"What time do you want to go to your aunt's?"
"Eleven?"
"Sounds good." Simon gave me a quick peck on the lips and gave Sarah a smile. "See you ladies tomorrow."
We made our way up the stairs and I stopped in front of Sarah's room. "Want me to come in? We can talk about what happened tonight."
Sarah shook her head. "I'm exhausted. And I can't think about Grant anymore tonight. I just want to get through tomorrow and then go back to school and forget that tonight ever happened. I'm ready to move on. I don't want to dwell on it anymore."
"Okay. But what about tomorrow? I assume you're not going over to Grant's."
"I told Grant that I was just staying here tomorrow. He tried to argue with me, but he really has no say in it."
I hesitated, wondering if I should invite her to come with me tomorrow to see my aunt. I was worried that she would try to come inside with me, since I hadn't told her everything. But I couldn't let her wallow here on her own. "Why don't you come with me tomorrow to see my aunt?"
"No, it's okay. I don't want to ruin the first time you meet your aunt with my gloom and doom. I seriously just want to hang out around the house. Kendra said she'd hang out with me. We're going to eat ice cream and watch movies all day."
I silently thanked Kendra for her kindness, having a feeling that as young as she was, she was perceptive enough to figure out what was going on between Grant and Sarah.
"Okay, but if you need to talk or anything tonight, just come over and wake me up. Any time."
Sarah gave me a small smile. "I will. But with the amount of wine I drank tonight, I have a feeling I'm going to pass out right away."
After Sarah had closed the door behind her, I made my way into my room. I changed out of my dress and washed the makeup off my face until the regular Caitlin was staring back at me. I looked at myself critically in the mirror. Maybe the regular Caitlin was okay. Simon certainly seemed to think so.
I turned off the light and snuggled under the comforter. I wondered when Simon would go to bed. I wished that he was here with me. I had felt so safe in his arms the night before. That was my last thought as I drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
His eyes widened in fear and shock, bulging out as he struggled against his assailant. Bubbles were streaming out of his mouth as he reached up, pushing and scratching. His face was red from the strain and looked distorted in the water.
I screamed but no sound came out. No, no, this couldn't be happening. Not to Simon.
The sound of water sloshing out of the bathtub as Simon struggled was the only thing I heard. I tried to put myself in the scene, to have my body materialize in the bathroom to try and help him, but unlike the vision with Claudia, I was just a spectator again, watching a horror movie.
His hands tried to grasp something to pull himself up out of the water. One hand grasped the side of the tub and the veins in his neck throbbed and strained with the effort to pull himself out, but the hands pushing down on his chest were too strong.
I could see him fading, see his effort to fight weakening.
Nooooo, I screamed in my head. Hold on, Simon! Hold on!!
Simon's hand faltered and he made one last weak attempt to save himself. His hand grasped the shower curtain, but it couldn't take his weight and tumbled down next to him with the force of his pull.
That's when I noticed the design of the shower curtain. It was full of puppies playing together, their faces scrunched up in different expressions. It was the shower curtain I had picked out with Simon.
But it couldn't be. This hadn't been part of my vision before.
No, no, no, no, no, I moaned, not understanding what was happening. Please let me wake up. Please let me wake up...
I opened my eyes with a shudder, feeling hands on me. I instinctively pushed back against the headboard, scurrying away from the hands.
"Caitlin, it's me," Simon said, holding his hands out to show he meant no harm.
I tried to take a deep breath, but my heart was pounding too furiously. Seeing Simon seconds after seeing his face contorted in my vision, gasping for air that wouldn't come and slowly dying, was too much for me. I felt like fleeing from the room but my limbs were too weak with fear for me to do anything, let alone run.
"Caitlin?" Simon asked urgently, reaching out to touch me but I instinctively flinched. He dropped his hand awkwardly and I just stared at him mutely, as images of the vision rushed over me.
The vision had been the same, except for one small important detail. I hadn't seen that shower curtain in the vision before. I had seen Simon being drowned, pushed down underwater in the tub as he desperately flailed against his assailant. Now I knew it was his vardoger. The horror of his face must have been not only from being drowned, but from being drowned by someone who looked just like him. How could someone process being killed by themselves?