I just wanted to be rescued. Not be lost at sea in my head.

I felt vibration on the bench. It was him. My rescue swimmer.

“Do you remember the last time we sat on this bench?”

I don’t answer.

“It was a year ago.”, he says rubbing his hands from the cold Winter weather, “We were talking about… How good ice cream was. I mean, of all the things, ice cream. Why can’t life be that simple anymore?”

“Brian, I…feel like I killed her.”, I say shivering from the cold.

He takes off his jacket and rests it on my freezing body. But he kept his arm around me and whispered, “Maddie, you didn’t make her take drugs.”

“But I could’ve been more watchful of her.”

“No one expected this.”

“That doesn’t make it hurt any less.”, I start crying, he takes his other arm and pulls me in closer.

“It’s okay to cry.”

I was rescued.