CHAPTER 6

THAT DAY, THE ONE AT THE LAKE, WAS LIKE THE last day of summer…not just for Violet, but for everyone. And even though the calendar didn’t support that argument, the weather cooperated, ignoring the forecasts that had predicted summerlike temperatures, and turning sad and dreary by the following day.

Violet struggled to get through that first twenty-four-hour period. She continued to feel smothered, first by the darkness of night, and then by the oppressive gloom of that endless Sunday. She kept mostly to herself, staying in her room as much as possible, only half listening to the music coming from her headphones, and only half sleeping when exhaustion overcame her.

Jay called several times, and as much as she wanted to hear his voice, she avoided his calls. She felt like she owed him an apology for what she had forced him to witness, but she wasn’t sure what she could possibly say to him to make it better.

She felt like she was sleepwalking through those first painful hours.

The second night came, and sleep finally defeated her. She’d tried to avoid it, spending countless hours laying in bed and playing the what-if game over and over in her head. What if she had never seen those haunting colors echoing up from the water? What if she had chosen not to explore them further? Or best of all, what if she had just been normal, going through life in ignorance…blissfully unaware of the dead? She was exhausted from her own self-deprecation and inner turmoil.

But just like when she was eight, when sleep finally claimed her, it came at a cost. Nightmares of the dead girl drifted through the waves of her subconscious. Pale, lifeless eyes watched her closely whenever she closed her own. And no matter how shocking the images were, she couldn’t avoid them as sleep reclaimed her, again and again, until the dawn.

She went back to school too soon, but didn’t realize it until it was too late.

That Monday, as she ventured out, she thought the diversion would be good for her. Jay was relieved to see her, and even though Violet was still unable to ask for his forgiveness, his presence made her feel better…almost alive again.

He reached out to her and held her cold hand as they walked to class together. At any other time that simple gesture would have caused her heart to skip beats, but at the moment, it simply reminded Violet that she was still awake.

What she hadn’t bargained for was that what had happened over the weekend, at the lake, hadn’t happened only to her, or to the two of them. It was as if it had happened to the entire school. And every student who could get close enough wanted to talk about the events… They wanted her to relive it for them, over and over again.

How did Violet see her, the dead girl?

Did she recognize her?

What was it like seeing a dead body?

Did she think the girl had drowned? Was there blood? Did she see bruises?

Was she missing body parts?

The questions were endless.

Those who really knew Violet, her friends, were more sensitive but no less chatty on the topic. And their questions, for some reason, bothered Violet more than the predictably grim curiosity of the others. They were too personal.

Was Violet all right? Did she want to talk about it? Did her uncle say if they knew who the girl was?

She felt like concern for her was being paraded around like an exhibition, and even when she tried to change the subject, which she did as often as she could, they always managed to bring it back around to the topic they really wanted to discuss: the dead girl in the water.

Jay was the only one who understood her, the only one who seemed to know that she wasn’t ready for this yet. He stayed as close to her as he could throughout the day, and even though Violet thought that she should be trying to offer some sort of comfort to him, she doubted that she could have brought herself out of her own well of self-pity long enough to try. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He didn’t appear to be damaged the way she was.

At home, her parents were patient. They listened when she talked, and she did talk to them, but when she was finished they would leave her alone again. It was a cautious dance as they took great care to stay out of her way, and she wondered if they thought she were fragile or breakable. Instead of being grateful for the space they gave her, she felt annoyed that they considered her so weak.

Her uncle Stephen made regular appearances during that first week too, checking in on her and dropping off cookies that her aunt Kat had baked, the real homemade kind that didn’t come in a roll from the refrigerated section at the grocery store. Violet tried but couldn’t seem to find it in herself to appreciate the effort her aunt had made.

And then, almost simultaneously, two things happened that changed everything.

Just one week after Violet found the body in the lake, another dead girl was discovered.

It was exactly one week to the day.

Then, on the following day, and two cities away, on a Sunday afternoon, the girl from the lake-Carys Kneer-was buried by her family…laid to rest in proper fashion.

Once and for all.

And despite the fact that another body had just been found, Violet was suddenly at peace with the world again. She seemed to abruptly wake from the haze that had claimed her.

And she stayed that way…

Until the next girl vanished.

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