It was beautiful. The most fantastical sight she’d ever seen. She had a crazy notion that she wanted to follow them. Somehow, she felt a growing surge of peace rise up within her. It radiated from her heart and warmed every bone in her body. The pain in her hip melted and she felt happy. She looked up again, watching as the fireworks trailed away, burning out so they were vanishing into the night sky, leaving behind just a soft puff of smoke. She sighed, deeply.

And then, she felt the oddest thing. As if someone had breathed something in her ear. It startled her, unsettled her, so her fragile grasp on terra firma was lost and all of a sudden she was slipping away, towards the water below.

Somehow as she neared its edge, she could still see the trail of emerald stars, just wavering beneath the smooth surface of the water. Splash. She thought she screamed as she lost her footing, hitting the water with only the slightest splash. She felt oddly calm, despite the cold, despite the fact that she was quickly out of her depth on one of the coldest nights of the year. Perhaps someone would hear her. Help. Help. Only Liv could hear her own panic; the sound was strangled in her throat. The people on the bridge were too wrapped up in each other to have anything to do with her. The fireworks were over. It was time for everyone to go home.

When the black water finally dragged her under, Liv welcomed it. Somehow, rather than making her cold, it actually felt as if it was wrapping her with a welcome of home, so she didn’t even struggle. Instead, she found herself gliding along the trail of green glinting stars. All around her, she thought she could hear whispers, calling her home. Even if she could clamber back onto the towpath now, part of her knew she didn’t want to.

This time, there would be no losing Rachel, because really how can you lose yourself?

*

The iciness of the water was a shock that she should have been expecting. Liv dived in without thinking of anything beyond the fading circles of where that woman had just disappeared into the darkness. The truth was she hadn’t imagined she’d ever jump into icy canal water in the dead of night, but she hadn’t had the time to think, much less the time to have any expectations, of freezing water, darkness or fear. Pete was in here too, somewhere, and the icy feeling about her heart had as much to do with the fact that he had disappeared from sight as completely as if he’d never been there to begin with.