"Hey Selena, are you ready to go?" Addison called down the hallway. She took a moment to throw her crimson red scarf around her neck. Fall was slowly fading into winter and the temperatures were lower every day. Addison had bundled herself up in a brown pea coat that matched nicely with her brown boots, the red scarf giving her a nice bit of colored flair.
"Coming!" Selena called back as she shuffled about the room looking for her other shoe. Even the usually barely dressed dancer had dressed warm though her bright pink bubble jacket and white fuzzy boots were a stark contrast to Addison's neutral colors.
Selena had been staying in the bar for the last couple days with Addison and much to her dismay had continued her dancing. She had tried to convince Hayden to at least require her to cover up a bit more but he had assured her it wasn't necessary. It was the one thing Kathy and Addison agreed on since Kathy wasn't keen on how much Owen seemed to enjoy having Selena around. Addison had kept up her usual routine of avoiding Owen and Kathy seemed to have noticed and been willing to unite with Addison on this one annoyance. Addison's own annoyance toward Owen was bothersome to her since she did feel grateful for him helping her and Selena out that night and she had never been the type to not give credit where credit was due. But not getting icy glares from Kathy and somehow ending up with all the disruptive tables had been pleasant. Today Addison was tapping her foot impatiently waiting for Selena so she could go check the progress on her house. Since so much of the home had to be torn out and replaced anyway Addison had made a few blueprint changes. She hadn't seen it since the last inspection and the progress had been slow with the fall rain that had frequented Castanet.
Finally Selena was ready to go and the two set out towards Addison's home. The past week they had been given a rest from the rain so the two stayed dry and didn't have to deal with muddy ground.
"So," Selena said deviously to break the silence, "Is Gill your boyfriend?"
Addison flushed and shrugged, "I really don't know. I think he wants to be."
"Well do you want him to be?" Selena pried.
Addison sighed, "In all honesty I don't know what I want right now. In the last couple months my life has changed a lot really quickly. I'm really just trying to get the basic things in my life settled right now. After that maybe."
"Well do you want to get married and stuff? Have kids ever?"
Addison laughed, "You doing a report on me or something? Really though, I don't know. I guess someday. You have to understand that for a long time I lived my life day to day just hoping I could pay the rent and keep my mother under control. Things like marriage and children weren't even on my radar. If it did happen though it wouldn't be for a while, I've spent so much time taking care of others that I really am just enjoying not being responsible to anybody right now. Don't get me wrong I love my brother to death but sometimes it was really hard and tiring. I'm savoring my peace for now."
Selena nodded thoughtfully, "I came here to find some peace too."
"Peace from what?" Addison asked.
"Peace from my family mostly. My parents smother me so much some days I'm surprised I can breathe. I spent the majority of my life on an island smaller than this and sometimes I just cannot handle the feeling of isolation and never being able to do anything my parents don't know about right away. I just didn't feel I could even discover who I was as a person or what I wanted in the future there so I decided to come here for awhile."
"You know," Addison responded, "I understand what you're saying but consider yourself lucky in some ways. My father died before I was old enough to realize how important it is to cherish the time we do have with our parents. And my mother…well she is a mess. She could probably use some time to discover who she is as a person too. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying when you do find out who you are and what you want in the future don't forget to appreciate your past too."
The two reached the end of their trip and found themselves in Addison's front yard. The barn and chicken coup were covered to keep the rain from causing any further damage yet Addison knew it was likely they would need to be torn down and rebuilt anyway. She grimaced at the amount of weeds that had taken up resident there, it would take a day or more to clear them out. The sounds of saws and hammers resonated as they walked in the door. A couple men nodded greetings at them and continued going about their work. When Luke noticed the girls he jumped down the ladder he was working on and approached them.
"Hi Luke, this is Selena. I brought her with me to check out how it is going," Addison nodded towards Selena who had a huge grin on her face.
Luke removed his work glove and shook her hand, "Pleasure to meet you Selena. I don't believe I've seen you around here before."
"I just got into town but I'll be hanging around for awhile."
Luke took some time to walk Addison through the progress on the home. The wall separating the living room and what had been Addison's childhood room had been knocked down to make the downstairs living area larger. When Addison had been born the house hadn't been upgraded to have a second story yet and then once it did Addison had been too attached to her room and not wanted to move rooms. Now that the home was Addison's she thought moving the bedrooms upstairs was more practical. She was also trying to find a way to balance the overwhelming amount of memories attached the home, making some changes was her way of moving past the sorrow lingering and make room for newer, happier memories. Eventually new tiles would be put in on the kitchen counter and the bathrooms and new dark hardwood floors would be laid throughout the whole house. Addison had learned already how much of a pain cleaning carpet was, she would rather have wood floors and put down rugs if needed. It was easier to replace a rug than a whole carpet. The faded peeling wallpaper that remained had to go too, Addison preferred paint to wallpaper anyway. A lot of wiring in the house needed to be fixed and she would still need to look into getting cables laid to have Internet access and cable in the home. As exciting as seeing the changes start to happen was Addison realized she still had plenty of nights working at the bar in her future.
"You're really going to live here alone? This place is way huge for one person," Selena commented as they walked the floor.
"I do admit I wouldn't go for this big normally, but this is my family house. My father owned this home and I spent the early years of my life here."
"Maybe Gill can come live here with you," Selena teased. Addison gave her an exasperated look and rolled her eyes.
After taking some time to discuss progress with Luke and thank him for his time the girls departed back for town. Selena was in oddly high spirits and was engrossed in telling Addison a story about her first boyfriend. She nodded politely and commented at appropriate places but her mind was drifting elsewhere, a knot tightening in her stomach as anxiety about her obligations that afternoon began to set in. But she held it back and smiled, not wanting to bother Selena with it. Once they returned Selena threw off her coat and changed into her dancing outfit which Addison made a point of commenting on. She studied her own reflecting in the mirror, deciding that pulling her hair up into a bun would be more appropriate than letting it hang down her shoulders like it had in the morning. Her anxiety was building and when Gill knocked on her door she jumped, startled.
"I thought we were meeting at Town Hall?" Addison asked when she opened the door to find Gill dressed in a handsome, long blue coat and white slacks.
"We were, but I thought if I didn't come get you here you might not show up."
"That was probably a good idea because I was just trying to think of ways to get out of this," Addison answered as she grabbed her purse and closed the door behind them.
"It won't be that bad," Gill reassured her, slipping an arm around her shoulder. Addison was aware of Selena's excited look and Kathy's curious one as the two walked through the bar to the door.
"But we don't really had to go do we? I mean don't they have enough people without us?" Addison continued to protest on the walk over, shoving her hands in her pockets to hide the fact that they were quivering.
Gill stopped and moved in front of Addison, placing both of his hands on her shoulders. Addison felt herself not blinking as he kept an intense eye contact with her, "They need all of us. And I know this won't be fun but we've already lived through the worst of it. Not only that but you deserve this, probably more than most of the people who will be there."
"But I don't need this. I don't need money from this. It won't change anything," Addison argued.
Gill sighed, "Then do it for those who do. Because for some people this will be their live changing moment. I know you already had yours – remember what a relief that moment was? Some of them really do need that."
Addison made an effort to swallow her fear and nodded. Gill had managed to cut right into Addison's weak point and end her protests. He reached down and took her hand as they walked into the Town Hall. The two walked into one of the larger meeting rooms with one large, long table in the middle. Many of the seats were already occupied, some by people Addison recognized and others by strangers. At the head of the table was a tight-lipped woman wearing a black suit scribbling down some notes. Some of the people were talking animatedly among themselves while others looked as uncomfortable as Addison.
This was not a situation Addison had ever wanted to be in. More than anything she had wanted to put the ferry accident behind her and move on with her life. She would have been more than happy to take the settlement and never thing about it again but that was a decision that had to be made as a group and the majority hadn't been with her. So now her and Gill found themselves in the first of what was sure to be many long legal meetings. The woman at the head of the table introduced herself as Margaret Addler, the lawyer who would be representing the victims of the accident. She then went down the table, starting with the person on the left closest to her, asking for their account of the incident and what long term damage they suffered from the accident. Addison became increasingly upset after hearing story after story and her anxiety peaked when Margaret called out Gill's name.
"From what I understand, your injuries were caused not by the crash itself but when you willingly jumped after your girlfriend Addison Jensen, is that correct?" she asked him. Addison opened her mouth to protest the girlfriend comment but decide to let it go.
"That is correct," Gill responded, not bothering to correct the comment either.
"Could you walk us through what happened?"
"I was sitting inside when the accident occurred. Addison was on the balcony making on a phone call. When the impact occurred I was thrown out of my seat. When I looked up I could see where Addison had been standing but she wasn't there anymore. I ran out as fast as I could which wasn't too fast because the crowd was in a panic. When I looked down at the water there was no sign of her so without even thinking I jumped over the edge."
"You willingly jumped into the water knowing the dangers? You didn't consider that maybe she had fled with the crowd?" Margaret pressed Gill. Addison was fidgeting nervously under the table, not making eye contact with either and uncomfortably aware of everybody in the room looking at them.
"Addison isn't the type of person who would just run away and she had been leaning over the rail at the time of impact. I wasn't even thinking about the risks, I just wanted to know where Addison was. The water was freezing and I had no idea how long a person could survive in the water. It took what felt like forever to find her body, I had no idea how long it actually was, and she was unconscious when I finally did find her. I dragged her onto the shore where the ferry had crashed. By that time people were gathering and I could hear sirens. A woman from the shore gave me her jacket to cover Addison to try to keep her warm but she was freezing, she was unconscious and really pale. I was terrified."
"And what happened when emergency personal arrived?"
Gill took a moment to swallow and Addison noticed the look of pain in his eyes, "They worked on her for awhile. The whole time in the ambulance they performed CPR and hooked her up to all kinds of monitors I didn't understand. They said she was hypothermic and the swelling in her abdomen indicated internal bleeding. It was…the worst experience of my life," Gill chocked up for a moment and took a second to collect himself, "She kept coding, and they would get her back, and she would code again. By the time we got to the hospital they declared her dead on arrival."
Addison hadn't ever heard this part of the story. The accident wasn't something she enjoyed reliving. She had known her condition had been bad and that she had lost a pulse temporarily but she had no idea she had actually been declared dead.
"But Ms. Jensen obviously is not dead," Margaret pointed out.
"I was sitting there with her, not believing what had just happened. They kept telling me they needed to check me out but I told them I needed a moment to process, to understand…there were plenty of willing victims flooding the emergency room so they left me there. I held her hand for a moment and just as they were about to cover her body her eyes just flew open. The doctors were stunned, nobody could believe it. By some miracle she was alive. They rushed her to surgery after that to repair the bleeding and had to remove a ruptured spleen. And here she is today, so I have to say regardless of the risks jumping into the water that day was the best choice I ever made."
Addison couldn't take it anymore, without a word she got up from the table and bolted from the room. She hurried through the main lobby and out the doors, finally slinking down against the wall shaking. She held herself in her arms trying to grapple with the magnitude of information she had just learned. When she heard footsteps approaching she didn't need to look up to know who was standing above her.
"Why would you do it?" Addison asked, her voice quivering.
"Do what?" Gill responded.
"Why in the world would you risk your life for me? I was just some girl who had spent a weekend with. We hadn't seen each other in over a century you didn't even know me. So why jump after me? I don't understand."
Gill kneeled down beside her, "When we were kids you were the only girl I wanted to play with. All of the other girls were annoying or gross but you were different. I liked being around you. You were always smiling and knew funny jokes and you always caught the boys in tag. When you left I never stopped hoping you would come back."
"That is sweet but I barely remember that. We've grown into different people," Addison replied, the tears she had been fighting back creeping down her cheeks.
"True, but I always hoped you would come back so I could meet the person you had become. When your father died I lost hope you would ever come back. Until a couple months ago when I was processing some papers and saw the sale forms for your father's ranch. I asked my father about it and he told me that your father's directions had said if nobody claims the land within a certain amount of time that land would revert back to the Castanet government to be handled as they see fit. The sale was in the process of being made because that time limit would be up by the end of the month. So in a last ditch effort I went to find you and purposely arranged it so you would be stuck on the island for a weekend. I thought if you spent time there you would realize it was better than where you had been living. Seeing what had become of your life was hard, I wanted to make it better. Part of the reason why I jumped after you was this overwhelming feeling of guilt. As I stared at the railing where you had been standing it hit me that you were only there because of me. I could have killed you. I guess I actually did kill you, just somehow you came back."
"I saw my father that night," Addison had never confessed that to anyone, she had assumed it had just been trauma-induced delirium. Hearing about the amount of time she had spent dead was making her reconsider, "I was here. You were here, and Mira, and I was home. And my father told me I couldn't stay here and I didn't understand. But there was water…I know it sounds crazy. I feel crazy even telling you. But some part of me believes it."
Gill took her hand in his, "After seeing your eyes open, your cold, pale lifeless body just burst awake I can't ever question anything that sounds crazy again. The fact that you're here having this conversation with me is crazy. Yet I've accepted there are just some things we cannot explain."
"There are a lot of things I can't explain. Like how I feel like I belong here. Maybe it is nostalgia, maybe it is just the hardship of where I was before, but it feels right being here. Like in being here something inside me is finally satisfied."
Gill smiled, "They do say there is a certain magic about this island. A magic lost to the rest of the world, the remains of something from times long gone."
Addison brushed away her tears, "I'm not sure I believe in magic. But there is something."
Gill stood up and outstretched a hand toward Addison, "You ready to go back in there?"
Addison accepted his hand and let him pull her up, "You can go, I just need a moment by myself to get it together if that is alright."
"Fair enough, if you're sure you're okay." Gill moved closer to Addison, leaning over her with her back to the wall. Addison's breath caught in her throat as she realized how close they were and before her mind caught up with what was happening his lips were on hers. When he pulled back and his crystal eyes met her it caused her head to spin. She stood dumbfounded with wide eyes, unsure of what to do. That had never happened to her and she hadn't seen it coming.
"I like the person you've become," Gill said with a smile before taking his leave back to the meeting. Addison's hand moved towards her face, her fingers grazing her lips where his had been moments before. She replayed the moment in her head, wondering if she had done it right, if it had felt right – what was it supposed to feel like anyway? She was so caught up in herself she didn't notice the other set of eyes watching her.
"There is magic in this world regardless of if you recognize it." Addison flinched, startled. Before her stood an unusual looking man dressed in a long black cloak. A silver braid rest on his right shoulder, handing down to his chest. He was staring at Addison through narrow green eyes that felt as if they could see right into the heart of her. He had a solemn, serious look about him as he stood, not taking his eyes off Addison.
"What in the world are you?" Addison asked, alarmed. She had never seen a person quite like this and something about him stirred up panic within her.
"What, not who? That is rather rude," he responded, a sad undertone filling his words, "I've come for you because you haven't come for me. I thought you would have found me by now."
"Why? I don't even know you." Addison replied, pushing herself back against the wall.
"Because you know you are here for a reason. You can feel it. You said so yourself."
"Spying is rude," Addison responded, angered and embarrassed that a stranger had heard her personal confessions.
He chuckled, "Addison, to me little is spying. There is little I could overhear I don't already know."
"I have somewhere I have to be," Addison's voice trembled as she spoke.
"Run away if you must. But you are the key to something much larger than yourself. Try not wondering what that means, I dare you," he said with a laugh. Addison opened her mouth to reply but in an instant he was gone, vanished as quickly as he had appeared.