Dying in the Water - Epilogue: Never Again

      Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months.  The physical therapy to restore my body to working order had come and gone, but my mental state was another thing entirely.  I was glad that my parents had survived the accident with relatively minor injuries, but I felt hollow.  There was a blank space in my mind where something important once resided.  No, where someone important once resided.  Not a day went by when I didn’t think of her.  I kept a happy demeanor around my family and friends, but that’s only because they didn’t know about her.  Inside, I was crying for Elizabeth.

      One sunny afternoon, I found myself staring out of the same window I had glanced down on that fateful day, leaning against the wall.  It looked exactly the way it had before.  Sunny, with a few wispy clouds rolling across the sky.  Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes, as they often did when I was alone.
      “I’m so sorry... I should have listened to you and now you’re gone...” I mumbled to myself, shutting my eyes and squeezing the teardrops out, my body beginning to shake and convulse with pain emanating from the remnants and leftover permanent damage from the accident.  And that’s when I felt a hand on my back.  Surprised, I lifted my head up immediately and turned around, expecting to see my mother or father, finally stumbling upon their son and his secret sadness.  But it wasn’t either of them.  A slender, yet well-endowed woman was standing at my side.  Her dark brown, almost black hair fell down the sides of her head and ended in luscious, thick curls hanging around her neck.  Her ocean-blue eyes were accentuated with dark purple eyeshadow.  Her lips, curled into a soft smile seemed to be slightly plumped up by the deep red lipstick drawn across them.  Her whole face was patted with a white foundation, making it look paler and further providing contrast for the rest of her makeup.  She wore a white, button-up shirt with blue and white cuffs on the wrists and neck, and there was a black and silver bird brooch tied to the small red ribbons coming from the neck cuffs.  Her long, black skirt hugged her slim stomach and filled out with her hips and legs perfectly.  She wore dark fishnet stockings and had a pair of black high-heels on her feet.
      “...You’re alive,” I said in a stunned tone.
      “I thought I was fading away, and for a time, I did.  But something slowly drew me back, Anthony,” she said, sounding clearer than ever.  She looked clearer than ever as well, as if she was an actual human being standing in my bedroom instead of a mere figment of my imagination.
      “You look so real, Elizabeth.  How did you do this?”
      “It took a long time, but you willed me back, Anthony.  And I’m stronger than ever.  I feel incredible!” And Elizabeth punctuated her sentence by leaning in for a gentle hug.  I could feel the sensation of an actual person in my arms.  Her warmth, the lavender smell of her hair and the way it tickled my cheek, and the soft pressure of her lips against my shoulder as she tried not to trigger my more sensitive nerves.  I carefully reached up and put my arms around the small of her back.
      “I see you decided to keep that Rapture outfit, dear.”
      “I know, it’s really grown on me.  It reminds me of what I did to save you.”
      “I kept true to my promise, Elizabeth.  I never forgot you.  If I stopped thinking about you for even a moment, you would have slipped through my fingers and that would be it,” I whispered into her ear, fighting back tears again as I clutched her tightly with shaking hands.
      “Never again.  Never again am I leaving you, Anthony.  I love you so much.”
      “I love you too, Elizabeth.”