My Moonflower, My Love

Chapter One

Jamie, still half asleep, reached over to bring Dani in her arms, just like she had yesterday when she woke up, just like she did last month when she woke up, and just as she had done every morning in the years they had spent together. To her own sleepy surprise, she didn't feel her lover laying peacefully next to her as per usual, she didn't feel the warmth radiating off her body or felt her chest moving up and down slowly. All she felt was the cold sheets where Dani was supposed to be, and her chest felt like it was caving in. Jamie knew. She knew exactly where Dani had gone, and she was bloody terrified. She was going back to Bly, to the home of their deepest, darkest nightmares. Jamie had had this dream, or better said, nightmare, before, She'd wake up, Dani would be gone, and Jamie would head out to the damn lake herself, following blindly after the au pair, but she was always greeted with the worst. This time though, she knew it wasn't a dream, it was real.

Quickly jumping up, Jamie saw a note on the nightstand, reading it with trembling hands, it confirmed what Jamie already knew. The loopy words, just as delicate as they would be had Dani said them with her own voice.

Jamie,

Your love has made this all worth it, I'm sorry I can't stay. I have to go, you know I do, you know there's nothing I would like more than to stay in this house with you, surrounded by the life of our plants and love. Your love has been my lifeline. Your love is life, but I've always known the principle that every life will one day end, just like Hannah, just like Eddie, just like the moonflowers. That's where all it's beauty lies, you know? The mortality of the thing. Yet, I can't help but find myself thinking love cannot die, I've come to that realization from your love, something so pure, so honest, it must not have an end. Our love is immortal, and it will be with me always, just as I will be with you. Even after I do what I have to do. Dead doesn't mean gone.

Yours forever, Dani xx

Dani was going back to Bly to finally allow the lady in the lake to take her, forever. The gardener raced quickly out the door and to the streets to hail a cab, giving rushed instructions for the man to take her to the infamous Bly Manor.

The drive felt drawn out as Jamie stared at the ring on her finger, overwhelmed with emotions. She was scared, so goddamn scared that she would never be able to be with Dani again, never hold her, or kiss her, or make dinner together. She was terrified she was losing the one person who meant the most to her in this god forsaken world. Jamie was also angry, angry that the lady would accept Dani's offer to possess her body, that she would torture her poor girl, no matter how far they'd ran. She was angry that so much time had gone past and she'd grown tremendously accustomed to sharing a life with Dani, only for it all to be ripped away at the lady's beck and call. For a moment, a brief, heart wrenching moment, Jamie was angry at herself. Mad for finally allowing someone into her life, knowing she could be ripped away at any moment, and she was. This was that moment.

Upon arriving at the manor, Jamie felt a lump form in her throat as her chest tightened. She felt as if she couldn't breathe, but she was, unlike Dani if she wasn't on time. She froze for a moment as her feet hit the ground, taking in everything around her that she hadn't seen since that night, then she remembered Dani, her lovely lady who was about to do something really stupid, and before she knew it, the gardeners feet started moving swiftly beneath her feet, being drawn to the lake, just as Dani had, only for a different reason, or maybe not. Sure, Dani had been drawn to the lake because of the lady, but she held off, the only reason she went when she did was to protect Jamie. It was all for love. That was exactly why Jamie was here as well, to protect her everlasting moonflower, her love.

As she reached the lake she looked for signs of life, anything to know Dani was alright. She slowed down a bit to examine the terrain, both hopeful and helpless as she neared closer, but as much as she wished, she knew Dani wouldn't be above the water, waiting to be whisked up and saved away by her loving wife. Jamie knew she would be down below, so without a second thought, she walked in.

Jamie shivered a bit as the cold lake water continued to rise up, or rather, she went down, but she continued to wade into the deep, before taking a deep breath and going completely under, swimming eagerly through the eerie water. She examined the bottom below her, before looking straight ahead. That's when she saw Dani, sinking slowly down to the lake's unsettling bottom.

Jamie was tired, so, so tired, but she fought, she mustered up all of her will and thrashing down in the invisible prison, towards the au pair, she almost took in a breath of relief as she grabbed Dani's arm, her lungs were burning with a desperate despair for air, but she couldn't, she knew where they were and how fast she needed to react, and she did react fast. As if swimming around in a lake wasn't hard enough, she was now pulling herself and her wife out of this rubbish, eagerly, but quickly. Once reaching the top, Jamie gasped for air, for a split second she thought Dani would emerge, bringing herself back up to breathe in life once more, but then the realization hit her, she'd been pulling dead weight this whole time. So Jamie pulled, she pulled Dani up herself, trying to keep herself afloat along with the blonde beauty as she swam back to the shore. Once they got back to the bank Jamie layed Dani softly on the land, and without a second thought, she began to perform CPR on her.

Sobbing violently Jamie cried out, "Please Dani, please don't do this!" But Dani did not reply, only laid on the muddy ground, stiff and cold. Jamie turned to the lake, her hoarse voice crying out to the lady, "let her go! Please, let her go." Jamie collapsed on Dani's chest, sobbing with the last bit of the energy she had before continuing on the CPR.

That's when it happened, as if the lady in the lake had answered her prayers, Dani coughed up the water from her lungs and allowed life to flow back into them.