that’s exactly what happens.
Only this body is alive, kicking and flailing like a drowning victim.
“Help!”
The word is quickly swallowed up by water as the person goes under again.
Krystal and I immediately run to the water’s edge, but Jake pushes us both aside. Before the cops or any of the other students or anyone from the news crew that have just arrived could come to our aid, Jake is wading through the shallow end of the water until he has no choice but to swim out.
Antoine, who I thought was still over there with the cops, surprises me by going in, too. He and Jake swim side by side until they reach the person who had popped back up through the surface like a wayward buoy.
It’s when they get him to the shore that Krystal gasps. “Franklin.”
Instantly falling to her knees, she looks down at Franklin’ssoaked clothes and color-drained face. “Ohmygod, what happened? How’d you get in the water?”
She’s talking to him, but Franklin is too busy spitting up the icky green-tinted water that filled his lungs.
“Just hold on, man,” Antoine says, looking around. “The medics are coming over this way.”
And he’s right. A few seconds later, medics swarm us, pushing all of us out of the way so they can work on Franklin.
Krystal stares down at the spot where he was, even though she can’t see him through the circle of people working on him. She looks worried and scared, so I put an arm around her.
“He’s going to be fine. He’s puking up everything he swallowed so he’ll be able to breathe just fine in a few minutes.”
“How did he get in there?” she asks quietly.
“I don’t know,” I answer, but then I hear this deep laughter. It echoes around me, starting slow, then building as if someone’s watching a scene from a movie that is just too hilarious to do anything else but laugh.
I’m instantly freaked because I know nobody but me hears this. I keep my eyes rooted to the ground just like Krystal because I know that if I look up, if I search for it, I’ll find it.
I’ll find what’s haunting us.
twelve
“We should do something, Marvin. Why weren’t they chaperoned? Why wasn’t somebody else there to find that body?”
My mother is hysterical. If it weren’t for the fact that I’d never seen her look this on edge, her dark brown eyes wide with shock and repulsion, I could probably feel sorry for her. As it stands, I’m just tired of her dramatic performance. I’ve been home for a little over an hour, and already police officers have been here to inform my parents of what happened at the lake. Even though there was no need—I would have eventually gotten around to telling them. Maybe sometime next year.
This is exactly the scene I didn’t want to have to sit through. But here I am in the den, my back cushioned by the many decorative pillows on the Australian couch. My feet were propped on the corner of the cherrywood table until my mother had given me a stern glance—right between her tirade about the safety of her child and the inconsideration of the authorities to allow dead bodies to float around in public areas. Yep, she said they —the authorities—were inconsiderate. Could she be more shallow? Or more dense? I can’t figure out which one I’d rather blame it on.
“Calm down, Lidia. The police arrived as soon as they were dispatched. And I’ve already spoken to Chief Daniels.He’s going to make sure we have extra patrolmen around Sea Point for the next week or so. We’re perfectly safe here.”
“I don’t know,” she says, wringing her hands and pacing like an addict who needs a fix.
“Can I go now?” I say because this is just too much for even me to take. It’s like some form of punishment for something I didn’t even do.
I mean, really, I didn’t kill that boy. I didn’t gouge his eyes out and toss him in the lake. I was just there when they pulled him out. When the Darkness decided to show him to us.
And then there was Franklin. How
Only this body is alive, kicking and flailing like a drowning victim.
“Help!”
The word is quickly swallowed up by water as the person goes under again.
Krystal and I immediately run to the water’s edge, but Jake pushes us both aside. Before the cops or any of the other students or anyone from the news crew that have just arrived could come to our aid, Jake is wading through the shallow end of the water until he has no choice but to swim out.
Antoine, who I thought was still over there with the cops, surprises me by going in, too. He and Jake swim side by side until they reach the person who had popped back up through the surface like a wayward buoy.
It’s when they get him to the shore that Krystal gasps. “Franklin.”
Instantly falling to her knees, she looks down at Franklin’ssoaked clothes and color-drained face. “Ohmygod, what happened? How’d you get in the water?”
She’s talking to him, but Franklin is too busy spitting up the icky green-tinted water that filled his lungs.
“Just hold on, man,” Antoine says, looking around. “The medics are coming over this way.”
And he’s right. A few seconds later, medics swarm us, pushing all of us out of the way so they can work on Franklin.
Krystal stares down at the spot where he was, even though she can’t see him through the circle of people working on him. She looks worried and scared, so I put an arm around her.
“He’s going to be fine. He’s puking up everything he swallowed so he’ll be able to breathe just fine in a few minutes.”
“How did he get in there?” she asks quietly.
“I don’t know,” I answer, but then I hear this deep laughter. It echoes around me, starting slow, then building as if someone’s watching a scene from a movie that is just too hilarious to do anything else but laugh.
I’m instantly freaked because I know nobody but me hears this. I keep my eyes rooted to the ground just like Krystal because I know that if I look up, if I search for it, I’ll find it.
I’ll find what’s haunting us.
twelve
“We should do something, Marvin. Why weren’t they chaperoned? Why wasn’t somebody else there to find that body?”
My mother is hysterical. If it weren’t for the fact that I’d never seen her look this on edge, her dark brown eyes wide with shock and repulsion, I could probably feel sorry for her. As it stands, I’m just tired of her dramatic performance. I’ve been home for a little over an hour, and already police officers have been here to inform my parents of what happened at the lake. Even though there was no need—I would have eventually gotten around to telling them. Maybe sometime next year.
This is exactly the scene I didn’t want to have to sit through. But here I am in the den, my back cushioned by the many decorative pillows on the Australian couch. My feet were propped on the corner of the cherrywood table until my mother had given me a stern glance—right between her tirade about the safety of her child and the inconsideration of the authorities to allow dead bodies to float around in public areas. Yep, she said they —the authorities—were inconsiderate. Could she be more shallow? Or more dense? I can’t figure out which one I’d rather blame it on.
“Calm down, Lidia. The police arrived as soon as they were dispatched. And I’ve already spoken to Chief Daniels.He’s going to make sure we have extra patrolmen around Sea Point for the next week or so. We’re perfectly safe here.”
“I don’t know,” she says, wringing her hands and pacing like an addict who needs a fix.
“Can I go now?” I say because this is just too much for even me to take. It’s like some form of punishment for something I didn’t even do.
I mean, really, I didn’t kill that boy. I didn’t gouge his eyes out and toss him in the lake. I was just there when they pulled him out. When the Darkness decided to show him to us.
And then there was Franklin. How
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