TW: unwanted physical contact and intimidation by a man directed toward a woman

When I heard her sputtering and gasping for breath beside me, I was so relieved I yelped with joy into the darkening sky. My hand ached from clutching desperately to Rose's arm while we spun in the churning river, but it worked. Probably. We were in the middle of the river and the sun was down, so it was hard to tell. But Paul was gone and electric lights sparkled all along the Canadian and American shorelines. I began to tug at the heavy brown skirt I was wearing. Keeping my head above the water with all that clothing on was already getting difficult.

"Can you swim all the way in?" I asked.

"I don't see any other option," she answered wearily.

She was right; there were no boats to flag down or buoys nearby to climb onto. We were alone in the middle of the river in the dark, which was one of my nightmares come true. We kicked off our long skirts, letting them sink to the bottom of the river, and began the long swim to shore.

The current had swept us downstream from Palmer when we finally climbed someone's ladder and collapsed onto the grass. Rose started crying again. I was so exhausted I felt reduced to either a feather to be blown away in the slightest breeze or the dirt upon which I rested, to sink in and only be moved by a relentless pull of water; a rogue wave or torrential downpour.

"Walter didn't stand you up the other day. His car broke down," I eventually said into the dark. "Just so you know."

"Okay." Rose wiped her eyes. "Who was that man in the boat?"

"I don't really know." I stood and peeled the clinging white dress from my legs. I took off the long-sleeved blouse and tossed it in the river. "Hey, I'm sorry I pushed you into the river like that. I didn't trust him at all."

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Vanessa. We've met. Hey, do you think you can unlace this corset for me?"

We walked along River Road back toward town, both of us too stunned and tired to talk.  Soon we came to an establishment I'd seen all lit up from the water, a two-story building with a big deck and a balcony. It was a relief to see the cars lined up on both sides of the parking lot.  They were definitely from the fifties.  I'd at least returned Rose to the right decade. 

I asked Rose to wait outside while I made a phone call, which she was okay with once I explained that everybody in town thought she was probably dead and nobody should see her until her family knew she was okay.

The front door opened into a hallway stretching straight ahead and a staircase leading to the second floor. On the left, there was an empty restaurant that was closed for the night and there was an entrance to a bar on the right. The bar was full of smoke and men in baggy pinstripe baseball uniforms. I asked the bartender if there was a phone I could use and he swiped a phone from behind him, set it on the bar and walked away.

I called the operator and asked to be connected to Mrs. Barry's residence.

"I've got her," I whispered once Liz was on the line.

"Where are you?"

"Um, I'm at this bar slash restaurant slash hotel maybe? South of town."

"Nelson House," said a man's voice from beside me. I looked up expecting to see the bartender, and instead found Frank Harrison leaning against the bar top with his squinting eyes locked on my face.

"Nelson House," I repeated into the phone. "Okay, thanks Mr. Harrison," I said to Frank, hoping he'd back off.

"Are you with Paul?" Liz asked.

"No."

A low growl traveled through the line, then she said, "I'll be right there."

I hung up the phone and turned to leave, avoiding Frank's gaze.

"You're leaving already?" he slurred from behind me. "We won our championship game tonight. Come on and celebrate with us."

"No, thank you."

When I got back outside, I didn't see Rose anywhere. I heard the door swing open and close again, and I had a sinking feeling that it was Frank's feet that were crunching the gravel behind me. I stood in the parking lot with my back to him, shivering and peering into the shadows of the trees.

"How about you let me give you a ride, then?" he asked.

"No thanks. I don't think you should be driving, anyway."

"Whaddya mean?"

"You seem pretty drunk."

He chuckled. Rose was wearing all white, she shouldn't have been hard to find. Maybe she wasn't coming out of her hiding spot because stupid Frank was there.

"That kid's been moping around for a couple days now. You two have an argument?" I didn't answer. "You're wasting your time with that one, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

I walked to the edge of the parking lot and looked down the empty road in both directions.

Where was Liz? Where was Rose? I never should have let her out of my sight.

Frank stepped in front of me. His lopsided grin revealed a dark hole where two back teeth should have been. Were they the ones Pete knocked out when his stepfather told him to marry the mother of his kid? I felt sick. Frank's glassy eyes looked me up and down as he took a step closer.

"I know where you came from, you know," he said in a low voice. I stumbled as I backed away and he caught me by the shoulders and pulled me toward him. His stubble scratched my face as he whispered in my ear, "You're an angel fallen from heaven." Then he wrapped his arm behind my neck and pressed his lips to mine. I froze.  The taste of liquor and cigarettes was revolting.

Frank's gross behavior was like a flash of light that illuminated an explanation that was hidden in the shadows of my mind.

"Oh my God," I murmured against his mouth. I pulled away, but his arm was steady against my neck and his face inches from mine. "Did you know Pete's dad?"

"What?" His face contorted and relaxed, like he was waking up.

"Was he as hardworking and kind and handsome as Pete is? Must be hard to live up to. And, so you're, what? Taking it out on Pete? And his mom? Like this?"

He scowled and his eyes dropped to my chest.

"Little Miss Freud here," he murmured through his teeth.

"What's wrong with you? I'm seventeen years old! How old was Grace?"

He pressed his thumb to the thumping pulse in my neck and then squinted as headlights passed over his face. Fuzzy white dots spotted my vision.

"He didn't even tell me. But it was you, wasn't it?"

A vehicle flew off the road onto the shoulder and straight toward us. Frank let me go and I twisted away from him, bracing for impact, but the truck slid to a stop with a crunch. The driver burst out in a fury, grabbed Frank by the front of his shirt, swung him around and slammed him against the truck. Pete hit Frank in the face, and then the stomach and he sunk to his knees. Pete backed away and Frank stood up, coughing and clutching his ribs. Frank pulled his arm back but when he swung at Pete's face, he missed and hooked his arm around Pete's neck instead. Then he was dragging Pete in a headlock. Pete pried at Frank's thick arm as he gasped and his legs frantically kicked at the ground.

"Stop it!" 

I ran over to them and hit Frank in the face. He flinched. Then I stomped my foot into Frank's kneecap and he swore and lost his footing. Pete wrestled out of his grip, turned and hit him in the jaw. Frank staggered back. As his body fell, the back of his head cracked against the side mirror of Pete's truck. He hit the ground hard and didn't move.

Pete hesitantly approached Frank and stood over him for a moment. Then his eyes were wide and he shook his head in disbelief as he slowly backed away toward the road. I scrambled over to Frank and grabbed his wrist to try to check for a pulse, but my hands were shaking and useless. Another set of headlights swept over us and illuminated a figure in white at the edge of the trees. Pete was in the middle of the road. The car was speeding up.

"Watch out!" I screamed.

I jumped to my feet. The car swerved to avoid Pete and then I was lit up so bright.

I was rolling down a grassy hill laughing in delight at the alternating glimpses of green and blue, two worlds flashing before my eyes. I was burning and shivering on the beach, fire on my face, a cool evening breeze on my sunburned neck.

I was hot and raw and throbbing and freezing.

Searing pain tore through my limbs, and when the cold crept in I knew I'd never be warm again.

Footsteps all around me. A man, his voice taught with hysteria, spoke in quick, panicked clips about his accelerator. It got stuck, he said. Too fast to see, he said.

"Not her!" a woman shrieked.

Does she know me? Did Liz finally show up?

Something twisted and pinched the skin on my leg. It was probably Jason, giving me a snake bite.

"Quit it!" I whined.

Then I was lifted up. I dropped my head to see how much of myself was left behind. Not much. Only blood. I was so light and numb.

Would I get another chance? Rosemary was back. So did I have my whole life to live yet?

I still have my whole life to live.

Pete drove with one arm around me, one hand on the wheel. There was a luminescent white figure beside me. Maybe I was already there.

My head rested on his shoulder. I felt the muscles of his jaw clenching against my forehead. We sped down the street, the porch lights blurred.

"How did you find me?"

"I got a call."

"I think I'm getting blood on the seat," I said. "I'm sorry."

A sob tore through his body like a spasm and escaped his throat. A clean, light wetness touched my face, different than the sticky, metallic wetness that was everywhere else. I didn't want to smell that, so I breathed in the scent of Pete instead. He still smelled good. Engine oil and soap and sweat. I was going to go to sleep.

But there was a quick turn, a crash and loud scraping noise and we came to a hard stop.

"Alright listen up, Vanessa B." he said as he hoisted me up out of the truck. "Now you gotta click your heels together or whatever you do to go back home. Then you're gonna be okay. You're gonna be more than okay." He sat at the edge of the pool and slid into the shallow end still holding me. I groaned and shivered. Blood swirled around us, marbling the water. "And don't try to come back to find me, not that you'd want to, but I'm not gonna be around here anymore."

Pete leaned over until his face was close to mine and said quietly, "I'm so sorry, for everything. I loved you, though. I really did."

He was barely holding me and I was sinking. Then his face waved and blurred and I drifted away.