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The cool autumn breeze blows gently through Ivy’s hair as she awoke, slowly. Her head throbbed as she slowly opened her eyes, allowing the golden light of St. Louis to blind her for just a brief moment. As her eyes slowly adjusted, she was shocked to find herself in a boat in the middle of the Mississippi, away from the car entirely. Ivy tried to speak at that moment, perhaps to ask for an explanation on how they were-
And found her mouth gagged.
In panic, she looked down, and realized she was tied up in rope and, even more horrifyingly, had her feet encased in concrete.
Ivy started to panic, as she desperately pulled at the ropes to her side. She had to get out, she needed to escape, Freckle please save me-
“IVY!”
A muffled scream would sink Ivy’s heart in fear.
She turned around, and found Freckle, bound, gagged, and encased in concrete, just like she was. He tried to lunge into action, only to be stopped by the cement that trapped his shoes. Almost all hope of Ivy somehow getting out of this were dashed at the sight of her love in bondage. All she could do now was wait for Rocky or anyone else to rescue them…
But it was already too late for that.
Emerging from behind them was a man. In the shadows it was much harder to see any detail, but Ivy could just barely notice the distinctive Marigold pin. Her heart began racing at that moment, as panic only rose higher and higher, waiting for him to say something, anything…
But the man said nothing, not even a word. Why did he say nothing? Why was he so quiet? Why-
The man sighed.
“Let’s just get this over with,” the man said, under his breath in a callous, uncaring tone.
“Get what over with,” Ivy asked internally. She was sure Freckle asked the same question, as she looked to him, hoping that he would have a better grasp at what was about to-
The realization made her heart skip a beat.
“Oh no.”
That day’s newspaper popped into Ivy’s head again. The Headline read “MIAMI POLICE STUMPED AT LADY IN CEMENT,” and attached to it an image of a body encased in concrete. The story was about a woman having met her end off the coast of Miami, stuck with concrete boots for show. She had heard about these stories before, fantasized about them a little, but she always took them with heavy doubt. “It’s probably just tabloid journalism,” Ivy initially thought. “I mean, it’s fascinating, but there’s no way that’s how it actually happened. It might be fun rescuing someone from that.”
She got what she wished for.
“Oh. God. No.”
Ivy started yelling under her gag, only for it to be muffled, as he grabbed her concrete encased feet. She could hear Freckle yell in that instant, muffled by the cloth gag covering his mouth. Ivy wanted to wake up, or for Rocky and/or Viktor to show up at the last minute to save them, or a miracle of any kind to save them. But, none of those things would happen, as she was thrown into the depths below.
*SPLASH*
The chilled October river made Ivy shudder from the cold as she descended into the river’s deep. Her thoughts scattered across her mind in rapid pace, as she descended further and further, until finally stopping at 20 feet below the surface. The dust flowing around obscured her vision just enough to see the boat, so close, but just out of reach in this aquatic tomb.
It was… Strangely beautiful.
In spite of her fear, and the pressure in her lungs, she couldn’t help but admire the beauty around her. The way the seaweed flowed through the waters, the light casted down in rays that bent with the waves, how the fish swam as if at peace, it was almost as if she had just descended into a paradise undisturbed by catkind…
Ivy had never dove beneath the Mississippi, or any body of water, before; she was always too afraid for some reason, almost irrationally so. Her siblings teased her about it, but it always kind of freaked her out whenever she was submerged for longer than a few seconds or in a deep body of water. She didn’t know why, maybe it was the foreignness of the underwater world, maybe the airlessness, maybe it was all those stories of sea monsters like the Kraken and Leviathan. But whatever it was, it terrified her enough that she couldn’t even so much as step into the deep end of her Father’s pool during the summer.
For the first time in her life, Ivy was now at the deepest part of the Mississippi, and… It was beautiful.
And yet…
The suffocating water made it horrifying.
Ivy struggled to get the rope off of her, doing everything in her power to at least get some of it off, but it wasn’t coming off. Nothing she did could get it off, why couldn’t she-
*SPLASH*
Ivy looked up and saw another figure descend below, panicked. Freckle was not spared of her fate.
As he finally reached the bottom, another dust cloud formed around them, blinding her just enough to barely see the boat, their only witness, abandon them.
Eventually, the boat faded from view. They were all alone now. The only other witnesses to their struggle would be the apathetic fish.
Ivy’s mind was full of pure, agonizing fear.
Ivy had always heard stories about the infamous “chicago overcoat” in the paper, and the painful deaths they caused. But as far as she was concerned they were just more stories from the Bootlegger’s life.
The life she always loved.
She always imagined herself being the brave hero charging in to save the life of whatever unfortunate soul ended up in those cement shoes, maybe even rescuing them just below the waves and just in time, even in spite of her fear of water. It was always something fun to fantasize about on slow days when her studies piled up or while working at the Little Daisy Cafe, especially when the Speakeasy was closed.
It’s not really so fantastical when you’re the one in that horrible experience, is it?
Her vision had already gone blurry, from a mix of the river water around her and her oxygen starved mind. Her lungs burned with stress after so long without another breath. The only thing that kept her still somewhat hopeful was the hope that Rocky could show up and save them both, but even then, she was still terrified. She didn’t want to die, not like this.
Ivy tried to think more positively, back to the past few days and the almost exhilarating feeling that they had, to the wonderful moments she shared with Freckle, all the happy moments. But all of them led right back to her predicament, the one she seemingly wished to happen, the one she wanted out of. She wanted to breathe, but she knew she’d only find water.
But time would bring her no choice.
She felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up to see Freckle looking into her eyes, seemingly braver than her. He began working on getting her ropes off, easily cutting them off, and allowing them to flow in the still waters. Ivy felt relief and, feeling that the worst was behind them, began swimming up to the surface-
She didn’t move an inch.
“What? No, why can’t I swim?!”
Ivy tried again,
And again,
And again,
But she could not swim up, why was she stuck here, she should be swimming right up to the surface to a breath of air, what’s stopping her-
One glance at her feet gave her an answer why.
“No. No no no no no, Let me go!”
Ivy banged at the concrete below her, trying desperately to free herself at any cost, but she couldn’t break it. She can’t be stuck here, she needs to breathe-
Ivy let out a breath and, in panic, grasped her mouth with her hands, just barely holding her remaining air in. Freckle grabbed them, panicked, trying to reassure her in some way, anyway at all. Ivy was too preoccupied with the pain to notice, as she desperately looked around for anybody to save them, even as her gag was removed. She didn’t want to die, she couldn’t die, she needed to breathe-
Her whole train of thought was halted when she suddenly felt a kiss on her lips.She looked up to see Freckle… Kissing her?
They were 20 feet below the surface, trapped in concrete, and doomed to sleep with the fishies, and even with all that… It felt good, almost comforting. If she was going to die, at least she’d enjoy this last kiss, not even thinking about the air passing through her lips and into her lungs. After a while, Freckle pulled away, and smiled, melancholically. Ivy’s fears were, if only slightly, tampered. At least Freckle was with her in all of this-
Then something caught her eye, a movement. Freckle’s chest convulsed, as a blue blush crawled across his face, his eyes slowly glazing over-
Ivy realized what he had done. Freckle didn’t share a kiss to just have one last moment of happiness, it was to sacrifice himself for her.
“No, Freckle!”
Ivy panicked, as she grabbed her slowly dying lover, as he slowly grew colder and colder. She tried to stop the inevitable, tried to keep his mouth shut, to hold a little while longer.
“Freckle, please, don’t breathe! Not now-”
And then, Freckle opened his mouth, and let the water flood his lungs!
“FRECKLE!!!”
His first gasps were loud, pained, echoing throughout the whole river, alerting even the smallest of fish, as his body spasmed uncontrollably in her arms. But they slowly grew quieter and quieter, as his spasms slowed down until… they finally stopped. Freckle’s eyes, once wide with fear and pain, were now lazy, rolled, dead. His arms, once chaotically moving, were now uncomfortably still. All that remained of any life, was a simple, melancholic smile.
Freckle was the first to go, and Ivy was all alone again.
If any tears did form, they quickly faded in the Mississippi waters, as Ivy held her lover’s dead, waterlogged body, helpless, unable to escape, unable to breathe. It wouldn’t have mattered whether or not Ivy drowned with her lover in her arms or not, she’d still drown. And yet, Ivy still would rather die with him, than alone. Slowly, the breath that Freckle gave her faded from her lungs until, finally, they were completely empty.
And, with no choice in the matter anyways, Ivy let the Mississippi claim her.
The water burnt Ivy’s lungs like fire, as her eyes opened wide. The first gasps rocked her whole body in painful, uncontrollable spasms. It was the most painful feeling she had ever experienced. Slowly, however, the pain subsided, the spasms slowed, and Ivy’s vision grew narrower and narrower. Ivy took one last look at Freckle, her one true love, her Romeo. As her vision went black, she wondered about how everyone else would feel. How would Rocky take the loss of his own cousin, how would Mitzi and Viktor and the rest of the Lackadaisy ever recover from such a loss, how would her father and siblings feel, how would Helen feel, so many questions that she would never be able to answer.
But one thing that put her mind at ease, as she finally succumbed to the waves, was Freckle. Wherever she is going next, at least she’ll be with him, and that was all that mattered.
And so, Ivy fell into an eternal dream…
…
Ivy nearly screamed as she awoke, desperately trying to catch her breath, to stop the water from entering her lungs, to not drown here, to-
Ivy felt the fuzzy carpeting of her dorm at that moment. She looked up, and saw the ceiling. She took a deep breath, and let it out, and realized that it was all just a dream.
Just a silly, horrible, bad dream. That’s all it was…
… Right?
No, it couldn’t have just been a dream. She pinched her arm as hard as she could, hard enough to draw blood. Sure enough, she felt pain and blood slide across her arm…
But she felt pain in the dream too.
She got up and tried to scream, but quietly enough as to not alert the chaperones in case it really was a dream. Sure enough, she screamed perfectly fine, no gurgling at all…
She had to be sure.
She felt her head, it was warm. She checked her pulse, it was there. She felt around herself, she was dry. She reached for her feet, she was standing perfectly fine.
And she was still not sure. How could she possibly know it wasn’t a-
“Ivy?”
Ivy stopped in her panicked frenzy at that voice. She turned around to see Helen, barely awake, staring at her in confusion and concern.
“Ivy,” she asked, in a concerned but slightly annoyed tone, “What the hell are you doing? You’re gonna alert the chaperones to us.”
Ivy looked to her arm, as the blood from her pinch started to drip onto the carpet, enough for Helen to take notice, worrying her further and killing any annoyance.
“Ivy, what’s happening?” Helen got up from her bed.
Ivy didn’t respond, trying to determine if this was just a delusion in her waterlogged, dying mind, or if it really was reality.
“Ivy, please, tell me what’s going on.” Helen began to grow distraught, trying to bring Ivy back to reality.
Ivy still didn’t respond, as she still watched her blood drip more and more, still so unsure about what’s real and what’s just a nightmare.
“Ivy, please…” Tears started streaming down Helen’s face, as she slowly approached Ivy.
It couldn’t have just been a dream, it was all too real. What even is real, anymore? Is she even real, or is she just a delusion in her dying mind to try and put her at ease? How could she even tell? After everything that’s happened, it couldn’t have just been a nightmare, it was too real to just be a-
“IVY!” Helen nearly screamed at that minute, barely keeping herself together, as she grabbed Ivy’s arms in a desperate attempt to shake her back in reality-
And Ivy screamed in terror.
It was only for a few seconds before she covered her mouth, but it was enough to startle Helen and, from the sound of things, awaken the rest of the hall for just a minute. The two sat in panicked silence, as they waited for the rest of the building to just go back to sleep.
Eventually, after a few minutes of silence, everyone returned to their non-eternal slumber. Everyone except Ivy and Helen.
“I…” Ivy barely got out a single word, barely holding on mentally. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“Let’s just go,” Helen said, caring but worried. “We have to talk about this.”
“Wha- But can’t we just talk here-”
“Now, Ivy, please.”
Helen’s concerned tone convinced Ivy to go along with it. It was just going to be a simple walk, maybe to the park or some other relatively safe location, so it’s not like they would get the jump on her. Her cardigan, just barely dry from a few days ago, would be enough for the mild weather, she thought. It would be for just a minute, right?
She grabbed her hat, and set out the door.
…
The calming sounds of the Mississippi river sent shivers down Ivy’s spine as she passed the waterfront. It was never this terrifying, never this dangerous. She had sat on the waterfront a hundred times before and she never got like this. What changed, what-
“This is exactly what I mean,” Helen said, as she directed her attention to Ivy.
“Wha- What are you talking about,” Ivy asked, more confused than anything.
Helen gestured towards her shivering, “That’s what I’m talking about”
Ivy looked, and noticed her shivering, before replying, in an obvious lie, “It’s just really cold tonight-”
“It can’t be too cold for me to wear just a lousy Jacket and be completely fine,” Helen rebutted. “And that’s not all, absolutely not.” She raised her hand as she lifted a finger, “You haven’t slept in days until tonight,” she lifted another one, “you constantly look over your shoulder, even while on campus,” she lifted a third finger, “you constantly panic when you even so much as approach a pool or the Mississippi,”
Ivy interjected, “Helen, you know how I feel about-”
Helen raised a final finger, “and that’s all ignoring how it all started a few nights ago, when you came back to the hall at one after completely drenched head to tail.”
Ivy stammered for a minute. She took a minute to process it all, before replying, “I told you that night, it was because I-”
Helen finished Ivy’s sentence for her, “Fell into the Mississippi while on a date with your beloved Freckle? Really? What kind of date has a chance of falling into the MIssissippi?”
Ivy didn’t even reply, she knew Helen wasn’t going to buy anything she said. How would she even begin to try and explain what happened to her? How she constantly felt this paranoia, this dread, this… trauma.
“Ivy,” Helen spoke again, concern filling her voice, as she grabbed Ivy’s hand. “I know you’re probably not going to tell the truth and, to be honest, given what you probably do with the Lackadaisy, that’s fine...”
Ivy suddenly looked up, shocked at how she even knew, how she even found out. She was too exhausted to even attempt to understand how she knew.
“... But please,” Helen continued, worry in her voice, “if anything’s happened, please tell me. I don’t know if I could make it better, or even understand, but I could at least be there for you.”
Ivy wanted to just say she was fine, that it was all okay, that she had been telling the truth. What almost happened to her and Freckle, that could easily happen to Helen too if the Marigolds figured out she was close to her. It would be safer for the both of them to just lie…
But at the same time, she could barely go one day without having a moment where she truly felt safe enough to stop looking behind herself, to stop fearing the pools and Mississippi, to even just fall asleep for fear that she would get caught again. If the Mississippi didn’t kill her, then her paranoia, her dread, all of it would kill her instead.
She couldn’t take being quiet anymore…
“I..” Ivy started to speak, pain perpetuating her voice. “A few nights ago, Freckle and I were on a rum run, just out of town. Rocky was going off to collect the booze, while we stood guard at the car. Somehow, someone got the jump on us, and knocked both me and Freckle out...”
Ivy looked to Mississippi, struggling to keep going with her story. Helen kept watching, patiently but concerned.
“The next thing I remember,” Ivy continued, “we were on a boat in the middle of the Mississippi, tied up gagged and with concrete boots. Before long, we were thrown into the Mississippi, and fell to the depths…”
Helen started to look shocked, starting to dart her eyes away in discomfort or regret.
“Had it not been for Rocky showing up,” Ivy once more continued, “then Freckle and I would’ve been dead. But somehow, we’re here, alive and well.” Unintentionally, Ivy had put a bit of sarcasm on the Alive and Well part, letting that frustration slip through.
“So,” Helen asked, as slight relief filled her voice, “It’s all good, right? You made it out so-”
Helen stopped herself when she noticed tears in Ivy’s eyes.
“I,” Ivy continued, struggling to even keep her words intact, “I don’t feel safe anymore. Whether with Freckle, or Rocky, or Viktor, or you, or anyone, I have to look behind my shoulder on the off chance that they’ve come back to finish me off.” Her eyes darted towards the river, “If I even see a body of water deep enough to submerge me, I get this feeling of dread, as if I’ll suddenly end up at the bottom with Concrete boots again. I can’t even fall asleep because I can’t take the chance that they’re waiting for my most vulnerable moment to strike and throw me right back into the depths.” Now, almost shouting, “I can’t even understand if this is just a dream of my dying brain at the bottom of the Mississippi or if this is really real! I can’t ever feel truly safe, and I just want to-”
A hand fell on Ivy’s shoulder. Helen looked her in the eyes, and smiled.
“This is real,” Helen said, her reassuring tone setting in, as a slight blush crawled across her face. “You are real, and you are worthy of safety. I don’t know why you feel this way even now, but I’m here for you, and I’m sure Freckle is too.” She smiled, as she held Ivy’s hat, using it in a vain attempt to wipe her beautiful face clean of tears…
But they just kept coming. Helen looked, as Ivy’s face slowly, but surely broke down into uncontrollable sobs, drenching her hat.
Ivy couldn't hold it anymore. She wrapped her arms around Helen in a hug, as she sobbed into her shoulder.
“I want to feel safe again,” she sobbed, “but I know I can’t ever be safe again.”
Helen held Ivy, “It’s okay, you’re safe with me.” She started crying too, as she held Ivy close, and slowly sat down.
The two sat there, hugging each other as the night moved on. At least Ivy had someone to rely on. But even with that assurance, she was still alone in this feeling of dread and paranoia… right?