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Lucy can’t believe this is happening again, she can’t believe she is in a small space again. She can’t believe that Tim is with her—but he’s not with her. He’s on the other side of the wall. She hasn’t seen him, felt him or touched him in days.
Or what she thinks has been days.
She’s not sure of time anymore, she’s not sure how long they have been here. Wherever it is.
They have been given food and water but barely.
Well she has.
She’s not sure about Tim. And that scares her. She needs him to take care of himself, so they can fight their way out.
She knows he’s on the other side of the wall, they have communicated but not through words more like taps.
She takes a deep breath, and lets it out. Her chest hurts, she can’t focus and she’s not sure if it’s the lack of nutrients or water. But she has a feeling this is more than just that.
She can’t breathe.
It’s the fact that she is in this tiny room without her fiancé. She looks at her ring on her hand. It’s perfect. It’s beautiful. It’s from Tim and it’s her most prized possession. It’s the only link she has to him at the moment.
“Lucy?” A voice says. It’s tired and exasperated and a little desperate. But she knows who it is. She knows it’s Tim. “Are you there?”
“Yes.” Lucy says her voice coming out hoarse.
“Good.” Tim says. “How are you?” It’s like that question struck a nerve. She takes a deep breath, her breath rattles. Her chest hurts and her vision is blurry.
She wants Tim.
She wants Tim.
“Lucy?” Tim says.
“I’m not—” She says and she could lie. She could lie to him, and say everything is fine. But Tim knows her better than that. Tim knows her, and he would hear it in her voice.
“Lucy.”
“I can’t breathe.” She says and she lets out a shaky breath. “I think I’m having a panic attack.”
“Okay,” Tim says his voice calm and it’s the opposite of what she is feeling. “Okay. We will do that thing.”
“5-4-3-2-1.” Lucy mumbles. She learned it one day when she was stuck in an elevator. Someone mentioned it and help her through it. She passed it into Tim just in case.
“Yes.” Tim says calmly. “5 things you can see.”
“The four walls does that count as one?” Lucy asks. Tim laughs a little. She’s surprised he even remembered this.
“No. We gotta do this right Lucy.” Tim says. “The wall and what else?”
“The ground, the dirty mattress, the bucket.” She says and makes a face.
“Right. We are literally in prison.” Tim says. “Four things you can touch.” She wishes she could touch Tim just to feel his lips on her would help.
“The ground, the wall, my sweater, and—” She closes her tightly. “My ring.” She touches the ring just to feel that it’s still there.
“Good. Good.” Tim says and his voice breaks a little. It’s like he’s trying to stay calm for her. “Three things you can hear around you.” Lucy blows out a breath.
“Your voice, the guards voices from afar.” Lucy says. She shudders at the sound.
“Good baby. What else? What more thing.” Tim says. “One more thing.” There’s a loud bang from the hallway.
“That bang.” Lucy says softly. “What was that?”
“I have no idea.” Tim says and he sounds like he wants to investigate but he will stay put. For now.
“Oh.” Lucy says.
“Two things you can smell Luce.” Tim says. She wishes she could smell him. She would do anything to be near him.
“It smells like spoiled melt and something is burning.” Lucy says. “Not a good combination.”
“I agree.” Tim says. “One last thing. You are doing so good Lucy.”
She doesn’t feel like that but she appreciates Tim. She appreciates him a lot for doing this with her. For remembering.
“Yeah.”
“One thing you can taste.” Tim says. Lucy puts her hand on the wall. She can’t taste a lot of things. The water she drank a few hours ago. The subpar food. It’s not what she wants to taste. She wants to taste Tim, she wants to feel him. Touch him. She wants to see him. She wants to feel the ocean air on her skin, feel the sand on her feet when she no doubt took her sandals off and made Tim carry them. She would do anything to get out of this hell hole she is in.
That they are in.
But she can’t.
“I still taste you.” She says. “The last kiss we had. I still taste you. I lost all the other senses. But I held onto that.”
“I love you.” Tim says. “I’ll get you out of here.” Lucy heart clenches and she is feeling better. The method helps every time but—
“What about you?”
“You are my priority.” Tim says. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Too late.”
Tim is silent for a few minutes. “Do you feel better?” Tim asks.
“I do.” Lucy says softly. “I wish I could see you.”
“I know.”
Lucy twists the ring on her finger around and around. Tim gave her this ring, he picked it out with her on his mind.
She loves him.
She loves him so much.
“We will get out of here baby.” Tim says and it sounds like a promise. She wants to believe him.
She does.
“I hope so.” Lucy says and she lays her cheek on the wall. “I miss you. I’m glad we can talk.”
“Me too.”
“Okay truth or dare?” Lucy says. She hears Tim laugh a little, she wanted some sort of normalcy. Something to remind her that Tim is on the other side of that wall.
“What?”
“Truth or dare.” She says again. Tim laughs again, Lucy closes her eyes and imagines his face. Confused but full of love for her.
“Truth.” He says.
“How long were you thinking of proposing?” She asks because has a feeling it wasn’t random. She has a feeling he was planning this whole time.
“Awhile.” He says. “Actually pretty much everyone knew. They were all giving me advice, telling me where to propose. Grey is actually the one gave me the beach idea.”
“Oh.” Lucy says and it’s so soft. So loving. “Is that why everyone was acting so weird? Wait Rodge was never going to propose.”
“Nope.”
“And you just let me go on?” Lucy asks. She can imagine Tim rolling his eyes.
“Well I didn’t want to tell you what was really going on.” Tim says. “Now it’s my turn. Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Did you hesitate to say yes?” He asks. Lucy blinks once. No, she knew her answer as soon as time got on one knee and she realized what he was doing. She didn’t hesitate because her answer would always be yes.
“Not for a second.” Lucy says. “It would always be yes.”
“Good.” Tim says and he sounds relieved. Lucy closes her eyes again, she can’t feel, touch or see Tim.
But he’s there, he’s on the other side of the wall. She takes a deep breath and lets it out.
He’s there.
And that’s all that matters.