Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 417: Hello Darkness

Chapter 417: Hello Darkness

Free yourself... feel the embrace of water... Let the water hold you...

Talia actually heard Arthur’s voice in her ears. She was sinking and she held on to the ring in her hand tightly. She feared to wear it in case she accidentally drops it.

Why didn’t you teach me to swim that day, Fred?

Her chest hurt as she held her breath and she thought water was entering through her ears and nasal canal.

At least the stink of excrements is getting washed up by the raging waters... When they find my body, I won’t stink.

She prepared for her death as she slowly sank. She wasn’t wearing shoes and she could feel the bottom of the river. And she felt something scaly and moving under her feet and she cringed and accidentally swallowed some water.

No way! No way am I going to be crocodile food! I’ll not be found in pieces!

She flailed her hands and legs frantically and...

Surprise!

She was actually reaching the surface. In her frantic state she accidentally breathed using her nose and water entered her lungs. She was very familiar with that burning sensation in her chest. The same thing happened when she was five and was thrown in the creek.

At least the water is a little warmer!

She tried hard and reached the surface. The river was flowing with a faster current and she tried to take in some air, but as there was water in her lungs, she started to cough.

In the waters as she coughed, more water entered her lungs and her chest felt like it would burst.

Although the water wasn’t freezingly cold, it still was cold and she started shivering.

She almost lost consciousness, unable to hold on. There was a stinging pain in her head too. She remembered her head bleeding and she wondered if the crocodile she met earlier would follow her by the scent of her blood.

She was fatigued, by all the pain in her body and the negative thoughts. She felt her legs cramping in the cold and she thought this is the end of her.

"Hello darkness my old friend... I’ve come to talk with you again..."

She didn’t know why this song started playing in her head. Her body felt frozen and she felt weightless and yet she slowly started to sink.

"In restless dreams I walked alone..."

As she looked above, tears fell from the corners of her eyes, warming her cheeks for a moment before merging with the cold water.

Who will know my tears are merged with these muddy waters?

She saw her mother’s face in the clouds above. It was dark and was raining, but there was some light in the horizon that lit up the clouds to grey fluffs. Then there was him... Cyrus...

Oh, this was one of your favourite songs, wasn’t it Cyrus?"

Now she could understand why this song played in her head. Cyrus listened to this song often.

Her ears felt stuffed and she felt like little needles pricking in her body because of the cold. She could hear nothing and her consciousness slipped. Not wanting to drop the ring, she held on the ring much tightly in her left hand.

Here I come, Cyrus...

She held out her right hand towards the cloud that looked like Cyrus. With his usual sunny smile he was looking down at her.

"...light...That split the night..."

As the water started to envelope her face with the song playing in her mind, she saw a blinding light from above.

Is this the light everyone talks about? I should walk into it, right? Walk... towards the light...

"...no one dared... Disturb the sound of silence..."

Her vision got blurry as her face got completely immersed in the water. Her hand was still held up.

The waves of water shone brightly as if the light wanted to follow her. And in the murky waters, as she sank down, she saw something furry swimming towards her.

A bear? Here?

"...Take my arms that I might reach you...."

The song didn’t stop playing in her head.

She felt the furry being biting her tunic and it pulled her to the surface. With little strokes, it pulled her along, braving the currents of the river. Her blurry vision got a bit sharper and she saw the one pulling her to safety.

"Bear? Bear, is this you? Is Fred here too?"

She wanted to speak, but she couldn’t and she hugged that little furry dog. The light was still there and it got brighter and slowly she heard the rumbling noise.

A helicopter?

I’m getting rescued? I’m finally getting rescued!

Slowly they reached the shore and Talia stood on her fours, coughing her lungs out. Bear stood by her side barking and licking her, wagging its tail in happiness. She opened her left hand to find the ring sticking to her palm by the force she was holding on to it.

She got the ring using her right hand and as her left hand trembled by the pain of the wound, she wore it in her ring finger.

Now I feel relieved! This ring is meant to be mine... It came to me itself. I will treasure this ring.

"Good boy," Talia rubbed Bear’s head after she felt a little better and he was overjoyed.

When Mr. Ed started training Bear for water rescue, she didn’t think it would actually come in handy.

She looked at the light and the helicopter was just some ten feet above ground. The rotor blades of the helicopter displayed the cold air and it made sure. Amidst the falling raindrops that looked like silver strings in the light, she saw Arthur standing at the door of the helicopter waiting to jump.

She could see his long coat fluttering and his mouth was moving. Although she couldn’t hear anything, she knew what he was saying.

"Iris...my Iris..."

"Fred!" she waved her hand. Surely her entire body hurt, her chest burnt and her head felt like the whole universe is resting on it, but she couldn’t control her smile looking at Arthur.

As she was watching him, she saw his face getting panicked and je jumped down from the helicopter and ran toward her, shouting something and his hand reached inside his coat. She turned to her side as she heard Bear barking at something behind her.

She looked behind her to see Ralph getting out of the water pointing the gun at her.

*Bang*

Arthur was the one who took the first shot and Ralph dodged it, and he started shooting at Arthur. Talia held Bear and moved out of the way of the shots. Bear is used to the sound of firearms and he wasn’t panicking and followed her.

Soon, a couple other guys in military gear got down from the helicopter, drawing their weapons. They were having the Royal Insignia of Rosandale on their shoulders and Talia figured they are the Rosandale military.

"Don’t kill him!" Talia shouted at the guys. "Get him alive!"

"Yes, Ma’am," The guys gave a salute and ran towards Ralph who now tried to kill himself. He was screaming and cussing that he is a failure and his mother’s soul won’t forgive him and other weird things.

Arthur saw her entirely soaked and immediately removed his coat and tried to cover her. His heart broke seeing the state she is in.

Talia, who was watching the men apprehending Ralph, felt a figure looming behind her and she jumped out of fright.

"Don’t touch me! I’m filthy!" she said and pushed him away out of reflex.

She didn’t know why, but seeing his big hand trying to touch her... she got reminded of Ralph’s touches. She got frightened.

Arthur’s heart shattered to pieces seeing the way she behaved. Her reaction was not that of despise but of fright. She was scared of his touch.

And filthy? Why does she think she is filthy?

He didn’t know why he remembered a case mentioned by his sister-in-law. She was depressed one night and talked about a woman who was scared witless after a s*xual assault. She was terrified of men after that ordeal and they had to use female cops to help her since she was not allowing male cops near her.

My Iris... what happened to you in these fifteen hours? What did he do to you?

Only then he took note of what she is wearing. She was wearing some sack-like cloth that barely reached her knees and she didn’t even have shoes on her. With the flimsy cloth sticking to her wet body, he could see she wasn’t wearing any underwear.

His heart shattered to pieces as she imagined the worst. He was so happy she was alive; he forgot to notice these details.

He gritted his teeth controlling the tears forming in his eyes. ’Death of the soul’ – he remembered Peggy saying it.

Iris...It will be fine. I’ll stand by you and I’ll help your soul heal slowly. I still am very glad you put all your efforts to escape. You being alive is all I want.

"Iris..." he gathered his strength and held out his hand. "There is change of clothes in the helicopter. Get changed to something warm. There are doctors and they can give you first aid. You swallowed a lot of water, right? We don’t want you to catch pneumonia".

He carefully chose his words.

"Thanks for lending me your girlfriend to enjoy, Arthur!"

Ralph sneered.