Free Accidentally in Love With a God (2012) by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Page A

my feet.
    Holy Virgin of Guadalupe. This was it. All of the planning and years of dreaming. And believe me, I’d had every kind of dream imaginable. Guy turning out to be a gargoyle, swallowing me whole. Then there was the one where he was a Poltergeist and pulled me into a giant cave where I was trapped for all eternity with evil spiders, although sometimes the spiders were clowns. I hated clowns. Too happy. That’s not normal.
    Then there was the dream where his body matched the voice, and I melted into a puddle on the ground, then evaporated.
    I cautiously pushed through the next wall of vines and brush. The jungle opened up, and I saw it: the cenote.
     
    ***
     
    The remaining light from the sky filtered through the trees, creating dancing speckles of light over the surface of the deep dark green pool that sluggishly churned with rotting leaves and other floating debris.
    I shuddered at the sight of it.
    It was enormous—about fifty yards across with a steep one-story drop to the calm surface. I’d seen photos of cenotes; they were usually covered with tiny plants and vines along the sides. This one was different. It repelled the vegetation, and the limestone walls were perfectly smooth and coated with a thick green slime.
    “Hello?” I called out. “Guy? Where are you? I don’t see the ruin.” Please don’t let this be a trap. Please.
    “ Emma, sweetheart, this is the hard part, but I need you to trust me.”
    “Trust you?”
    “ Jump in the water.”
    “Whyyy?” I was frozen on the outside, but inside, there was a personal apocalypse going down.
    “ I’m inside, Emma. You need to be in the water when you say the words.”
    My whole world inverted once more. Could this get any worse? All this time he’d been lying? “Wait. So, there’s no ruin? And now I’m supposed to still trust you and jump into the water?”
    “ Yes.”
    “No way! I’m not getting in there,” I said. Then the reality, the horror of the situation hit me full force. In short, what the hell was I doing rummaging through the jungle in a foreign country, about to free a man whose origins were completely unknown to me? A man who’d tormented me in every way possible; a man I couldn’t stop feeling I belonged to, yet needed to escape?
    Yup. It’s official. Emma Keanne, is insane.
    “ I’m sorry I lied, but you would’ve never come if I said the truth.”
    “Damn straight. Wait. Where…are…you?” I peered over the edge—morbid curiosity—but didn’t see anyone inside. I gasped, covering my mouth. “No. No. No.” This couldn’t be right. This couldn’t be possible! It was the one scenario I’d never thought of. All along I believed he was real, that he was not a figment of my imagination. But I was wrong—Flat Earth Club wrong. There was no one there!
    I dropped to my knees and began to bawl uncontrollably. This was bad.
    “ Why are you crying? You can do this, Emma.”
    “Because there’s no one there. I’m a lunatic!”
    “ No, you’re not! Listen to me—”
    “Prove it!” I screamed between hysterical sobs. “Prove this isn’t some psychotic episode.”
    “ No, Emma! No. Let me out so I can explain! You’re not crazy, I promise.”
    I ground my fists into the sides of my head. “What? Weren’t you going to explain everything now? Because now would be a super-duper fucking good time, my friend.”
    “ You’re being irrational. Let me out. We’ll talk this through.”
    The light bulb, albeit a glaringly red and bursting with giant flames, flickered on. “Oh, I get it!” I screamed at the water. “You never intended to tell me anything! Shit! Why am I talking to a pond? Oh, God!”
    I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep, the fear, months of stress, or the fact I was talking to an empty sludge pond, but I was certain my head was about to grow rocket boosters and blast off my body.
    I. Was. Snapping.
    “No. You know what? I don’t even care anymore. It doesn’t fucking matter. Maybe I