"Maybe it's for supplies," Bellamy suggests. "They have to get food and things here somehow."
"That's true."
I walk out to the edge of the rocks to get a better look at the ocean. Peering down, I see the water coming onto shore. Rather than the soft glitter-flecked waves rolling in like those in the distance, these waves rise up to white peaks and smash to the sand. The curve of the rocks and the shadow of the cliff overhead makes the water look darker gray rather than the crystalline blue of the rest of the sea. It's suddenly harder to breathe, and for an instant, it feels like I'm toppling down toward the sand.
A hand in the middle of my back stops me, and I look up. Eric's eyebrows pull tight together over concerned eyes as he supports me with his hand.
"Emma, what is it?" he asks. "What's wrong?"
I shake my head, trying to get the thoughts out of it.
"Nothing," I tell him with a tense smile.
"I know you better than that," he says.
"It's not befitting of ‘The Island’," I tell him, trying to put some humor into my voice.
Bellamy steps up on the other side of me and shakes her head.
"That's fine. Tell us what's wrong," she says. "What did you see that's bothering you so much?"
I hesitate, not sure if I want to talk about it. But they're staring at me, and I know if I don't let it out, the thoughts will keep digging into me, so I gesture down over the edge of the cliff.
"I was looking at the water, and it made me think of Greg. Or actually his body. I just keep going back to him being found at the edge of the water. I know I’ve talked about it a thousand times and tried to figure it out over and over, but it just doesn't make sense to me. Greg didn't like the water. He especially didn't like the ocean. It seems so out of character to me that he would go through everything he did and be discharged from the hospital only to immediately go to a place he hated,” I say.
“We've talked about that,” Eric says.
“I know. I know we've said it's entirely possible him hating the water is why he went in the first place. It was a way to confront the fears and blocks he had in his mind from before he was captured. It was a way to grow his character and get a new lease on life. We talked about all of that, and it makes sense. Really, it does. For someone else. For anybody else. But I just don't see Greg doing it. Even after everything he went through. Even after the changes I could see in him while he was sitting in the hospital. I just honestly don't see that being the thing that comes to his mind. There are so many other things he could do that would challenge him and prove he could move forward with a new perspective. Going straight for the water doesn't make sense," I say.
"Especially that particular stretch of beach," Bellamy chimes in. "It was kind of a random area. That area didn't have any kind of special meaning for him, did it?"
"No," I say, shaking my head. "We never went there. I never heard of him going there. I never even heard him mention it. And even if we're going to go with the theory that he chose to go to the water for personal growth or to make a statement to the universe or something, that doesn't explain that blonde woman. The nurses said she didn't ever come up to the floor to visit him ever and wasn't there that day. All we see of her on the security camera footage is her leaving with Greg, and if you pay attention, he looks really happy to see her. Who was she? How did he know her?"
"And why hasn't she come forward?" Eric asks.
"Exactly. It's not like they were cuddling or holding hands, but the way they were acting with each other wasn't how people act when they first meet each other. Especially Greg. They knew each other. And that means she has seen the news about his death. It was splashed all over every channel for months. If she turned on a TV, looked at the internet, read a newspaper, or went on the Metro anytime in the last year, she knows he's dead. She saw herself in that footage that was shown over and over on the news. Yet she hasn't said a single word.”
“Maybe she can't,” Bellamy says. “There is the possibility that she and Greg left the hospital together, and whoever killed him did the same to her.”
“Then why hasn't she been found?” I ask. “Greg was killed right out in the open. Not a single bit of effort made to conceal it or keep somebody from finding him. Why would the same person kill one person so publicly and hide another one, so she isn't found even a year later?”
“Unless they still have her,” Eric suggests. “That is a possibility.”
I nod. "It is. The problem is we don't know. It all comes back to the questions. It all comes back to not knowing, and that's the most infuriating part. If there was just one detail we could figure out. The smallest thing we could identify, we might be able to unravel the entire thing."
We stand in silence for a few seconds, staring down at the water, each lost in our own thoughts. Finally, I step back and shake my head. "Alright. That's it."
"What's it?" Bellamy asks.
"I'm done. That's all the thinking about that I'm going to do during this trip. I'm going to relax and enjoy being here," I tell them.
They grin at me, and Eric throws his arm around my shoulders, giving me a squeeze.
"Ready to start the trek back?" he asks.
"Absolutely." We start away from the
