What Lies Beneath

Six

The sun was still up, but the evening sky was rushing in; a tinge of orange drowning out the cloudy blue skies overhead. It was just enough daylight to guide me to the lake before the darkness settled in. There weren't any cops around either. Well, from what I could see. It was possible the area was no longer of use. That at least gave me some sort of comfort.

Now, if only my visions would just cooperate.

"Come on, there's got to be something else you can give me. Anything." My eyes were glued to the police tape—half of which had fallen onto the ground—that was still partially sealing off the area. In between my thumbs, was the same black material I'd found outside Christian's car that day. Somehow, it'd been forgotten in one of my sweater pockets.

I should have just left it there. The damn thing was useless. I didn't know why I bothered anyway. Something else I'd learned about my visions was there was one vision per object. I'd never experienced two different visions from the same object. As for specific areas, it was all a gamble. It was one of those annoying adjustments that I couldn't figure out.

I dropped the piece of material at my feet and squatted as low as I could go. Then, I pressed my hand to the dirt with a sigh. It was dry and hard. Much like how it felt when I'd first picked the material up that day. My adrenaline was pumping faster than I could manage. I breathed in slowly and closed my eyes, spreading my fingers out.

If the piece of material wouldn't give me anything to go off, then I could only hope that the spot I'd found it in would give me something. Most of the time, my visions caught me off guard. Connecting with the scene was a way to try and get them to cooperate with me. That method didn't always work. But it helped to some extent. Sometimes.

I had tried using the lake as leverage. But there was a certain calmness to the lake that wasn't present the day Emerald's body was found. Something silent but loud. Empty but full of answers. Still, it wasn't as dreadful as what I felt that day. But it was just as powerful. Perhaps, it was because Emerald's body had been removed—her death still lingered but not as strong.

Oftentimes, negative emotions were tied to the location's corpses were discovered in. Few died peacefully. And depending on the circumstances of their deaths, I'd learned, some of them left a stronger connection behind than others. The emotions tied to their place of death was even worse because they were permanent; Emerald's death would have a stronger presence there.

"Okay, Tyler. You can do this. Have patience. And just breathe. . ." I coaxed myself and focused on the noises around me. The soft winds filling my ears. The leaves swishing around on the trees behind me. The lake's water pushing back and forth against the edges, slow and gentle. Everything that helped me clear my mind.

What did I remember from my first vision? There were gasps. And footsteps. Right. There were footsteps walking in the opposite direction of the lake after, what I assumed was the body, was dumped. The footsteps were heavy. Like that of someone who couldn't have weighed any less than one-hundred-and-ten pounds. There was also the silhouette and their gloves.

A shiver shot through my limbs.

I opened my eyes and stood up straight again, walking closer to the lake's edge. My eyes zoned in on the crystal-clear water staring back at me. If I recalled correctly, the hooded figure began walking back through the woods from somewhere around this point. All I needed to do was retrace their steps in the same way they appeared in my vision.

"Hmm, so you dumped the body here. Then, you walked back this way"—I turned and walked forward, ducking under the remaining police tape, until I entered the narrow trail leading into the woods—"and you passed this branch, where a piece of your glove got caught, ripped off, then landed near the lake."