Drowning on Dry Land

Was it that the world had gone into slow motion, to make her hair fan out so lazily around her face? Or had we been submerged in water without noticing it? That sounded right, because I couldn't breathe at all. She looked at me with the same gape-mouthed shock and I knew she felt it too, that we were drowning, here on this too-dry street. Dusty strangers brushed past us, heading toward home or a bar or the long and elegant neck of the night's bottle. We didn't notice them at all.

Into Squid City (did I use Emily already for this?!)

"Why do you always shut me out?!" Jacob shouted.
Emily leaned her back against the door, feeling it shake beneath his pounding fists. He did not mean it literally of course but she did that too, when his words became too painful and she couldn't stand to see his scowling face a minute longer. In a way it would have been easier if the physical side of it was all there was but of course the pain was emotional too. She shut him out of her heart because he wreaked too much havoc there.
"Emily, open the door!"
"Leave me alone, Jacob!" She shouted back, slamming the lock across and retreating across the room. He continued to shout and she covered her ears with her hands, wishing he would just go away.
"This is my house too!" He continued. "You can't do this!"
The more he hammered on the door the more afraid she got. Jacob's voice echoed in her mind until she felt like she was going to go insane - and when she heard wood splintering she almost screamed.
When Emily had been little and her father was drunk and angry, her mother had taught her to hide. Those instincts kicked in now and without thinking she crawled underneath the bed. The dusty darkness smelled like her childhood and remembered terror overwhelmed her. Crying silently Emily shuffled in further until her face was pressed up against the wall.
"I'm going to break this fucking door down!" Her father shouted with Jacob's voice. The wood creaked and Emily scrabbled blindly at the wood as if she could open a hole in it and escape.
And then, just as the door gave and Jacob stormed into the room, the wall opened like a door before her and, without hesitating for a second, she crawled through.
She could hear Jacob raging as he tore the room apart but she had kicked the wall closed behind her and the darkness that closed in around her eyes seemed to muffle the sound too. After a few seconds she couldn't hear a thing except her own panting breath and the scrape of her limbs against whatever she was crawling along - and then the darkness began to ease, and there was a glow of light from ahead of her. She knew she hadn't headed downwards so that meant she was about to come face to face with clear air several stories above the street. There was nowhere to go.
With a howl of despair she threw herself forward again, because if he was going to come after her then she'd be damned if she was going to let him catch her. Then, without warning, the light was not in front of her but underneath her sweaty palms and the vent gave way. Her heart flew up into her mouth as she fell and then before she could scream she had landed on soft green grass, and above her the sky was a crisp blue chased with threads of cloud.
Bewildered Emily struggled to her feet, leaning against the tree that she had, impossibly, fallen out of. It was big and ancient-looking, and almost every inch of it was covered with door and windows and hatches of every imaginable kind. For a momen Emily thought that she must be dead, but death couldn't hurt as much as she did now - she was a bruise from head to foot. There was only one alternative.
"I've snapped," Emily whispered, brushing dust and grass from her clothing. "I've gone insane."
Tiny daisies nodded in the sunshine and, at the bottom of a short slope, the ocean gently lapped against the tree's little island. The water was clearer than any she'd ever seen, and beyond it a shining stone city rose up like some kind of miracle. When she compared this bright and warm place to the cold, gray world she had left behind Emily knew that it couldn't be true.
With a smile she sat down and then lay back, letting the sunshine dry the tears from her cheeks. She knew it couldn't be true, but she also knew she didn't want to leave.

A New Ribbon

For almost three weeks she avoided further contact with Tobias Gorse, because it was easier than dealing with the confusion she felt when she thought of him. There was no way she could admit that she had felt exactly what he had described - familiarity where none could possibly exist. Instead she dismissed the encounter and after a time she could easily pretend it had been a dream. Perhaps she really had been ill with exertion, and the conversation had been some kind of fevered hallucination. Perhaps.
She came across him by accident on the eve of midsummer, as she wandered in the woods behind her home. The book she'd been absently reading as she walked dropped from her hand in surprise when she saw his naked chest bending over a water barrel. For just a moment she hesitated to watch him splash his face and then he had seen her, and it was too late to flee.
'Good morning,' she called politely, kneeling to pick up her book and examine the damage done. He hurried over, drying his face absently on his shirt, and offered her a hand as she rose to her feet. Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
'I do not believe it is considered appropriate to hold hands with a man who is - only semi-clad,' she suggested, forcing herself to look into his eyes and not the broad expanse of his chest. In the brief glimpse she had gotten, it was clear to see that his flesh was sun-browned, not a thing she would expect from anybody with such a reputable name.
'Among strangers, perhaps not,' he conceded. 'And yet, I do not feel uncomfortable at all.'
Eleanor shook her head and turned slightly away, pretending to be absorbed in a bent page. With a little sigh Tobias slipped his shirt over his head, and then she looked at him again.
'I apologise for disturbing you,' she said. 'I was not aware that you lived so near by.'
That was only partially true - she had been aware that the Gorse manor was in this direction, though she had not consciously searched for it. Tobias saw some hint of this in her eyes and smiled.
'Eleanor,' he began, but she interrupted him.
'Miss Aberfeld, please,' she said coldly. He bowed a little from the waist.
'Miss Aberfeld,' he began again, reaching into his pocket and holding his hand out closed tight. 'I have a gift for you, if you would accept one from me.'
Eleanor pursed her lips. Her father would not approve. His waved his hand a little, as if he wasn't sure she'd seen it. When she shook her head, however, his face fell. A moment later the look was gone but Eleanor had seen genuine hurt there. This confused her more than anything and she found herself shrugging in a very unladylike manner. He smiled. It made her feel reckless.
'Perhaps my father would not like me to accept,' she said, 'But he needn't know.'
She closed the book with a snap before tucking it into the deep pocket in her skirt and holding out her hands beneath his.
'Do I need to close my eyes?' She said, and didn't even blush. What was it about this man?
'If you like,' Tobias replied. Eleanor spent almost an entire minute thinking before she smiled, and closed her eyes, and waited. Finally she felt his hands on hers, not to pass something over but to hold them and draw them closer to him as he leaned in and kissed her.

Eleanor stood rigid with shock, eyes still tightly closed. Tobias had withdrawn very quickly but still their lips had met, and this was what had frozen her. Not that he had done it - though her father would consider that offense enough! - but that, when he had, she had not minded at all. That it had felt like the most natural thing in the world.
'Forgive me, Miss Aberfeld,' Tobias said from somewhere not so close by.
'Of course,' Eleanor replied breathlessly, not wanting to open her eyes. It would be improper to lick her lips now but she could still half-taste him on her breath. Slowly she turned to face away from where Tobias had stood and only then did she open her eyes. The sunlit woods stared back at her without accusation.
Her hands were clasped tightly together as he had held them, and she looked down to see a length of ribbon tucked between them, the same colour as her Sunday hat. With a smile she turned to thank Tobias, but he was gone.

At First Sight

When Eleanor first saw him, she knew. That he was different, that he was special. That he was the one for her. It wasn't as simple as love at first sight, because it wasn't possible for her to love someone she'd never met. It was a gut instinct that told her that it would be love, whether either of them liked it.
And then, when they met - properly, as a young woman should meet a man, introduced by her father as she walked with him on their way to the market.
'This is Master Tobias Gorse,' her father said. 'He came recently to town on a matter of business. I hear that his connections are quite extraordinary.'
Eleanor nodded and smiled politely, but when he kissed her hand she felt as though a lightning bolt had struck her straight in the heart. She hoped her father would attribute her sudden blush to the warmth of exercise. Tobias gave her a smile that suggested he knew otherwise, which only made things worse.
'A pleasure,' she murmured, pleased by how evenly her voice came out. And with just the right mix of formal civility. Her manners had always been impeccable, and it was reassuring to know that she could rely on at least these instincts in a moment of stress.
'The pleasure is entirely mine,' Tobias replied. Her father smiled in approval at the exchange. 'And truly sir, you do me too much credit. I am the son of an old family with old friends, none of which I can claim as any personal success.'
'Good breeding is always a personal success,' her father interrupted jovially. Eleanor turned her head to hide a smile - Tobias still saw it. She blushed harder.
'Are you quite alright, Miss Aberfeld?' He prompted, glancing up at the sun as if to guage its heat. 'I do believe you look a little flushed. Perhaps you should rest a moment in the shade.'
'Oh, we really must be going on,' she replied quickly. The only faintness she felt was caused by the odd intensity of his eyes. She looked away before she could be drawn in. 'It is market day after all, and I was hoping to purchase a - a new ribbon for my Sunday hat.'
'No no, dear,' her father insisted. 'Give me a moment to send for a carriage. We shall attend the market next time - I am sure your hat looks quite alright as it is. Master Gorse, I do hate to impose, but I shall only be away for a moment...'
Tobias smiled again, looking terribly trustworthy.
'There is no imposition, sir,' he said. 'I would be ashamed to leave a young woman alone in a moment of distress. If you would consent, I should be honoured to remain by her side until a more suitable method of transportation can be secured.'
Eleanor hoped that she looked grateful as this relative stranger took her arm and led her to where a wide-branched tree overshadowed a low wall. Her father, as ever far too willing to trust a family name, rushed off the way they had come. Eleaner waited until he was out of sight before she pulled her arm free.
'I do not need to be fussed over,' she said. The man just smiled some more. 'And it is hardly appropriate of my father to leave me in the care of a perfect stranger. I wish he would show a little more decorum.'
Tobias laughed now, throwing back his head and letting the sound wash around them. Eleanor felt her blush deepen, a thing she had thought impossible until that very moment. He leaned against the tree trunk, looking at her with the oddest expression.

'I do believe we know each other, Miss Aberfeld,' he said finally. 'Do not shake your head - of course we have never met. But tell me, when you look into my eyes. Do I truly seem to be a stranger?'
'Master Gorse,' she protested quietly. 'I do not feel this is an appropriate conversation.'
'Forgive my being forward,' he added without feeling, 'but please, answer me this. Look at me once more. Say truthfully that you do not recognise something in me and I will never speak of this again.'
Eleanor's heart beast nervously fast but she shook her head.
'I cannot imagine what you mean,' she said. The lies burned her tongue but she made herself say them. It was easier than admitting to something so ridiculous. 'I am sorry, sir, but I must ask you to desist.'
His frown was sudden and bewildered - he had not been prepared for her denial. His expression was almost comical and she ducked her head to hide her smile. There was no need to act with compliant obedience as he expected.
'My apologies,' Tobias said briskly. Eleanor glanced up through her lashes, and saw hurt on his face. He hid it quickly, but it had most certainly been there. 'I have behaved improperly. Allow me to assure you that it will not happen again.'
'You are completely forgiven,' she said lightly, drawing a fan from her purse and half-hiding behind it as she watched him withdraw. He continued to make polite conversation - about the weather, and the market, and the colour of her Sunday hat. She answered him equally, with the same distant disinterest. Her father returned quickly, carriage rattling on the road's pitted surface.
'I do hope you are feeling well again soon,' Tobias Gorse said, as he handed her up into the carriage. Eleanor wished that it were not too warm to wear gloves. She would have liked to avoid the little jolt that his touch gave - immediately her face was red again.
'Thank you,' she replied softly, turning to look through the window on the carriage's other side. Her father did not see that anything was amiss, and chatted amiably for a minute before Tobias politely reminded him of his daughter's condition.
'Indeed!' Rupert Aberfeld clapped his new acquaintance's shoulder, thanked him once more, and then signalled the driver to move on. The lane widened enough that they could turn around - suddenly Tobias was visible through Eleanor's window, and his eyes bored into hers, filled with accusation. A little guilt blossomed in her stomach but she set it aside, turning her attention to her father's idle chatter and at least pretending to put Tobias Gorse from her mind.