The Ever After

Chapter Seven: Light Underwater

THE LAKE WAS A GLOSSY BLACK HOLE, completely still. May stood just at the edge of the clearing, shining her flashlight on its surface, then on the surrounding area, looking for signs of movement. Navigating the briers had been easier tonight, knowing what was at the end of them, but her legs still itched from where she'd pricked herself. She bent down and rubbed at her calves gently.

Suddenly there was a rustle in the bushes behind her, and she swiveled around, pointing her light at a group of shrubs that shook back and forth.

A small figure emerged from behind them.

"Kitty!"

Somber Kitty waddled up to her and rubbed against her shins. May lifted him up, walked him to the bushes, and dropped him in. She pointed over his head, and he followed the line of her finger with his eyes. "Go home. Home."

"Meow."

"Don't play dumb with me." She stomped her foot. "You're gonna get hurt. Home."

But Somber Kitty wouldn't budge. "Fine," she said. "But you stay there."

May turned and started toward the lake.

"Ouch!" She leaped into the air, grabbing on to her foot with one hand and jumping up and down. Her flashlight went tumbling. "Kitty!"

She sank onto the ground and stared at her foot, disbelieving. Two twin lines of blood dripped down the back of her heel.

"What'd you do that for?!"

Somber Kitty sat down beside her and meowed pitifully. But he also tilted his chin up in the air defiantly. "Meow. Meay."

"Go home!" May yelled. She leaped to her feet and took a few running steps at the cat, sending him scuttling backward. But he turned around at the bushes and started to creep back toward her.

"Meow?"

"Leave me alone, Somber Kitty! Go home!" She waved both arms at him, as if she meant to hit him. Finally he went zipping back into the briers, disappearing down the path.

May crossed her arms and waited for him to come back, her foot aching.

Nothing.

"Go home!" she hollered again, but it didn't seem to be any use. Somber Kitty had gone.

"Kitty?"

May chewed on her thumbnail. She hoped he would find his way home okay. She picked up her flashlight from where it had landed, to look for her ghost items, which she'd dropped in the fray. But just when she did, the light died.

May shook it furiously a few times. "No," she moaned, her heart drumming. How would she ever find her way back home? 

She turned and looked back toward the lake. Now in the dark, and with Somber Kitty gone, she felt very alone. She ought to try to catch up with him. But now when she turned to face home, she could see a very dim glow coming toward her through the woods.

She backed toward the lake, panting, until she was just on the edge of the water. Her heels touched the liquid coolness. Click. 

May turned. With a sound like a giant light switch being turned on, the lake had come completely aglow.

Mesmerized, May took a few steps sideways, then stood at the edge of the water, looking down. She forgot about what might be behind her. Looking down was like watching a giant television. Way down in the water, someone—or something—was swimming. The figure got larger and larger, as if it was coming from somewhere very deep, toward the surface.

Something in May told her she should get away, but her feet stayed rooted to the spot. The figure looked to be a woman, now that she was closer. A beautiful woman with hair down to her toes that swirled in all directions as she stroked upward. She flipped and twisted as gracefully as a water dancer.

When she was only a few feet away, her eyes met May's, and she smiled. The woman came right up to the surface of the water, resting just below it. She beamed at May for a moment more, the most gorgeous vision May had ever seen. May herself had never felt so beautiful, or so lit up, or so happy. The woman's smile seemed to say, I see you. I understand you. I know.

And then her body began to widen and grow. As May watched, dazzled, it stretched into eight glowing points. Her eyes still locked on May's, the woman's smile widened, revealing not teeth, but fangs. A hot arrow of fear shot down May's back. She started to pull away. But not before one arm shot out of the water, grabbed her by the leg, and yanked her in.

As she was dragged farther and farther downward, May's lungs felt like they were going to burst. She could still feel the woman's hands around her legs, but she couldn't see her shape anymore. She was just a glow as bright as the sun, pulling her down, down, down, down, down. Down farther than May thought any lake could go. It felt like she was being pulled to the center of the Earth.

Then her vision started to go black, and her lungs relaxed, and May let go of the hope of reaching the world above. She stopped struggling. Her arms floated up in surrender. The light started to fade away.

And then she saw it—another tiny glow, way above her. As it got closer, she could see it was coming from the horrible ghost with the lopsided head. He was plunging toward her, his long bony hands reaching out to grab her.

Just as he reached her, May's vision went black.