clean

eleven;

"Anette, what happened to you?"

I look at him over the steam coming off my Starbucks latte. I wrap my frigid fingers around the paper cup and readjust myself on the bench. We are next to the river, looking out on the mansions in the rich neighbourhood across the water.

"Let me show you something," I say.

I lead him closer to the water and down an overgrown path that winds under the bridge. On the other side, it is completely guarded from the city by trees and bushes. I push branches out of the way and he follows me without questioning my sanity.

I realize, suddenly, that's what I have always loved about him. He trusts me without a second thought.

We turn a corner and reach the waterfall. Up the hill there are deserted picnic tables and bare tree branches stretching over the water, their undersides damp from the spray. I hold my coffee in one hand and climb the stones that block our path. They wind back to a ledge behind the falls. I inch across the thin cliff until I am hidden by a curtain of foaming water and my head is full of the sound of it rushing and pounding against the rocks.

Benedict follows shortly after. He stands close to me and takes my hand.

I throw my head back and scream at the roaring water for all I'm worth, using every molecule of air in my body, throwing all my anger and energy into my call. It gets sucked away by the current flowing over us. I suck oxygen back into my lungs and sigh.

I glance next to me, and Benedict is looking at me, smiling. I smile back and lean my head on his shoulder. He puts an arm around me and we stay like that for what feels like forever, surrounded by water and suspended in time.