Henry keeps the TV turned on so I can watch and listen to the news. The interview from where I was shot repeats a few times throughout broadcasts, but nothing useful shows up. Henry leaves to feed the sheep but for the most part he stays by my side with Jack. Henry sets me up in my old room and I take a shower and change into clothes that smell of home and happier times.

I stare at the flowered wallpaper and horse posters. Nothing's changed, and that comforts me, knowing that whatever might happen out in the world, this room will still be the same as it is in my memories. I trail a finger over the dresser where a small layer of dust has collected. I rub my hand over my side, it aches. The wound may be closed up, but I still feel it, like a bruise that hasn't been given proper time to heal. I don't tell Henry, he has enough on his mind as it is.

I walk down the stairs. Henry is taking leftovers out of the oven. "Feel better?" he asks.

"Yes thank you, it's been a while since I've gotten to take a shower like that." He puts two plates out and we sit down together, all evidence of my being operated on has been wiped clean, Gretchen won't ever suspect a thing. We eat Shepherd's Pie while Jack sits at our feet waiting for scraps. "I forgot how good she cooks." I say between bites.

"It's a redeeming quality." I snicker and help Henry clean up when we finish. I stare out the kitchen window.

"You know they watched our house for a while when you ran away the first time?"

I look at Henry, "Really?"

"Yeah, they thought you might come back here for help or something. But I knew you were too smart to."

"I was tempted," I admit.

"I'm sure you were, but after a few months they realized the same thing I did, and they eventually disappeared. You know Trish went off to college, and Rag followed her. She asked about you a few times, to see if I'd heard anything."

"Yeah?"

Henry nods, "I'd like to think she would have remained friends with you, even if she knew."

"I'd like to think that too." I look at Henry, "What about her brother?"

"Tyler? He got busted for selling drugs." I smile slightly and look back out the window. A shiver runs down my spine, like someone has called my name from far away. I go to the back door and slip on some shoes.

"Where you headed?" Henry asks.

"For a walk, don't worry, I'll be careful."

"Want Jack to go with you?"

"No, I need to be alone, besides if people see Jack with someone besides you they might stop me and I don't want that." I slip on my jacket and wave to Henry. I shiver again and walk out the door. The sun is slowly setting. I've still got about an hour and a half before it gets dark. I walk along the fields for a bit until I decide that it's safe enough to walk along the road. No one will recognize me with a hood on and I'll hear a car coming long before it reaches me. It takes me about a mile before I realize where I'm going, where I'm being called. And it's when I'm standing on the edge of the cliff that the hairs on the back of my nick prickle. I stare out over the ocean.

I take off my boots and stuff my socks into them. I slip off my jacket and laying my boots over it so it doesn't blow away. The wind is brisk with a scent of salt and the coming spring. I stand on the edge and watch the wave's crash against the rocks below me. I feel the power roaring beneath me with each wave that rolls in. It's calling my name, calling me back to where everything began. Come home Adie. It says, come home.

My vision flips and the world turns silver before my eyes. It stretches beyond the horizon and I hold my hands straight out in front of me, palms facing the ocean. The silver swirls and bubble below me, I'm at the tipping points, my stomach should be churning from the height but I have no fear of jumping into the waters depths. The ocean rises. Keep my hands in front of me and I raise the ocean. It climbs and climbs until a great wall of water stands before me. I see shimmers of fish's scales and seaweed. I step into the ocean, and then I let it fall.

I dive into its depths and I lose myself, I create currents and I push myself until the cliff is just a small point on the horizon. I swim with schools and touch the bottom where the world should be dark but the water shows me everything I wish to see. Then I expand. I am the ocean. I cover the world and nothing can stop me from crashing the waves against the shores of the earth's continents. I breathe in the ocean. I let it fill my lungs like it did the very first time I drowned because I wish to be part of it. I stretch my consciousness to the edges of the ocean, to the beaches of the world where the sun shines hot and children swim and other surf. I trail sharks hunting for food and pass ship wrecks from old ages.

And then I'm just me again, floating in the ocean, breathing it in as though it were air to my lungs. I push myself to the surface and push all the water from my lungs with a swift gesture of my hand. I stare into the sky, the first stars are beginning to show and I begin to cry. I push the water underneath me until I'm lying on top of the ocean. I take deep breaths but the tears keep coming. I have the ocean, I have this giant mass of strength to stand behind and yet I feel helpless finding one person.

Help me.

Two words.

To simple words to change my life.

Before my eyes the clouds gather over head. They blot out the stars and cover the sky. I can feel the power in the air. And then, as if the stars themselves are falling, silver droplets fall from the sky. It's raining. And through the rain and ocean I feel as though I can see the world. The clouds grow and gather across the sky, one connecting to another one, until the rain falls across the land. It hits Henry's roof and gathers in the back of his truck. The clouds continue to connect and grow until they spread out across the land. Faster and faster and faster until I'm sure the whole world must be covered with rain.

And then I see it. Tucked away in the woods a lone white washed building sits in the rain; surrounded by fences, guards, and trees. The rain hits the building, trickles down the drain, it clings to the fence, the road, the guards, everything. I focus my attention there, and the rain follows, pouring harder into the earth as I see through thousands of droplets like I have a million eyes. I find the river where Aiden and I once escaped. I follow it, I trace where it goes and when I open my eyes the rain has stopped falling, the clouds are gone and the stars are scattered above me like a million pinpoints of light waiting to fall.

I'm suspended in the middle of the ocean. There is no sound but the gentle lapping of water. The world is still, my mind is still, and yet my heart is pounding. I close my eyes and grab fistfuls of water as if it were nothing more than clay between my fingers. It pulses in my hands. The silver makes the night glow as if the sky were filled with aurora borealis.

"Aiden."

I speak his name to the world, letting it know that I've claimed him.

"Aiden."

That whatever may happen to him it's going to be my own doing, because I deserve that right, because a man doesn't get to throw me of a cliff and expect me to forget about it.

"Aiden."

Because a man doesn't get to love me and walk away.

"Aiden."

Because I love him and I'm not letting go.

"Aiden, I'm coming for you."

Because I know where to find him.

Henry isn't stupid. When I finally make it back to the house he takes one look at me and embraces me. "I'm going to miss you kid,' he says.

"I'll write, if I can."

"That could be dangerous."

"Dangerous for who?"

He leans back and smiles. "Cocky doesn't suit you."

"I'm not cocky, I'm angry and I'm fucking tired of being pushed down."

"Just remember that you're still human kiddo. Bullets can still bring you down." He pressed two fingers to where I'd been shot. Remarkably, the wound doesn't hurt so much after being in the ocean."

I nod. "I can't forget that."

"Do you need anything before you go?" he asks.

I shrug. "Besides my two hands? Honestly, I don't think so."

"What will you do, when you get him back?"

I take a deep breath. "I'm going to kiss him." I look Henry in the eyes. "And then I'm going to show the world what it means to have courage." My mother's words echo in my mind.

Henry hugs me again and kisses my forehead. "You're the bravest person I know."

"Thank you for everything Henry."

"Anytime kid...anytime."

I say goodbye to Jack. I say goodbye to Henry. But this time, when I say goodbye, it doesn't feel like forever. This time it feels like a promise, a promise of coming back. I walk away from my home, the road is firm under my feet, the air is cool and yet the smell of earth and growing things fills my nose. I feel alive in so many ways, I feel defeated in so many ways, and yet I'm still standing. I'm still breathing. My heart is still beating.

I'm alive.

I'm alive.

I'm alive.

I run to the river. I throw off my jacket and I dive into its depths. I breath the water into my lungs and I picture the facility in my mind, I see the drain, I remember Aiden and I's escape. Take me to him. I say. Take me to Aiden. The water grabs hold of my body and it throws me forward.

I kneel on the bank of the river, choking on air as I pull water from my lungs. I take a moment to gain my breath back. The river twisted and turned and branched off a dozen times before it finally spit me out on the bank a half mile from the facility. It's dark out, but the stars are beginning to fade, morning is coming and though I haven't slept I feel as though I could run a million miles and never tire. The water has rejuvenated me in ways I've never thought imaginable. My mind is clear and focused. My body is strong and solid. My hands don't shake. My heart doesn't pound. I'm ready to face what I've come to fear and hate.

I move slowly through the woods, taking careful steps, aware of any sounds that don't belong in a forest. But there is nothing, the ground is soft and wet from the rain that I brought upon it.

I smile.

I made it rain.

Too bad you didn't bring the building down on their heads.

I spot the drain from the woods. I stop and look for cameras or extra security.

I wouldn't bring the building down even if I could. Aiden is still inside.

He threw you over a cliff.

Doesn't mean I want to kill him for it. Hurt him, yes.

I sprint to the drain and pull myself into it. The water is barely more than atrickle. It's the same as I remember, and as I walk deeper into its depths my mind brings memories to the front of my vision, the sound of water, Aiden carrying me, his breathing, and the smells. I remember all of it, every detail of our escape. Only back then Aiden was still my enemy, and I was leaving this place a prisoner. Now I'm here, of my own free will to save the only man I've ever loved.

Don't get sentimental. You have to find him first.

It's dark here, in the depths of the drain, I flip my vision, and just in time. There are metal bars blocking me from going any further. The water gives me enough light to see by, I examine the bars. It looks like they were put in not long ago. I touch them, the algae hasn't been able to grow more than a few inches. I snort. They must have put these in after Aiden and I escaped, as a precaution. I crack my fingers.

Too bad.

I stop the flow of water and push it too pool around three of the bars. I take a deep breath and close my fist. The water pops and cracks and freezes around the metal. The air cools and I can see my breath swirl out in front of me. I step back and kick the metal. The ice shatters into small pieces and falls to my feet, only to be washed away by the small stream of water. The bars are still standing. I repeat the process until I start to sweat. Shards of ice surround me but the bars still haven't budged.

I lean on the drain wall and catch my breath. "Damn it." I take three deep breaths and stand back up. I stand before the bars and I close my eyes. I breathe through my nose. I push myself into the water and look at the bars and the concrete the way the water sees it. And then it hits me. The bars were put in after Aiden and I escaped. Which means they weren't apart of the original drain. There has to be a weakness from where they poured the new concrete onto the old.

I find any small cracks I can I push the water into them. I freeze it, expanding the water and straining the concrete until the cracks spread and grow. I push the water further and further into the concrete and refreeze it. I open my eyes and kick the bars. They groan and I feel them give slightly. I keep loosening the concrete, weakening it until finally, with one last kick, the bars pop from their holes. I rip them out and throw them aside and slip through the opening.

I have a feeling that's going to be the easiest obstacle to overcome on this suicide mission.It takes another few minutes before I see light ahead. This is it, it has to be. I stop under the light. Above me is a metal grate. I build the water into small steps underneath my feet until I can touch the ceiling. I stop and listen for a few seconds, but everything is silent. I push, and the metal disk pushes away with a loud scrape. I stop but there are no shouts of warning or alarms. I push the grate aside and pull myself up. I replace it and look around.

The room is abandoned and full of old vehicles and machinery. If I had to guess the room probably served as a repair shop for vehicles. I sniff, the air is stale and dust liters the ground. It hasn't been used in a long time. I make my way past shelves of junk and edge around old vehicles to the door on the other side of the room. It's a heavy metal door with a small square window. I step up and peek over the edge, beyond are white hallways that bring a mixture of emotions, the first and more powerfulbeing fear.

I exhale a shaky breath and grab the cold doorknob. My breath fogs the glass and I pull back, the door pops open echoing in the empty space behind me. Cool air tickles across my skin and I step into the light.

I will have the courage. I must.