easy,” he replied. “You were chatting away.”
Her chest tightened as she felt the color drain from her cheeks. The last time she talked in her sleep around him, she mentioned details from a vision that ended up raising questions she was barely able to talk her way around.
“Oh, yeah?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. “And what was I saying?”
“Something about everything being wrong and having to keep your secret.” She could tell by his tone that he was searching for an explanation.
“Well,” she started, scrambling for anything to say, “I have no idea what I was dreaming about, but I imagine falling down a hill has something to do with everything being wrong.”
He rolled onto his side and stared at her. From what she could make out with the flickering light, he seemed to be studying her face, as if knowing she wasn’t being truthful. She turned back to the fire, avoiding his eyes. As hard as she tried to keep her expression relaxed, she could feel the panic showing. He must have picked up on it, because as he looked away, his knuckles pulled up to his chin.
“Huh,” she said trying to lighten the tension a few minutes later, the knot in her stomach only growing tighter. “I guess a blow to the head can cause you to say some pretty crazy things.”
“Dreams in general can be pretty crazy.” He sat up and leaned forward to poke the fire. “You should see some of the stuff that I’ve dreamt about. I’ve often considered writing some of it down. It would make an interesting read.”
“And what is it you dream about?”
He seemed to be thinking about it for a moment before his knuckles pulled back up to his chin and his ears flared red.
“That good, huh?” she chuckled.
She looked back up to the sky just in time to see a shooting star passing over them. She closed her eyes tight to make a wish. It was the same wish she always made: a wish for a life without secrets.
*
“Why didn’t you wake me?” Ben asked, rubbing his eyes.
She dumped the water over the fire, making sure that it was completely out before reaching for her blanket. “Oh, I tried,” she chortled. “You were so out that you didn’t budge. When is the last time you actually had a good nights sleep?”
“It hasn’t been more than a month or two,” he replied, running his fingers through his shaggy, dirty blonde hair. As he did, it seemed to land almost perfectly around his face. “My life has been a bit more eventful since you walked into it.”
“All for the better, I hope.” She finished stuffing the blanket into her pack and pulled it up onto her shoulder.
“Eh, it’s definitely not boring,” he said as he opened his own pack.
“Oh, shut up,” she replied, throwing a dry clump of dirt at him, hitting him softly in the chest.
“Hey!” he exclaimed, throwing a handful of leaves, which the breeze picked up and sent back at him. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing. Now, if you were boring, that would be a different story.”
She raised her eyebrow and threw him an almost offended look. “So, what you’re saying is that if I led a normal, boring life, you wouldn’t want to spend any time with me?”
He chuckled and shook his head as he pulled his pack onto his back. “That’s exactly what I said,” he replied sarcastically.
“You’re one to talk,” she said as they started climbing back up the incline she had tumbled down the day before. “Let’s see, you’ve been involved in a bar fight, been kidnapped and beaten, punched a cop, and don’t even get me started about the wedding.”
“If memory serves,” he stepped in, “you were right at the middle of all of those.
She opened her mouth to respond, but knew there wasn’t any way to argue her way out of that one; he was right. “That’s not the point,” s
he finally responded.
He laughed as he reached for a low hanging branch to pull himself the rest of the way onto the path. Once he had his footing, he reached down and pulled Rilynne up. She was surprised when her feet hit the ground just how easily he had done it.
Rilynne hadn’t noticed how sore she really was from the fall until they started to work their way back down the path. Her hip, which was covered in a bruise the size of a soccer ball, sent a sharp twinge of pain spreading up and down her right side with every step she took. Though she didn’t want to let on to Ben just how uncomfortable it was, she was moving much slower than the day before. They walked in silence as she concentrated on every step she took until they reached the spot where a rockslide had covered the path. The day before, they had gone down the embankment and climbed back up on the other side, but Rilynne didn’t want to take the chance that she might fall again. Instead, she studied the positioning of the boulders to find the easiest way to get over.
“You know, I’ve actually never been camping before,” Rilynne said as she carefully stepped up onto the first one.
Ben followed her closely, apparently waiting to catch her if she fell. “I wouldn’t call getting stuck in the woods overnight camping.”
“It’s sleeping outdoors,” she replied as she carefully stepped down onto the next one. “I would say that’s exactly what it was.”
“No,” he chuckled, jumping ahead two boulders to help her the rest of the way across. “This can’t be your experience with camping. I’ll take you camping this spring, with a tent, actual food, and no head injuries. I have the perfect spot, too. My dad took me once when we went down to visit Justin. The week I moved in with Justin after they died, he took me back out there. It was always our spot after that.”