Breathing Water

CHAPTER 13

Not wanting to ruin Shelly's plan I decide not to ask about where we are going, but during the drive we have a few other topics of conversation. We are actual so concentrated on our dialogue that Shelly interrupts, saying "Oh! I almost missed it." I realize that I was so focused on what she had to say that I didn't really look out the window to see where we were going. Looking out the wind-shield I see that we are pulling into a meadow - in front of Cliff House.
"Why are we here?" I ask startled.
She puts the car in park after coming to a stop. "Well... Its the calmest place in town. Don't worry. No one comes here until dark. Plus they come drunk to get more drunk and party with other drunk people, so even if they do see us they won't care and they won't remember." She puts her hand on mine and squeezes reassuringly. I give her a small nod and open my door.
Climbing out I can smell the salt water that I had plunged into just the other night. Shelly walks over and holds out her hand. I take it slightly confused. She guides me around the house to a point on the cliff where we can see the water but not fall into it. Shelly has us stand so that we are facing each other and she uses her other hand to take hold of my free hand. Now we are looking each other in the eyes and holding both of each other's hands.
She takes me through her process of reducing the amount of air she needs. Her process includes simple things like thinking of something calming and counting the length of a breath. It also includes some more difficult things like holding a breath for as long as possible and taking a short jog every day. When I am done doing my first practice of this process, Shelly asks "Can we take a walk?"
"Sure." She offers her hand again and I take it. She puts her other hand in her pocket and starts walking. I turn and walk with her. "Did you have something you wanted to talk about?"
"Well sort of." She takes a while to continue. By the time she gets around to saying something we have reached the beach. "You see, I don't know you very well so that makes me tempted to tell you, but I also like you so that makes me tempted to keep it to my self."
"I see your dilemma. Why don't you tell me who you have talked to about it?"
"The thing is I haven't talk to anyone about it. My family and I don't really see eye-to-eye, so I can't talk to them. And I don't really have any friends to talk to."
"Oh, that sounds...bad. Glimmer and I would love to include you as a friend. You can tell me when your ready to talk, but until you are truly comfortable talking about it with anyone, why don't you just think about it on your own." I gave the suggest hoping that it would make her feel better.
"Thank you for being an under-standing friend. I should probably get home. Are you ready?"
"Yeah," I respond as a drop of ocean spray hits my arm. It soaks right in just as Shelly reaches it with her sleeve. She swipes at the already dry spot and takes my hand again She lead me back to her car and away from the ocean, which seemed to be calling me.