Tears streamed down my face as the chanting around us began to slow, the crippling, mind numbing pain receding into nothing but a dull ache that spread through my limbs and torso. I lay on the ground, a hand stroking my hair, until that faded into something far rougher.

Hands were shaking me, and Ashling was suddenly there, tears streaming down her face, matching mine as I came to. The morning light had barely started to filter in through the window; our alarm hadn’t yet gone off.

“What happened?” I croaked out.

“You were screaming, I couldn’t get you to wake up,” she said, then hiccupped back a sob. This trip seemed doomed to be a disaster from the beginning. I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder; she fell against me. “That was the worst sound I’ve ever heard in my life,” she said, her words muffled against my shoulder. “It was like you were being pulled apart.”

Her words sent waves of remembered pain through me. I bit my lower lip to keep from crying out, the memory fading already. “I think I’m going to get up now,” I said. The alarm went off and we both jumped. I slammed a hand down on it. Yes, this was looking to be a day we would never forget.

I stood and wobbled my way to the bathroom, my unruly blond curls covering half my face as I stared in the mirror. A gasp escaped my lips. Ashling ran over to me. “What is it?”

I lifted a hand to my neck where just a few short hours ago I had been battered and bruised. Now the skin was smooth and unblemished, as if it had never happened.

Ashling brushed the hair off the back of my neck. “The bruises are all gone here too,” she whispered. I took a deep breath, held it and then slowly let it out. Nope, I was not going to freak out. I managed a smile. “Lucky I heal quick I guess.”

I turned and hurried back to my luggage, feeling Ashling’s eyes boring into my back.

“Yeah,” she said. “I guess.”

~~

4

The cool, wet sand slid through my toes as I scrunched them up. A rolling wave splashed around my ankles. The wetsuit I was wearing only came to mid-calf and was hardly a protection against the cold water. Chesterman Beach was beautiful, everything the package had promoted it to be and then some. I hoped that Ashling appreciated what it took for me to be here—to face my fears for her. She didn’t seem any worse for the wear after our short—and my nightmare-filled—night. I, on the other hand, found myself stifling yawns and daydreaming of sleeping the afternoon away.