Page 212 of A Curse On Black Lake
“Put your hands up!” Wyatt commands.
Eddy steps back away from Eliana. Wyatt aims his gun at him, and I start CPR.
Pressing on her chest, I beg that heart to keep beating. I need it to keep beating. Ithasto keep beating.
“Don’t take another step. Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head,” Wyatt commands.
I open her mouth and breathe in. Starting chest compressions again. It feels like it goes on forever.
“Please, baby, please, wake up. I love you, please don’t leave me, please,” I beg, my voice cracking as I continue.
“Put the gun down! Put the gun down now!” Wyatt yells.
But I don’t stop.
Then Eddy yells, and gunshots echo off the water.
I keep up chest compressions on Eliana and pause to breathe into her again.
“Come on!” I scream, going back to compressions.
“Wake up!” I yell as my hands force her heart to beat.
Then she coughs, inhaling sharply.
A hoarse sob bursts from my mouth, and I watch her chest rise up and down withlifeas her wide eyes take in everything around her.
“Thank God,” I mumble, tucking my nose in her hair.
“You’re here,” she rasps.
“I told you I would be, baby. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I’m so late.”
“Did it work?” she asks.
She blinks at me, and I lean back.
“What?” I ask her, confused.
I look at the lake, where Eddy’s body is floating in the crystal clear water. Blood flows from the multiple bullet wounds in his body, coloring the water with the red of his blood.
The lake changed color.
“Did it, is that … does that mean?” Eliana stutters, and she bursts into tears.
Unable to process what I think she means, I keep looking between her and the water, putting the pieces together.
The curse.
“Wait, are you saying someone had to die to lift the curse?” I ask her.
“I did,” she whispers.
“Eliana, why didn’t you tell me?” I ask her, angry, yet have no right to be.
“I knew you wouldn’t like it, and …”
“That wasn’t your choice to make,” I tell her sternly.
