41There was water everywhere. It was almost midnight by the time I got home from my shift. I hadn't gotten to the lights before I slipped on the wood floors and nearly fell. Luckily, I was able to grab the edge of the door and prevented myself from some minor concussion.
The sound of the faucet running told me that I must have left the water on. I was too busy with concern about the water leaking to the apartment below to chide myself for being an idiot. The floor boards were too slippery to walk on so I had to take my shoes off to get to the bathroom. As I paddled my way across my studio flat, I noticed that there were clothes lying on the floor by my bed. It stood out because I distinctly remembered folding the laundry and putting them on the dresser this morning. But rankled with concern as I was, I paid no heed as I proceed to investigate the cause for the flood.
I flicked on the bathroom lights, and blinked when I realized that someone was in my bathtub.
"Michael…" I could barely whisper.
He didn't move, not so much as a flinch. His eyes were open and staring blankly in front of him. The water was scalding hot when I reached into the water to tap him but his skin was icy under my hands. The only indication that he was alive was the pulse at his wrists.
"Michael, Michael…" I chanted increasingly louder. I had him in my arms. More water splashed over. Between leaning to turn the water off and trying to get him out of the water, he woke up.
"Ari." He muttered into my ear. I jumped and nearly fell from the shock of hearing his voice. His hand caught the sink and he righted himself up.
I flattened myself against the wall, and winced when the towel holder dug into my back. He reached to touch my face. I pushed away his hands and turned away from him to unplug the tub. Anything to save myself from looking at him.
"Dammit Michael, you flooded my entire apartment." I complained as I grabbed the nearest towel to me and forced it into his hands.
I rushed to the hamper and threw the contents on to the floor all around my one room apartment to soak up the water. Michael was standing there looking at me as though he didn't know who I was. I tried to stop myself from shaking, but I couldn't control my body at all.
I couldn't help as I continued to ramble nonsensically. My hands trembled, my back trembled, my legs trembled. If I hadn't been on my hands and knees mopping the mess up, I would have fallen down.
"Ari." Michael said softly. I continued to talk, the words coming out without me hearing anything. I was probably talking about my coworker and how her newborn likes to splash water everywhere. Or I might have been talking about my landlady's daughter leaving under my flat.
"—and if she knows that I've been flooding my apartment like this, she'll have—" I heard myself.
"Ari." Michael said again, louder.
I looked up at him, my hands stopped.
"Ari." He said, then pointed to my neck. "you are still wearing your ring."
The ring he had given me two days before he left. Yes, I was still wearing it. He smiled.
In that instant, I wanted to murder him. I wanted to push him out the window and fall down those four stories with him. It was sheer exhaustion that prevented me from doing so.
He knelt down in front of me and took me into his arms. Two years of anger and fear and hate choked the words back. I couldn't contain the sobs that spilled out in heaving gasps. When I found that words wouldn't come, I hit him in the chest. He was too hard and barely flinched from my abuse, but I went on nonetheless. Wordless sounds came from me.
"Ari." He whispered to me. "Ari, I'm back."
I pushed him away. He looked at me for awhile, trying to understand why I wasn't welcoming him back with open arms.
"Fuck you." I snarled at him after I found my voice again.
"Ari."
"Fuck you, Michael." I found the closest soaked rag and hit him in the face with it.
"I can explain, Ari. Ari. Please." He dodged and tried to make a grab for me.
"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you."
"Ari!" He pushed me back onto the mattress and forced his hand over my mouth. I couldn't bite him hard enough to get the hand off. "Let me explain."
I struggled more, but the harder I struggled, the more force he used. Until I was completely out of breath and my muscles were sore from fighting him off. Finally, I gave back and relaxed myself, he didn't back off.
"Ari, I'm sorry. I know I was cruel to leave you like that but I promise I had good reason to." I glared cursed at him behind his hand over my mouth. "You won't believe me at first but just give me the benefit of the doubt."
I rolled my eyes and snorted.
"Look, my boss got himself in serious trouble with the council and they were going to kill me if I didn't go back to them immediately. There wasn't enough time for me to turn you and it's against our laws to tell an outsider about us and they would have killed you. It was to keep you safe, I couldn't tell you."
I pushed at him again, he still wouldn't budge.
"Ari, just give me a chance to explain. You can hit me as much as you want later. Just give me a chance to tell you everything first."
"Get off." I tried to say.
"Promise you'll hear me out first." He asked. I grunted affirmatively. His hand was removed; I sucked in a breath of air and tried to push him off unsuccessfully.
"I hate you." I said finally.
"I know, but you love me too." His hands traced down my neck and rested over the ring.
"I really, really hate you." I emphasized.
"Ari, at least let me tell you that I'm a vampire before you decide that you hate me."