Somewhere only we know

Chapter 21 ;)

The wind swirled around her and played with her indie floral silk scarf and white chiffon top.

Michaelle made sure no one was around the plaza. Then she examined the Trevi.

Where would the circle part of the necklace be? She thought hard.

Sat by the river and it made me complete...

The Tiber River? Unlikely. Even if the necklace was there, it would've been gone a long time ago.

So it had to be here. The Trevi was the only fountain in Rome that used water directly from the river. Right?

Michaelle stared at the statues bursting out of the fountain. There had to be a clue here. Was there a statue here of a water god? Or goddess?

Wait.

Michaelle scrutinized her gaze and realized that all the statues seemed to be pointing at one direction. And if they weren't pointing, they were looking there.

It was near the middle of the fountain. But how the heck would she get there without the public noticing?

Michaelle took a deep breath and went around the fountain. She stepped on the first statue and ducked low so no one would see. Then she moved over to the next. Then the next.

She couldn't believe she was doing this.

She walked westward toward the stars. When she reached the middle of the fountain, directly right in the center of the constellations, she looked around for the circle.

Huh. The circle. The symbol of water and life. Unbreakable with no end.

Michaelle balanced on the beige Stilettos and gasped. There was an uneven circular platform under her feet.

She lifted it... and it opened up.

Making sure no one was looking, she lowered herself into the small cave-like space and left the latch open, just in case it would lock.

The cave was dark, and Michaelle had to use her phone for light. The trail was sloping downward. She heard the sound of rushing water, and followed the noise until she came across a chamber so beautiful, she whimpered.

The room she entered was about 2 stories high. There were torches, but the room gave off a light blue-ish watery hue and was mostly lit by the lights in the pool at the center of the room.

How were there lights? Oh. The Roman officials probably know about this place and regulate it. Oh shit... would the necklace still be here?

Michaelle gasped as she saw marble sculptures of mermaids in the pool. Sculptures of goddesses adorned the outside of the pool, and there were paintings and portraits of the story of Aphrodite, from her Birth in the Sea by Sandro Botticelli to the Judgment of Paris to the Founding of Rome.

Rome is the real city of love. People mistaken the city of love as Paris, but that's a common misconception. ROMA backwards is AMOR. And any idiot knows AMOR means LOVE.

Where do you think the word ROMAnce comes from?

Michaelle laughed at the thought and gazed upward at the 20 ft. tall statue of Aphrodite.

“Venus di Milo,” she whispered softly. It was the original marble Venus di Milo.

She wasn't missing her arms like the so-called original. Instead she held one to her heart and another up to the sky, She was holding a golden apple on that hand.

The beauty prize from the myth of the Judgment of Paris.

Michaelle gasped in amazement.

Up on the goddess' palm was not only the apple. The golden-bronze circle ringed around it.

There it was. The pendant.

“Hot damn,” Michaelle whispered with glee.

She took off her beige Stilettos. DAMN, that felt nice.

She stepped onto the platform that held the mermaid closest to her. Then she jumped onto the next one. Then the next. She hopped from platform to platform. Then when she got to the platform of the Venus di Milo statue, she looked up and started to climb.

Her legs wound around Aphrodite's waist. Michaelle laughed at the thought of it. She set her foot onto the goddess' breasts and reached over to retrieve the circular pendant. There was space there for the symmetrical line they found at the Pantheon a while ago.

She held it in one arm and looked at the golden apple, tempted. She gave in and picked it up, holding it to the ceiling.

For a moment, she believed she was a goddess holding her beauty prize.

Suddenly, she heard the latch move from upstairs, and then footsteps.

Oh shit. Someone was here. Michaelle stepped onto Aphrodite's boobs again, this time with nothing to laugh about.

When she was halfway down the skirt, she lost her footing and slipped. Her head hit one of the mermaid tails and she felt a throbbing pain in her temples as she slid into the water.

Despite the headache, she kept swimming, trying to get to the other side.

Michaelle was always a great swimmer. As she moved lithely through the water, she choked as something pulled her down.

Something was enclosing her neck.

Her eyes widened. It was her floral scarf, and it was being sucked into the filter at the bottom.

Her face was pressed onto the pool floor as the scarf choked her even more. She tried to entangle herself out of her doom, but no use.

Her head was feeling intense pain now... maybe it was the impact from the hit.. maybe it was the fact that she was losing oxygen every second.

Her eyelids felt heavy and she let herself sink onto the floor. Blackness came anyway.

…..........................................................................................................................................<3

The moment Michaelle opened her eyes, she knew she was in heaven.

She was lying on her back, dizzy and dazed.

Someone.. a man... was leaning over her, breathing hard and panting. He held her face gently but intently. She too was panting. She saw the beads of water fall from his caramel bare chest and when she looked up at his face, her vision got blurry. Everything was pearly.

The chlorine did something to her eyes. Whenever she looked at light, they turned into fuzzy rainbow orbs.

She felt the angel carry her in his strong arms. She was flying and flying as he ran faster and faster. Wind was blowing her face as she lay in his arms. Flying.

…............................................................................................................................................<3

Surely this was heaven.

She lay on something white and puffy. Everything was pearly again.

The angel was there above her again. He was surrounded by other angels.

She was at peace... she was in heaven. She was in heaven. She was in Heaven. She was in-

“Why the HECK didn't you take that off before you swam!?”

Michaelle's eyes flew open. She knew that voice anywhere. How could she forget him. How could she ever forget him.

“JAYDEN?!” She forced herself up and regretted it when a pang of pain shot up through her.

The handsome young man smiled. “Hey Michaelle. Long time no see.”