The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
| SOULMATES BY CAROL |
CHAPTER 54 |
chapter 54
When they arrived at the beach, Todd had set up a blanket and insisted that she go and sit. She watched the water, oblivious to the other things he was bringing out of the car, one by one. He would hand her a pair of shades reminding her that too much UV exposure wasn't good for her eyes, on one trip, then return a few minutes later with a basket of food to nibble on. He continued going back and forth. Next, he handed her a bottle of water, reminding her that the overcast sun could be even more powerful than the noon day sun in it’s total and full control and the importance of rehydration. The next time he came back, she decided to take matters into her own hands. It was time for him to join her on the blanket and just sit still for two seconds. All this nervous energy was driving her nuts. She just wanted peace and calm.
As he approached from behind, she reached behind her, grabbing up, taking hold of his hand and forcefully using the leverage point of being on her butt and pressing her feet into the blanket and the sand, she pulled down, forcing him to join her on the blanket. She was no where near prepared for what happened next.
Strange Man: What in the hell did you do that for?
Tea: (picture Tea’s screaming session when “Moose” attacked her in her bedroom after she was watching ‘The Birds.’) Ah! Ah! Ah! (She was screaming uncontrollably.)
Todd comes running back toward Tea from the car. When he reaches the man, he swings him around forcing him about ten feet away, quickly straddling him, forcing his head back against the sand, his hands reaching inward toward his neck, trying to fight the beast that wants to end this man’s life in about 10 seconds.
Todd: What the hell where you doing to my wife? Who the hell are you? I’ll kill you for touching her!
A woman starts hitting Todd with what he presumes is a purse. “Let him go,” she kept screaming, continuing to pound him with her beach bag.
Todd: (looking up at the woman, grabbing her bag out of her hands and throwing it off to the side) Back off, bitch!
Tea: Todd! Help me.
It was only Tea’s cries that could envelope the beast and return him back deep down inside Todd. Todd removed himself from the man wanting now only to comfort Tea. He scampered and crawled quickly on his knees closer to her, slowing upon approach, clearly scared about her current mental state. He put his arm around her, sitting like she was sitting, startling her back into the reality of where she was, as opposed to the nightmare she had thrust upon herself. She calmed her screams to quiet whimpers, rocking back and forth, comforted in his arms. The flashback to the time she thought Todd had approached her from behind on the front porch of his mother’s cabin, only to be overtaken by Powell was too vivid a memory. She wondered in her mind how she could have been so stupid as to think that she could trust that she could forget what had happened to her. How she could have been lulled by this new Todd Manning into thinking that everything would be all right. She quietly lay her head away from Todd, staring out at the water, confused and scared where to go from here. The screams of the innocent, angry man, rang out, bringing her back into the moment.
Strange man: (screaming in Todd’s face, pointing his finger first at Tea, then at Todd) You need to have that woman committed. And you need to be in jail.
Todd and Tea simultaneously speak.
Tea: Been there.
Todd: Done that.
They stare at each other, so comforted by how much alike they truly are. They both laugh. They just sit innocently holding each other, rocking backwards, falling back onto the blanket, holding on to each other and just laughing hysterically.
Strange man: You’re both crazy. You know that?
Todd looks at Tea. Tea looks at Todd. They both just start laughing again.
Todd finally sits up, placing his arm around Tea making her sit up too.
Todd: (to Tea) Should I tell him?
Tea: (to Todd) Sure, why not?
Todd: (to the strange man) Yeah, we know.
They start laughing yet again, leaving the strange man and woman totally incredulous to what has just happened.
Woman: I’m leaving. I’m not staying here with these homicidal maniacs on the loose.
Tea stops laughing. The reality of what just hit her isn’t funny anymore. She gets up and starts running away from the people and the crowd that had formed. Todd tries to follow her, but the man demands satisfaction.
Strange man: (Pulling on Todd’s shirt, hindering his following Tea) What’s wrong with you people?
Todd: Leave me alone and get the hell out of here.
Strange man: I’m calling the police. You need help.
Todd: Look. She needs a little help. But I’m helpless. I’m hopeless. And trust me, my felony conviction did nothing to make me believe that jail would ever help.
The strange man immediately lets go of Todd’s shirt. He even takes a few steps back.
Todd: What’s wrong? (Turning on intimidation mode.) You’re going to let a little thing like a felony conviction scare you? I wouldn’t. (Todd moves forward toward the man.) Scared of the big bad felon are we? You should be.
Strange man: I’m sorry. I think we’re leaving now. (The man turns and runs away.)
Todd: I thought so. (Todd has to bring himself back to reality. Letting the beast out for too long makes it hard to reel him back in. Todd visibly shakes from the encounter, but quickly clears his mind, and refocuses on the issue at hand. Locating Tea.) Tea! Tea!
(Turning to the crowd) Did any of you see where she went?
Stranger: I think she’s over there.
Even Stranger: No, she went that way.
Stranger: Look, isn’t that her there?
Todd: Oh my God! Tea, don’t!
Todd pushes off in the sand with all his might, running as fast as he can toward the surf. He can barely see the top of her head and he knows this feeling. He’s felt this feeling and he hates the way it makes him feel. She’s trying to get away from him again, but this time, in a permanent way. He can see her starting to go under the water and he swims even faster before her head goes under the water for good and she is swallowed whole by the unrelenting sea. Just as he reaches her, her head goes under the water for good. He grasps and grapples in front of him, pulling upon his last reserve of adrenaline to win out over the sea. He dives under the water in the direction of her body and hits his head directly in the small of her back forcing her up to the surface. She fights him at first but realizes he can still overpower her. He struggles to catch his own breath, fighting for air, fighting for the strength to get her back to the shore. When he realizes she’s no longer fighting him, he eases his tight grip and gently drapes his arm over her chest, dragging her floating body, behind his own, closer and closer toward the shore. As they get to the point where they can easily rise to their feet and keep their buoyancy, he rises up, reaching under her knees and her neck with his arms and carries her the rest of the way toward the shore. The crowd had basically disbanded from their blanket, moving closer to the shore to make sure he was able to get her out of the water. A few onlookers asked if he needed help and he nodded them away with his head and his eyes.
He laid her down on the blanket and watched as she continued to cough water out of her lungs. He struggled not to cough too much, not wanting her to know that he too needed time to recover from their ordeal. She lay, face up, calming herself slowly, her body still reacting from the trauma. Todd lay face down, on his elbows, basically towering over her, giving her the body language that she would have to go through him to get back to the ocean. He expected a fight. This was Delgado. He expected her to rant and rave at him about telling her what to do. He expected her to read the riot act to him, letting him know that it was her life to do with as she pleased.
Instead, he found a defeated Tea, one that had no will to live, but even worse, no will to fight.
Tea: Please take me out of here. Please take me back to the hospital. Please?
Todd: I’ll take you out of here, but not back to the hospital. Don’t make me do that.
Tea: We had a deal.
Todd: Yes we did. And after four weeks, if you still want to go to the hospital, then we’ll see. But right now, let’s just catch our breath.
Tea: Okay.
Todd looks over at Tea. He had not realized the magnitude of the job he had signed on for until just this second. He realized Tea’s bouts with suicide were not his biggest challenge. He was quicker and stronger than she and also, he had made himself aware of their surroundings. At the new house, in the new neighborhood. He had slipped up a little bit at the beach, but he now knew what to do differently, should they ever return to the beach again. But wanting to end your life and not wanting to live your life were two completely different things. He hesitated on what to do next. Delgado was the one that was full of surprises. He was prepared for the physical. He wasn’t prepared for the depth of the mental. He decided that it was better not to provoke a fight in this public place and instead take her to the home he had fixed up for the two of them. He walked her to the car and placed her inside. He walked around the front of the car, all the while keeping his eyes upon her, watching her every move, although she made none. She sat resolved to go wherever he took her. Whatever had happened with the strange man today at the beach had brought up some horrible memory of what had happened to her with Powell, of that he was sure. He got into the car and placed the key in the ignition.
Tea: You’re leaving all your things out on the beach?
Todd: They’re just things Tea. Everything I need is right here. (He placed his hand on her hand and squeezed gently.)
Tea: (Pulling away) Don’t Todd. I can’t.
Todd: Then don’t. I can handle can’t. (He looked away from her, not wanting her to see the pained look on his face that he was sure he had. How he longed for her to be anything than what she was. How would he ever manage to get through this, honestly yet, cognizant of his ultimate goal which was her health? Her happiness? Even if it was at the detriment of his own?)
To be continued…
2001 Copyright by Carol
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