The Madness Of Love | The Secret History

VI

I'm going to skip over the part where Richard finds all those signs about their Bacchanal, and this will be the part where they go for a walk to the lake. Enjoy x

One day remains particularly vivid, a brilliant Saturday in October, one of the last summery days we had that year. The night before we'd stayed up drinking and talking till almost dawn, and I woke late, hot and nauseated. I lay very still for a long time.

I made my way downstairs, my feet creaking on the steps. The house was motionless, empty. Finally I found Francis and Bunny on the shady side of the porch.

They were drinking prairie oysters. Francis pushed his over to me without looking at it. "Here, drink this" he said. "I'll be sick if I look at it another second." "I told you to not drink these" said Lilith coming from nowhere. She stared at the drink with a disgusted look on her face.

Francis crossed his legs and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know why I make these things" he said. "They never work. I have to go get some Alka-Seltzer." "We don't have any Alka-Seltzer" reminded Lilith. "You know, the cure to hangover is just to drink more." Francis groaned. "I suppose you're right" he agreed.

Charles closed the screen door behind him and wandered listlessly onto the porch. "Not true" he said to Francis. "What you need, is an ice-cream float." It was Lilith's turn to groan. "You and your ice-cream floats." "They work, I tell you. It's very scientific. Cold things are good for nausea and - "

They kept bickering about ice-cream, but I tuned them out. I looked around. I hadn't spent a lot of time there, but that country house felt more like home than my actual home in Plano. I never liked it there.

Henry came down shortly, followed by a sleepy Camilla. It was almost two in the afternoon. The greyhound lay on its side, drowsing, one chestnut-colored eye only partly closed and rolling grotesquely in the socket.

Lilith was right, there was no Alka-Seltzer, so Francis listened to her, went in and got a bottle of ginger ale and some glasses and ice and we sat for a while as the afternoon got brighter and hotter.

Camilla - who was rarely content to sit still but was always itching to do something, anything - was bored and restless, and made no secret of it. Finally, as much to humour her as anything, Francis suggested a walk to the lake. This cheered her instantly. There was nothing else to do, so Henry and I decided to go along. Lilith, who had gone upstairs half an hour ago, suddenly appeared and joined us too. Charles and Bunny were asleep, and snoring in their chairs.

Francis, barefoot and still in his bathrobe, stepped precariously over rocks and branches. Once we got to the lake he waded in, up to his knees, and beckoned dramatically.

We took off our shoes and socks. Henry waded out to where Francis stood, his trousers rolled to the knee. Camilla, Lilith and I walked near the shore, in the shallows barely covering our feet. After the things I heard that evening in the library, I expected Lilith to be cold with Camilla, to be angry at her. Surprisingly, she wasn't. It seemed like they were good friends, and frankly, I don't think Lilith was pretending.

We walked a good distance around the lake's edge, then started back. Camilla and Lilith were talking, to each other and to me in the same time. Camilla was telling a long story about something the dog had done and Lilith about the time she had a dog, but I wasn't following them very closely.

I was looking at both of them, listening to their sweet voices, when I was jolted from my musing by a sharp exclamation. Lilith stopped. "What is it?" I asked. She was staring down at the water. "Look." In the water, a dark plume of blood blossomed by her foot. "Jesus" Camilla exclaimed. "What did you do?" "I don't know. I stepped on something sharp." She put one hand over Camilla's shoulder and other over mine. There was a shard of green glass, about three inches long, stuck in her foot.

"What is it?" she said, trying to lean over to see. "Is it very bad?" She had cut an artery. The blood was spurting out strong and fast. "Francis?" I yelled. "Henry?" "Mother of God" said Francis when he got close enough to see. "What have you done to yourself? Can you walk? Let me see." he said, out of breath.

Lilith tightened her grip over my arm. "Oh, God" said Francis, closing his eyes. "Does it hurt?" "No." she said briskly, but I knew it did. I could feel her trembling and her face was whiter than usual.

Suddenly Henry was there too, leaning over her. "Put your arm around my neck" it was the first thing he said directly to her since their interaction in the library. "Go to hell." she gritted through her teeth. "C'mon," Francis begged her. "Right now isn't a good time for this. Do as he says." She scoffed, but put her arm over Henry's neck. He whisked her up, as lightly as if she were made of straw, one arm under her head and the other beneath her knees. "Francis, run get the first-aid kit out of your car. Well meet you halfway."

"Alright" said Francis, glad to be told what to do.
"Henry, put me down." He didn't pay any attention to her. "Here, Richard" he said. "Get that sock and tie it around her ankle." "Too tight?" I asked her. "That's fine. Henry, I wish you'd put me down." Henry smiled at her. "Never." he said. Lilith scoffed again.

Charles skidded down the hill, barefoot, still in his bathrobe, Francis at his heels. Henry knelt and set her on the grass, and she raised herself on her elbows. "Lilith, are you dead? said Charles, as he dropped to the ground to look at the wound. "Not more than always." she replied in a weak voice. "Somebody" said Francis, unrolling a length of bandage. "Is going to have to take that glass out of her foot.

"Want me to try? asked Camilla, who was previously silent this whole time. "Be careful." Camilla, Lilith's heel in her hand, caught the glass between thumb and forefinger. Lilith caught her breath in a quick, wincing gasp.

Camilla drew back like she'd been scalded. She made as if to touch her foot again, but she couldn't do it. "Well, go on" said Lilith, her voice fairly steady. "I can't do it." "Get out of the way" said Henry impatiently, and he knelt quickly and took her foot in his hand. It seemed like Lilith was going to protest and not let him touch her, but then she must've decided against it, because she didn't say a word.

Lilith flinched, her eyes wide; Henry held up the curved piece of glass in one bloody hand. "Consummatum est" he said. Francis set  to work with the iodine and bandages.

"My God" I said picking up the red-stained shard and holding it to the light. "Good girl." said Francis, winding the bandages around the arch of her foot. She let out a small laugh. Like most hypochondriacs, Francis had an oddly soothing bedside manner. "Look at you. You didn't even cry." "It didn't hurt that much." "Like hell it didn't" Francis said. "You were really brave." Henry stood up. "She was brave" he softly said before walking away. I saw in Lilith's face that she wanted to thank him, but then, again, decided against it and just nodded.

Not proof read, so there may be some mistakes. If you see some, tell me. I'll fix them x