Page 19 of Whispers of the Lake

That could’ve been a possibility. Cole could’ve stopped by and pretended to be concerned about her whereabouts so I wouldn’t figure out they were together.No.That was stupid. She wouldn’t go that low . . .would she?

Something slammed into the glass above the shower. I screamed, clutching myself as if that would save me from whatever was trying to break in.

“Rose?” Jayson’s deep, concerned voice carried all the way to the bathroom. He barged in, peering around with wide eyes. “What happened?” he asked.

“I—think something hit the window!” My voice shook as I pointed up. Suds clung to my chest and water poured over my shoulder.

“The window? You sure?” he asked, a frown taking hold of his features.

“Yes! It sounded like someone hit it or threw something at it! Shit, I need to get out.” I turned around and rinsed the suds away.

“Hold on, hold on. Let me see what it is.” Jayson left before I could speak again.

I swallowed hard, shutting off the shower and reaching for a towel on the rack. I wrapped the towel around my body and left the bedroom to get to the living room. The front door was cracked open, so I stuffed my feet into my shoes and walked out.

It was pitch-black outside now. Minus the porch lights and solar lights planted into the ground to reveal a trail to the cottage, there was hardly any visibility. Just trees, darkness, noisy cicadas, and croaking frogs.

“Jayson?” I called out.

“Over here.” I followed his voice to the right side of the cottage and spotted him and the rectangular window belonging to the bathroom illuminated with light. A sconce attached to the house was pitched next to the window with insects swarming around it. Something dark was flapping around at Jayson’s feet.

“What is that?” I asked.

“A bat,” he said, frowning down at it.

“That’s what hit the window?” I breathed a sigh of relief as Jayson stepped back.

“Yeah, looks like it. Probably tried going for the moths. Might be injured now.”

He walked my way and we both watched the bat thrash around. The left wing appeared a bit crooked. There was no way we could really help it though. Bats could carry rabies and all sorts of diseases.

“I’ll find something to use so I can move it. Come on.” Jayson wrapped an arm around my damp shoulders and led me back to the porch.

I couldn’t help peering over my shoulder at the bat.

The way it thrashed.

Squeaked.

Begging for help.

Begging for more out of life . . .

Just like Eve, the voice in the back of my head whispered.

Eve Castillo journal entry

I’m feeling too emotional today. For some reason I can’t stop thinking about a situation that happened when I was younger. I ran away from Abuela’s and went straight to Rose’s house. I burst into her room and had a panic attack out of nowhere.

It was the first of many to come.

She asked me what was wrong, what had happened, but I couldn’t give her an explanation. I remember feeling so overwhelmed. Something had triggered me. After calming down, I realized what it was. That morning, Abuela told me my mom was being let out of prison early. When she told me over breakfast, I shrugged it off and told myself I didn’t care.

But I think I glossed over my emotions. I swallowed it down and pretended it didn’t matter. The truth is that throughout the whole school day, I kept picturing my mom showing up to the building and dragging me out of the classroom by my hair right in front of my peers. I pictured her yelling at me, berating me, slapping me, mocking me. Blaming me for her problems.

Then I wondered if my dad would get out too. Would he find me? Punch me in the stomach again? Lock me in a room? Force me to get into the trunk of a car? Starve me for hours? That’s all I could wonder when I got home after school.

As I thought about it all, I only wanted to be comforted by Rose. I wanted to hear from her that I would be okay, then I wanted to hear from Rose’s dad Ben that they would never hurt me again. My parents lost custody of me and Zoey. They couldn’t just show up and take us away, and if they did show their face, the police would be called.

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