The Ties That Bind

VI: Don't Ask If You Don't Want to Know

Hey everyone! So sorry that this has taken me so long to upload. I feel pretty guilty about that. I've had tons to do lately and on top of that, I've been having the writer's block of sorts. I know the general direction I wanted this story to go but there were 2 different options I was debating between. But now I know everything that will happen. This is a pretty good chapter though. I hope that after you read it you'll think it was worth the wait! BTW I uploaded a picture on the side of what I think Richard kind of looks like. I'm not a big Alex Pettyfer fan, but I do think that if he had brown eyes he would make a good Richard, or least looks-wise he would.

I was thinking about it the other day and maybe 112 reads doesn't seem like a lot considering that there are stories with millions of reads, but to me personal that's a ton. Just the fact that there are people out there who I don't know who are reading my story just blows my mind. thank you all, and Enjoy!

It is cold and dark. At least, I think it is cold. I have no feeling anywhere in my body but the cold is still there—that internal kind of cold that makes you shiver but that you can't get rid of. I can't see anything either and I wonder for a fleeting moment if I might be dead. Is this how someone feels when they die? Not being able to see anything, hear anything, feel anything. I try to see if I can move my arms or my legs; even if I could turn my head that would be something. But I can't. I can't feel where my body is to move it. Almost as if I no longer have one and now I am  random thoughts floating through some endless oblivion. Is this what it's like to die? 

But suddenly there it is. Small pinpricks running up and down the length of my body. I can feel again! It is small but it is still something and I can't help but get excited by that. Then there is a light. It starts as nothing more than a tiny dot off in the distance. It begins to grow and the light surrounds me with its warmth and comfort. I can feel myself being drawn to it. 

"Grace! Grace, wake up." I don't recognize the voice but it is so smooth and beautiful sounding that I just want to run to it. 

I'm coming, I want to yell at it, but I can't find my voice. 

I can feel myself waking up now. The little pinpricks slowly begin to fade as I regain the feeling in my limbs. Now I can feel that someone is holding my hand in their own and the feeling that that gave me is so wonderful I never want it to stop. 

My eyelids are heavy as I try to open them. There is a sharp burning sensation in my lungs and I realize for the first time that I haven't been breathing. I take a sudden and deep breath, allowing the oxygen to rush into my body, as I open my eyes and gaze up at the face of my savior.  He is much younger than he is now—I guess I am also younger too—but I recognize him nonetheless. There leaning over me with a concerned look on his almost angelic face—a face that was slightly rounder than it is now—is a boy, no older than me with sandy blonde hair and deep hazel eyes that seem to pierce into my very soul. His hand is smooth and at home against mine, but I can't help but rip it away in surprise at seeing him. 

"Richard?" 

My eyes fly open and I gasp for air. My lungs feel exactly like they had that day, burning and raw and aching for more air to fill them. Everything from my dream id been so familiar, so real. I suppose because it is real. But something was different this time. All the times that I have thought back to that day—the day that I drowned and been rescued—it is always my dad's face that I remember pulling me out of the water and resuscitating me. I can't even begin to comprehend why, after all these years, the face of my rescuer would be someone different. And more importantly why that face would be Richard's of all people.