• I couldn’t really imagine my life without him. But now Willy and I were high school seniors on the verge of graduating and moving out of town. We both had different plans and they didn’t carry us to the same place.
    Though this was happening we still shared our favorite area on my parents property which was at the top of the hill over looking a few houses below and then the Pacific Ocean. The vast blue lay a mile west of our house but from the hill we could see it. One cold april day two months before graduation we chose to climb up to that spot.
    We had run up the wooded slope to the top looking down over the few acres that had been logged. Willy sat down next to me on a large stump pulling his brown beanie down over his ears. I had glanced at him seeing his blonde hair and tan skin in the gray sunlight. Those icy dark blue eyes giving me a warmth as they always did.
    There was a connection between us that only happened when our eyes met. I felt like I knew his feelings and he knew mine. But it was always subtle and quick and I just figured that I had been around him long enough to understand his feelings by seeing the expression in his eyes. He wouldn’t discuss this topic, for some reason I couldn’t figure, with me if I brought it up; so I never did.
    He smiled crookedly placing his hands in his sweatshirt pockets, “I’m going to miss you, Arethusa.” Then after a moment of silence he stood up and tilted his head down toward me. “Do you want to go to the water fall?”
    “Yes,” I stood up letting my long dark brown hair tumble to my waist. Willy pulled my blue beanie down over my eyes and laughed. I heard his feet pounding away through the sticks and shrub. Pulling my hat up I ran to ketch up with him heading toward the back slope and down to the waterfall.
    The run was fast and long just like we loved it. The cold air rushing past us as we ran through the ferns and tree stumps. He ran ahead of me down the path we had made over the years. Finally I heard the distant sound of crashing water and then we broke through the last line of brush into the field.
    The grass was mixed with a thick moss and the bank to the creek was short. The creek flowed from a low pond that harbored the water tumbling down the cliff. It was maybe twenty feet high rolling over a rocky slope. The pond below got deep around the fall; deep enough to take a swim. This was Willy and I’s heaven.
    Willy turned to me unzipping his jacket and pulling off the sleeves. I followed his example throwing my clothes to the ground and walking to the waters edge. We were prepared to swim in cold water wearing ankle to neck wetsuits and carrying thick scuba goggles. Willy pulled his goggles on looking at me through the clear plastic.
    I strapped mine to my head than ran into the water diving fast and short into the pond. My waist skimmed the muds surface raising it into the water and creating a brown cloud around me. I eyed it then swam away to clear waters searching for Willy. Not having any luck I put my feet in the gooey mud and stood up looking around for Will. Still not seeing him I dove down again heading for the fall.
    Pumping my legs as hard as I could I swam under the pounding water running my head straight into two hard poles. I stood up breathing moisture filled air. A hand grabbed mine taking my eyes up the body to the goggle covered face of Willy. He smiled against the dark rocks behind him.
    “I found you!” I exclaimed too excited to hold it in. “Why did you go hiding?”
    “I wanted to see how long it would take you to find me.” His smile was still on his face. I watched as he bobbed his knees taking his elbows into the water then back up. 
 “It didn’t take me very long,” I replied. My foot was sinking into the smooth mud so I shifted my body to the right.
    “Thats true. It didn’t,” Willy let go of my hand and sat down. The water came up to his neck. “Are?” This was my nick name given to me because my real name, Arethusa, is quite long. Are is pronounced Air-a.
    “Yes,” I replied.
    My eyes were angled down at his sitting a foot from the water. The roar of the fall was almost silent on its backside. It was a perfect conversation spot if other people were going to be around. I focused on Willy’s face and watched silently as his expression shifted into seriousness.
    “I’ve been thinking Are,” his eyes lowered and he watched the fall behind me. “The connection between us... when our eyes meet.” I sucked in air and held it. Willy never spoke of this. He flicked his eyes at me then away and continued. “There’s something about it. Something that isn’t normal...”
    I waited a moment calculating the facts. Not normal. When our eyes meet we can feel each other. We know the others emotional states and almost feel what their going to do next. Almost feel their thoughts and actions. That couldn’t be normal. I let out the air in my lungs then took a slow breath. “I agree, Will. It isn’t normal.”
    His eyes moved around the water for a moment and then he stood grabbing my shoulders in his hands. I instantly looked into his eyes and felt him. The feelings were rough all tumbled together and getting lost. Anger and fear filled me then sadness and love. A voice small and subtle then loud and in my head, ringing through my skull it screamed at me. ‘Don’t leave me Are, don’t. I need you.’
    I forced my eyelids closed and I grabbed the sides of my head pulling the goggle strap down around my neck. I pulled on it hard against the back of my neck and my face cringed. I couldn’t think the voice was so loud and cracking my head and my ears. I fell backwards into the fall then the weight of water pulled me under. I closed my mouth instinctively but I didn’t get enough air.
    My body hit the bottom of the pond and the voice vanished. I pushed my arms out trying to swim. My feet found the mud and I pushed but it didn’t get me far enough. I swam with my arms, kicking my legs hard, my lungs began to burn. I felt my mouth opening and water fill my esophagus. I expected to feel severe pain but the moment the water tumbled into my lungs I breathed it. The oxogen filtered into the pores of my lungs while the water traveled back up my esophagus then down into my intestines. I opened my eyes feeling a film over them.
    The water was filled with mud from my struggle to the surface. I turned around not seeing Willy anywhere then swam up to the light of day. As I surfaced the water finished its cycle out of my lungs and they filled with cold air. The film on my eyes disappeared as I looked toward the fall. I rushed over it then through it reaching my arms out to hold Willy. But he wasn’t there. My hands clasp the cold stone wall. I turned back to the fall.
    “Willy!” I screamed. But with no reply I hurried back around the rushing water to the pond. I spotted Willy sitting on the edge of the bank near our clothes. He was wearing his wet suit still, his goggles were sitting beside him and his blue eyes were trained on his hands. I ran, half swimming through the water, to him. I kneeled in front of him looking at his eyes then following them to his bear hands. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary but he did.
    “Willy?” I asked suddenly frightened that something had happened. He looked up at me and his eyes grew wide. I watched those blue irises but nothing happened. I didn’t hear anything or feel anything that wasn’t mine.
    “Are?” his eyes stayed on mine. “What just happened to you? Did I hurt you?”
    “I don’t know,” I looked deep into his eyes, still no emotion touched me. “But I can’t feel you.”
    “Uh,” he suddenly realized that he couldn’t either. His cold hand rose to my cheek. Time froze instantly as his fingertips met with my skin. I could feel everything in his body. The pump of his heart, the fluids of his body moving in rhythm. I felt his eyes move around my face before I saw them. Then I saw a head rise and turn to the falls. It ran through it then came back. Running toward Willy, toward me. The person running was me. I was watching myself. I was watching Willy’s view of me only minutes ago.
    I pulled my face away from his hand and sat down in the water. My lungs pumped air out and in through heavy breaths. I watched Willy with wide eyes but he had no idea of what had just happened. He reached out to me with a timid hand but I didn’t grab it I just eyed it warily, slightly frightened.
    “Are, what did I do?” He sat back in the mud looking down at his bear feet. “Did I hurt you some how?” A wet lock of blonde hair fell along his face.
    “Lets get out of here.” I whispered standing. I walked passed him and slid my wet and muddy feet into my sneakers. I grabbed my clothes from the grass thoughtlessly and pulled my coat on over my wet suit. I started running home confused and angry. As I rounded the crest of the hill Willy caught up to me.