The Girl With Five Watches

16: Touch of Water

The following Thursday everything went by normally. I wasn't experiencing anything crazy. The only thing out of the ordinary within those twenty-four besides getting street tacos with Karla involved a surge in text messages between Sara and me. On Thursday night, all four of us had dinner together in the union. Conner even joined us. Conner was trying his best to get to know everyone at the table. Things seemed to be going well as everyone seemed to like Conner.

"Anyone want to see pictures of my vacation to Italy with my fiancé?" asked Conner pulling out his phone. "I'll warn you in advanced that these pictures are breathtaking."

We spent thirty minutes looking at all his vacation photos. Towards the end of his presentation, I noticed a picture of Conner dancing with a little girl that he and his fiancé met in a village. Everyone awed at the photo. My eyes couldn't look away. The little girl was glued to my eyes even after we stopped looking at his phone. Blinking almost became impossible.

"I'd love to go to Italy," commented Sara. "It would be a dream to go to Venice."

"Find yourself a boyfriend first," he joked. "I hear great things about Tinder. Lots of great guys there."

Everyone but me found themselves laughing. Sara lightly punched him in the arm and he returned the favor. At this point, I wanted to leave and I excused myself to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, I headed to the sink to wash my hands and wash the sweat off my face. The picture of the Italian Girl appeared in the mirror. I couldn't help laugh and turned off the faucet and attempting to leave the bathroom. Just as I was about to leave the bathroom, I heard a voice.

"Stop Jimmy." Crap, not again. "Where are you going? Don't leave so soon."

Immediately, everything went dark. All that I could hear were a few drops of water. Where was I? Trying to find my way out, my feet stepped into a few loud puddles. Drip! More loud drips of water. I kept walking until I saw a light.

"Where are you, Emily? Why don't you just kill me now?" 

Boom! Another lightning strike late into the night. A young girl found herself crying in her room which led me to come to her rescue.

"It's OK Emily. It's just a storm." I sat tucked myself in with her and tried to comfort her.

"When are they coming back from their date? I can't sleep."

"They should be back in another hour. Don't worry, I'm here. Just sleep now." I began singing a lullaby to her with her head against my chest. The light breaths brought comfort to my heart. I knew she was safe and sound.

"Thanks for being here with me Jimmy." She took a breath of warmth, comfort, and happiness and quickly closed her eyes. She was safe and soundly asleep.

Such an innocent little girl. "You're welcome. I'll never let anything bad happen to you. I promise."

I couldn't go near that light. It was going to kill me. This was Emily's revenge. And yet, I couldn't stay away. Maybe I deserved this. It was like I was a mosquito.

"Is this what you want? You want me to walk to this light? Is this how it ends?" No answer. Everything around me was completely silent. Even all the dripping water ceased. "Is it?!" I continued. My body fell to the floor. "I'm sorry," I began crying. "I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. I'm sorry Emily.

The light vanished. A little girl began walking up to me. As she began walking up to me, a memory appeared on the ceiling. It was the memory of the frozen river. My body began trembling. The ground began shaking. Emily stood right next to me and reached out her hand. Was she ready to forgive me? Was this it? Her face was blank. My hand slowly reached out until it found itself touching her own hand. She finally smiled. Nothing was happening. That all changed when we found ourselves outside in the snow. And I had to wonder how snow got into the bathroom.

"What is this?" I laughed. "Are we seriously out in the snow? Where are the toilets?"

And with that, she disappeared. That was strange. Looking around me, all I could see was snow surrounding me. It was nothing but snow for miles. My entire body was shivering in the cold. There was no humor in any of this. As I kept walking, the snow around me became less and my feet found themselves walking through some cold water. Moments later, I found myself stuck in a cold icy river. My eyes widened with my mouth unable to shut trying to catch as much breathable air as possible. Upon that realization that I was in the water, I had to run. But where would I run? There was no ground to run to and the water was getting deeper. Tears began flowing down my eyes.

"I'm sorry! Please let me out of this! I'm sorry!"

Emily instantly appeared walking on water. She gave me a smile and opened up her hands offering me what looked like a mix between a pill and a jellybean.

"It's up to you Jimmy. Take what's in my hand and you can die now saving yourself a miserable and cold death. This is my final offer."

Her offer was tempting. Would an instant death be better? It would certainly be better than this long and cold death. My trembling hand reached out and was only seconds away from taking the object out of her palm. This was it. Was I actually going to take this? The water around me stopped and waited for my decision. It was as if the entire world around me was stopping because it too also wanted a decision. My decision... it was instant death. I took the bean and was moments from putting in my mouth until I heard a noise. It was a noise that sounded like the noise of a heart monitor.

Oh my! What an intense chapter! There won't be any more intense chapters like this. Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!

New thoughts on Conner?

We now know the little girl's name. It's Emily! Thoughts?

What was going on with Jimmy in the bathroom? Will he be alright?