Chasing Mercury

by Kimberly Cooper Griffin

  “So you think the plane hit something else before it touched down here?” asked 4B, and Nora could tell she was trying to piece things together.

  “I think it did. I tried to hike back to where the plane might have first touched down by following the broken trees, but the trail ends at a rocky cliff going up the mountain. It makes sense that it might have hit somewhere above the cliff and then careened off, then hit here before it went into the ravine. The rocks up top look pretty jagged. It could have hit up there and opened up a hole in the bottom of the plane or broken a piece of it off. But I don’t know. I couldn’t find a way up to look, but I didn’t try too hard either. Maybe when the rain stops we can search for a way up together.”

  “Yeah, we should try to at least check it out. Maybe there are others. It’s all so unreal,” said 4B, absently reaching up to touch her head.

  “How does it feel?” asked Nora. Her eyes were on the dirty bandage peeking from under 4B’s hair. After four days, it could stand to be changed. A mental inventory of their first aid supplies ran through her mind.

  4B’s long fingers moved around the wound in ginger exploration.

  “It’s really tender and the area around it feels bruised.” 4B put down the cards to their forgotten game and reached up with both hands to gently press the skull around her head. “I’m not dizzy anymore, my vision is clear, and I’m not overly sleepy. Best of all, my headache is finally fading.”

  “I was worried when you were out for so long. I wondered what I would do if you had…” Her words faded away.

  “Died?” offered 4B. She said it so matter-of-factly, like it was a perfectly reasonable alternative. 4B’s lack of emotion rattled Nora. Maybe that’s why 4B thought she was broken inside. Nora, who seemed to be feeling for the both of them, nodded and swallowed as unexpected tears sprang to her eyes.

  “I couldn’t stop thinking about it, especially after—” she cleared her throat, “—after going down into the ravine. When I came back up, all I did was hold your hand to make sure you knew I was there. But, really, I think I was holding it so you wouldn’t leave, too. I couldn’t stop thinking about what I would do if... if…”

  Nora couldn’t finish her thought and wiped away the tear that slipped out against her will. She never cried. Now she couldn’t seem to stop.

  “How awful,” said 4B, with a shiver. Nora was glad to see at least some sort of emotion from 4B on the subject. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

  “It was purely selfish. I wasn’t alone. I didn’t want it to change.”

  They were quiet for a few minutes, their card game forgotten. The rain poured down around them.

  “Well, you did a good job of taking care of us both. You must have cleaned my wound before you dressed it. It doesn’t seem infected. At least it isn’t really sensitive. How did it look?”

  Nora sucked air in through her teeth at the memory. “I could see the bone under the skin.”

  “Bone, huh?” asked 4B, grimacing. “Can you describe the wound?”

  “It’s kind of shaped like an inverted V and about an inch-and-a-half long. It extends into your hairline.”

  “Was it a clean cut? Was there a lot of blood?”

  “Fairly clean. The skin flap settled down pretty smoothly after I cleaned it off. And judging by the amount of blood on your face, there was a lot at first, but it was just a trickle when I found you. It picked up again after I moved you here, and again when I poured water over it to clean it out, but it stopped when I put the bandage on it.”

  “It probably needed stitches. Do you think you got all of the dirt out of it?”

  “I think so. There wasn’t much on the wound itself. Most was just stuck to the area around it. There’s probably going to be a good scar. You’re right, I think it really needs stitches.”

  “It’s a little late to stitch it up now. But it’s under my bangs, so I guess that’s a good thing,” smiled 4B, pulling her blond bangs over the bandage. “Are there any more bandages? This one feels a little stiff.”

  “We have a couple. Are you sure we should mess with it?”

  “I think we should take a look at it. How do you feel about playing doctor again?”

  “Sure,” said Nora, retrieving the first aid pack she’d found down near the wreck.

  Nora washed her hands in rainwater, squirted some anti-bacterial gel on them, and rubbed them together in an effort to disinfect them as best she could before she gently peeled the bandage up. The most difficult part was not pulling the few hairs stuck in the adhesive, but she was happy to see the bandage hadn’t stuck to the wound.

  “How does it look?” asked 4B.

  “It looks better. It’s hard to tell under the dried blood, but it looks like it’s healing. We probably should have done this when we took our rain bath.”

  “Does it look infected?”

  “I don’t think so. Just that it’s been under a damp bandage for a while.”

  “There might be discharge, something other than just blood. Does redness radiate from the wound? Describe the swelling.”

  “There’s none of that. There’s a knot under the gash, which has a bruise around it, but no redness except around the actual cut.”

  “Does the knot look like it’s filled with fluid? You can press it to check, if you want.”

  “I don’t have to touch it. It doesn’t look like there’s fluid under it.”

  “Is there any evidence of fresh bleeding?”

  “Not really,” said Nora peering closely at the wound.

  “When you found me, was there any blood or fluid coming out of my ears or nose?”

  “Not that I remember. Not from your nose, for sure. I didn’t check your ears.”

  “I wish I had a mirror.”

  “Me too. Maybe you missed your own calling as a doctor. You sure sound like one with all of your questions.”

  “Maybe,” smiled 4B. “What I do know is it sounds like there isn’t any infection and I probably don’t have a severe brain injury. I’ll settle for that right now.”

  Nora wiped away the old ointment, applied some more, and then affixed a large bandage over it.

  “All set,” declared Nora, as she tossed the trash into the fire and sat down, settling her back against the log. The heat near the blaze felt good. She picked up her cards and started to arrange them again.

  “Ready for more abuse?” asked 4B, as she picked up her own hand.

  “I see you’ve mastered the fine art of trash-talk, Doctor Card Shark,” replied Nora, selecting a card to toss. “My training is a success.”

  Nora woke in the middle of the night. Something had pulled her from sleep. She listened, but all she heard were the normal sounds of the forest. Under the shelter, the fire had burned down to crackling embers and the gentle breathing of the woman beside her eased the fear that had awakened her. The plastic barrier 4B had put up rustled gently in the wind and she wondered if a gust had snapped it to stir her. Then she realized the rain had stopped. Perhaps the comparative silence had roused her. She settled back into the warmth of their bed and would have drifted back to sleep if not for her awareness of the arm wrapped around her middle and the leg thrown over hers. Like the night before, she and 4B had gone to sleep lying apart, but somehow during the night they had drifted together. The contact was familiar this time, but it elicited a new awareness that kept her awake.

  4B shifted in her sleep, pressing more firmly against Nora’s side, and Nora pressed back, careful not to wake her. She felt almost claimed by the possessive hold 4B had on her, and she liked it. She wasn’t sure she should, but she tried not to overanalyze it and closed her eyes.

  She was almost asleep when something brought her back to full awareness. It was the same thing that had woken her before, and she lay quietly waiting for it to happen again.

  There it was.

  A scraping sound against the metal of the wing. Just two feet away from her head. She tried to think what it could be. It wasn’t t
he familiar sound of the pine branches swaying against the shelter. It was too close to the ground. Nora stared into the darkness at the angle of the wing against the soil. It sounded like something was digging. It got louder. There was the sound of dirt being pushed away, then a snuffling grunt.

  “Bear!” she shouted and sat up, grabbing the longest, thickest branch from their dwindling firewood pile. She hit it against the wing as close to the sound as she dared to get. She yelled unintelligible words. She beat the stick against the metal so hard, it broke and she grabbed the longest half and began to beat it again.

  “Wh-what is it?” 4B sat up behind her, alarmed, still dazed from sleep.

  “Bear!” screamed Nora, continuing to bash the stick against the metal, swiveling her head to watch the open sides to see if the bear came around.

  “Git! Shoo! Go away!” shouted 4B, adding her own stick to the banging.

  Nora kicked, beat, and yelled until her legs grew tired and her arms grew weak. 4B did the same. She had no idea how long they railed against the intruder as they kept their eyes peered for any sign of it coming around to the open sides. When nothing more happened, Nora stopped, motioning for 4B to do the same. They listened for any sign indicating the bear was still around.

  Their heavy breathing and the wind whipping up from the ravine were the only sounds in the damp night air.

  “Do you think it’s gone?” whispered 4B, dropping to the ground and pulling the blanket up to her neck, looking around furtively. “Was it really a bear?”

  “I’m pretty sure it was. It sounded big,” replied Nora. Her voice sounded hoarse from the screaming. She crouched next to the fire, casting glances at all the open sides, and threw more wood on the embers in the fire ring. The fire roared to life, and she listened for further signs the animal was still lurking about. After a few minutes, she retrieved the travel flashlight from her backpack and, summoning the courage to poke her head out from beneath the shelter, she shone its pale beam into the dark. She felt extremely vulnerable standing in the ring of light cast by the fire, but she didn’t want 4B to know how scared she was. The flashlight barely made a dent in the darkness, but she could almost make out shapes around her. Nothing stood out as she tried to discern rock from animal. When she was convinced nothing was moving, she ducked back inside.

  “I think it’s gone. It’s pretty dark out there, but I didn’t see anything. I think we scared it away.”

  “God, I hope so! What happened? How did you know it was out there?”

  “It woke me up. I think it was trying to dig under the wing.”

  “Why would it try to dig under when it could have just walked around?”

  “I have no idea, but that scared the crap out of me,” she said with a tremulous laugh. Her adrenaline had left and she started to shake as she sat back down on her side of their camp bed and pulled the blankets over her legs. As she situated the blanket, she saw something near the log next to the fire.

  “How stupid am I?” she said kicking the blankets off and leaning forward to pull it toward her.

  “What?” asked 4B.

  “It’s my fault. I must have dropped this when I was putting the things from dinner away!” said Nora, looking at the plastic beef jerky package she held in her hand. With a disgusted grunt, she threw it onto the fire.

  “Do you really think it was after a piece of trash?”

  “Bears can smell food from hundreds of feet away. Leaving that lying around was like inviting him to dinner.”

  Nora scoured the area for anything else that might attract a bear.

  “Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it.” 4B rested a hand on Nora’s shoulder.

  “I thought I was being so careful.”

  “You were.”

  “Can you imagine what would have happened if it had come around to the open side, instead of trying to dig under? You were lying right there,” said Nora, indicating the open side of the wing. The only thing between her and the wild was a haphazard assortment of items blocking part of the opening. It wouldn’t keep anything out that wanted to come in. She felt so vulnerable and visible where they were.

  “I don’t want to even imagine it. You shouldn’t either. It didn’t happen.”

  “God, I’m such an idiot,” whispered Nora, as she sat back down on top of the blankets next to 4B. She’d endangered them both. She grabbed the sweatshirt she had left next to their pallet, buried her face in it, and fell back onto the blankets. “Ugh! Such an idiot,” she repeated. She was cold, but didn’t care. The adrenaline from the scare was still coursing through her veins and she wasn’t about to try to go back to sleep. Not after such a terrifying experience. One that she had caused. She felt so stupid.

  “Relax,” whispered 4B. Nora felt 4B lie down next to her, and the sweatshirt was removed from her face. Nora kept her hands in fists over her eyes. 4B coaxed one of Nora’s arms down so she could nestle close to her, like they’d been right before the scare. Nora breathed out and lowered the other arm, trying to relax for 4B’s sake. She stared at the light of the fire dancing on the metal above them. Her self-recrimination didn’t go away, but the distraction was helping.

  4B’s voice murmured close to her ear, making Nora shiver.

  “It’s fine now. The bear, or whatever it was, is a mile away now. The fire is blazing and will help keep it at bay. Don’t worry.”

  Nora hoped that 4B attributed the shiver that ran through her to the cold, and she reached down and pulled the blanket up over them. She felt the rapid beating of 4B’s heartbeat against her side. Despite 4B’s reassuring words, Nora suspected she was still frightened.

  “Yeah. Probably,” said Nora, tightening her arm around 4B, as much to calm herself as it was to calm 4B.

  “Bears are way more afraid of us than we are of them, right? As long as there’s no more food in here, they’ll stay away,” said 4B, patting Nora’s stomach. Nora focused on the hand resting on her stomach, the fingers of which were now rubbing small circles over the fabric.

  “There isn’t any more food in here. I promise,” affirmed Nora, concentrating on the circles being drawn on her stomach. She could feel the warmth of 4B’s hand through her t-shirt.

  “Relax then,” said 4B, and her words were soothing. Nora tried to release the tightness in her stomach muscles. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It helped, and she closed her eyes. The circles on Nora’s stomach became slower and larger, and Nora felt a sort of hypnosis fall over her. She was acutely aware of the woman next to her, but the repetitive movement was making everything else begin to fade away. The rain had stopped, but drops fell in sporadic rhythm from the branches above them when the wind blew. The fire emitted its own calming litany of snaps, pops, and metallic clinks when the fiery embers shifted in the center of the pit and the wood burned. All of it receded as Nora concentrated on the circles being rubbed on her belly.

  4B was motionless, aside from the movement of her hand, and Nora wondered if she was starting to fall asleep. Nora put the arm that wasn’t around 4B behind her head and tried to relax. The motion caused Nora’s t-shirt to slip up so a small swath of skin above the top of her jeans became exposed. 4B’s fingers slowed as they touched the soft flesh. Nora’s entire body responded as 4B paused, then slid her hand under the fabric of the shirt. Soon the circles were being drawn on bare skin. The warmth of 4B’s touch made Nora crave more.

  “Is this okay?” asked 4B, her voice barely a whisper against Nora’s throat.

  Nora was afraid to speak or move. She didn’t want the feather light caresses to stop, so she squeezed 4B against her in answer, hoping she wouldn’t take her hand away. Nora wasn’t sure what to expect, but she was willing to let 4B set the pace. Sure her voice would betray her, she nodded her head and buried her face in the hair on the top of 4B’s head.

  “Nora, I… I want…”

  Something in 4B’s voice made Nora open her eyes and peer down at the woman pressed against her side. At the same time, 4B looke
d up, and Nora saw a dark need shining in 4B’s green eyes. The expression pulled at Nora, compelling her to move. There was no time to wonder if 4B wanted it, but with their mouths so close together, she had no choice but to bridge the inch of space separating them.

  When 4B’s soft lips met hers, she was lost.

  Their first kiss was an awakening, so deep and consuming, Nora wondered how it was they hadn’t kissed before. 4B’s lips were warm and soft, gently demanding and breathtakingly tender. Nora rolled toward her and moved her hand along 4B’s neck, kissing her, breathing in the essence of her skin and body.

  4B’s hand inched up Nora’s bare abdomen and rested on the place just below her breasts. Lost in the kiss, Nora was still highly aware of the hand as it pressed its heat deep into her skin. Nora’s nipples rose as the caress slid further up, and then around, to skim the side of her breast. She experienced the tentative touch like an electric current across her skin, her sensitive flesh tightened in anticipation of where it would end up. She arched into the sensation and kissed 4B, trying to convey just what the touch did to her. When 4B’s hand finally cupped her breast, closing over it, claiming it, her skin felt like it was splitting open with an exquisite ache. She’d thought nothing could feel as good as that kiss.

  Breathlessly, they drew back, breaking the contact of their lips, freeing the moan building within Nora. She gazed into 4B’s heavy lidded eyes, which seemed to dance in the shadows, bright with secret thoughts. Nora could almost feel the heat of the gaze that held her in its sights.

  4B’s mouth moved like she wanted to say something, but then her eyes moved back to Nora’s lips. She seemed to lose her thought, and Nora watched, transfixed, as 4B leaned in and kissed her again, never giving voice to what she’d been about to say. It didn’t matter. Nora knew her need. She parted her lips and 4B’s mouth opened in return, sending a river of fire down Nora’s body. The heat from the kiss before was nothing compared to what she felt now. She never wanted to stop. She held onto 4B, pulling her tightly against her, cradling the back of her head with her hand. Their bodies melded into one another, filling in the spaces. They wrapped around one another in a way that felt more familiar than Nora had ever expected.