After a terrible accident, Gemma is left with no memory of the first twenty years of her life and nobody to turn to who can help her remember. When she loses her job, Gemma sets out on an adventure to find something worth living for. What she doesn'...
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THE AIR OUTSIDE is cold, a stark contrast to the comfortable climate I've grown accustomed to over the past few weeks. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be bitten by the night air, but now my bare shoulders are feeling its sting.
"Here," Audrick says, and I glance his way to see him shrugging off his suit jacket. "Put this on."
"No, I'm--"
"Gemma, you have goosebumps," he says matter-of-factly, that slanted smile of his finding its way onto his face. He holds it out in the space between us, waiting for a moment for me to accept it, but I hesitate. "How am I going to explain to my parents that I'm responsible for your death when you die of hypothermia?"
I roll my eyes, although an involuntary laugh manages to escape my body. Geez. It seems the more I try to make this evening seem less like a date, the more I fail at that task. "Okay," I say finally, reaching for the garment. "Thank you."
Audrick and I begin down a paved path that leads around the side of the banquet hall and passes by the clubhouse, where golfers can rent equipment. We follow the route toward the lush green golf course, which looks endless under the clouded night sky. Occasionally, a breeze rustles the evergreens making up dense forests on either side of the course, causing drops of water to sprinkle down from the wet foliage, leaving me to presume it must have rained earlier, sometime before we landed.
After trailing alongside the course for a while, Audrick makes a sharp turn to the left, where the path transitions to one of gravel. "I want to show you something," he says.
The path is short and, a few seconds later, we come upon a wide, circular space with-- lo and behold-- a fountain in the centre. There's a ring of planters around the magnificent water display, but the jagged branches extending out from the dirt are barren. Behind the fountain is more foliage, but not woods. Rather, there are hedges that look like they make up some sort of labyrinth, and I take a few steps forward to get a better look.
"I think that's supposed to be a maze to keep children occupied while their families are golfing."
All I can think as I turn around is how unsafe that sounds, and so I infer Audrick means that there would be somebody, an adult, to look after any kid that attempts this maze. Of course, that's what he means.
"That's clever," is all that leaves my lips as I notice Audrick hasn't moved but is standing by the end of the path we took to get here, watching me with a look that makes my breath catch in my throat and my heartbeat pick up pace. He looks almost... entranced.
Then, suddenly, he starts toward the side of the circle, where he seats himself on the wooden bench. Sitting there, he stares into the fountain, lit only by a single blue light somewhere in the water.
I explore the space for a bit, kicking around gravel as I go and being careful not to trip in the heels I'm wearing. Thankfully, my dress isn't floor-length, meaning I don't have to worry so much about it getting ruined. The shoes, though, will need a good cleaning.
