Captivation by Nicola Moriarty Page B

the ultimate sacrifice.
    Juliette grasped the railing with her hands.
    ‘There is no other way.’
    Carefully, she lifted one foot up onto the balustrade, then pushed off with her other foot, so that she was standing, precariously balanced, on the balcony railing.
    Juliette, STOP! Dammit, why can’t I grab hold of you? Why can’t I pull you back in?
    ‘Because I’m not letting you. Because this is the right thing to do.’
    It’s not, it’s bloody well not the right thing to do. For fuck’s sake, Juliette, don’t you understand you can’t do this? Please, baby, please, come back down, before it’s too late. Before you fall.
    ‘I’m not going to fall Danny. I’m going to jump.’
    DAMMIT, NO!
    All at once, Juliette felt a rush of wind surrounding her. Her body swayed and she prepared herself for the plummeting sensation as she fell, but it didn’t happen. Her feet stayed glued to the railing, and instead, her mind seemed to fly, speeding through mist, shooting through the world, with the sky and the earth tumbling around her, until suddenly everything stopped dead and she looked around her and realised she was sitting on a park bench in the middle of the botanical gardens. She gripped the wooden palings of the bench, they felt real under her touch.
    ‘What? What’s going on, where am I?’
    ‘I’ve brought you into my mind. Frozen time for us – just for a few minutes, so that we can talk.’

    Juliette looked up and gasped. There, walking towards her across the grass, was Danny, wearing dark trousers and an open-necked white shirt. He sat down next to her and Juliette felt the tears well up as she reached out a hand and touched his face. When she felt his skin under her fingertips, she dissolved into tears, and then they fell into one another’s arms and held each other close. This was completely different to all the times they had spent together in the apartment, touching and holding one another – even when he’d been whole again, there had always been a slight softness to his existence – an unrelenting hint that he was still just a ghost. But now, now he felt as real as the last day she’d seen and touched him when he was alive. He was solid, unwavering, warm to the touch.
    ‘Do you remember this place?’ asked Danny eventually, when they had finally pulled apart.
    ‘Are you kidding me? Of course I do. This is where you proposed to me.’
    ‘This is where I used to come. Remember I told you there were times when I returned somewhere special, while I was drifting in and out. Well, this was it. It’s not real – we’re both still back on the balcony. I mean, you are – I never really know where I am. But I recreated this scene in my mind, back when I was first lost. I conjured it up so there would be somewhere I could go to centre myself. To gather myself so that I could keep trying to contact you. Now, I wish that I didn’t. I should never have tried to come back to you. When I felt that pull from beyond, I should have answered it. I should have moved on.’ Danny’s face hardened and he looked down at his hands.
    ‘Don’t say that, Danny.’
    ‘Why not? All that I’ve done is destroy your life. I can’t believe you’re even considering doing this. You can’t, Juliette, you can’t throw your life away.’
    ‘Danny, I have no life. After you died, I died inside. I was already disappearing from the world, even before you came back to me. This isn’tyour fault. This is about more than that. The kind of connection we have – it can’t be broken. It’s that simple.’
    She gently stroked his cheek, then turned his face so that he was looking into her eyes. ‘There’s no point in me going on without you.’
    ‘But there is. Come on, Juliette, I know you. I know everything there is to know about you.’
    He stood up in frustration and Juliette couldn’t help but marvel that she was looking at her husband again. That she could run her eyes over his body, that she could just reach