Audrey Blake is spiralling.
All she wants is to forget what happened last year. But, since that night, horrifying nightmares have plagued her and made it impossible to move on.
When one in particular shakes her to her core and leaves her questionin...
It's eerily quiet, the night completely still. She's in the exact same place where Adam was the night he fell over the railing. It could be him there, instead of her. But Adam is dead, and Saige is not.
Yet.
She hears the footsteps, but she doesn't turn. She leans against the newly fixed railing, the wood creaking softly beneath her weight.
"So much has happened," she says, as though she's talking to an old friend. "And it all started here." There's only one person she could be talking to. They had already arranged to meet here.
Carter.
She looks down to the floor below her, at the spot where Adam's corpse had been. The blood was cleaned long ago, but if you squint hard enough, you can just see where the wood was tarnished crimson. The stain of death still lingers.
"It's all so surreal," there's a catch in her voice. "Rhea's gone. Brennan's in a coma. Audrey has clearly lost her mind. I think it's all been too much for her. First Adam, now Rhea and Brennan. How do we move on from this?"
Silence settles over the Lake House like a fine layer of dust. Saige's raven hair hangs down her back, dark as an oil spill. Even from behind, it's easy to see that she is crying. Her shoulders heave as she takes in a deep breath.
She was clearly hoping for an answer, but none comes. The stillness becomes suffocating, the air is heavy with words that are left unsaid. She finally turns around to face her visitor, wiping her eyes with shaking hands.
"What are you doing?" There's no mistaking the surprise in her voice, as though she's shocked from their proximity.
The look on her face turns from sad to scared in an instant, like a light switch flicked on. Her eyes are wide and unblinking, her arms held out in front of her, a silent request to stop. She takes a step back, as if to get away.
But her back is against the railing, and there's nowhere to go.
"Look-," but Saige never finishes her sentence. A loud crack splits the air as she goes flying over the railing; the wood snapping from a hard shove against her chest. Her head smacks the same bar counter that Adam's had hit all those months ago. The sound is deafening in the otherwise silent room. She lands with a loud thud on the wooden floor.
Her legs are bent at strange angles. Crimson pools around her, spreading fast. Her body shudders a few times as she gasps for air. Blood pumps out of her head in a steady stream, a never ending scarlet river.
She looks at the upper level. At the person who pushed her. Her eyes are filled with resignation; she is aware that this is the end for her. But they are also coated in sadness and betrayal; she knows the person who has dealt this fatal blow. Someone close to her. Someone she cared about.
Carter.
"Y-you," she manages with her dying breath.
And then, she goes still, never to speak again.
"No!" I screech, my eyes flying open. My heart pumps loudly in my chest and a fine sheen of sweat covers my entire body. My arms are outstretched as if reaching for something, possibly trying to help Saige, to stop her from falling.
But, I'm not in the comfort of my bed. The soft warmth of my blankets is missing. My feet are firmly planted on solid ground. My arms fall limply to my sides, once again too late to save anyone. I glance around, trying to get my bearings.
It only takes a moment for my entire world to come crashing down around me. Because the sight I am greeted with is not the pale blue of my room. This one is dark wood and familiar in a way that makes my skin crawl.
I'm at the lake house.
I'm standing on the upper level by the railing, in the exact same spot that Adam had been before he fell. The same place Saige had been before she was pushed. The spot where she was murdered.
Carter.
The strong smell of varnished wood reaches my nose. The wind whistles softly outside, causing a tree branch to scrape the roof. I can taste copper on the tip of my tongue. No one's around and the silence weighs heavily on my shoulders.
This is the place where my worst nightmare came to life. It's where I lost my brother, where I lost myself. Why did I come here? Did I come here to stop it? Am I already too late to save Saige?
My answer comes before I am ready for it. The world starts spinning in slow motion as I take a step and look down. Something inside me snaps, like a rubber band that has been released.
There's no heartbeat.
Her eyes stay open.
A pool of blood in his lap.
She goes still.
The truth, better left buried, starts to slide into place like a well-worn key. All my suspicions crumble to ash, fading away into nothing. I was wrong. So irrevocably wrong.
I never tried to save Saige in my dream, as much as that is what I would like to believe. No. My arms were outstretched for a different, more sinister reason.
Carter's not here. But I am.
And, lying on the floor below me, is Saige Lancaster.
Dead.
Because I pushed her.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
