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“Mama, what happened?” she asks weakly, her small body melting into mine.
I grab her and hold her to my chest, my body shaking from fear and adrenaline as I sob into her hair. “Nothing, baby girl. Nothing. You’re okay. That’s all that matters now. You’re okay, you’re okay.”
“Where did Irene go?” Georgia asks, her voice hoarse from coughing up the lake.
I feel the color drain from my face, and I turn toward the lake behind me, my eyes scanning the surface of the dark water.
That’s when I see her.
Floating face down in the lake.
Her pink frilly nightgown is like a piece of driftwood around her.
“Stay here, Georgia. Don’t move. Just stay right here until I come back,” I tell her, hugging her hard before racing back into the lake.
The lake that might possibly have become a graveyard tonight.
I swim as fast as I can, reaching Irene within moments. I grab her the same way I grabbed Georgia and fight like hell to get us both back to shore.
My energy is fading fast, and I practically throw us both down onto the shore. Irene’s body hits the ground with a loud thump next to mine as I struggle to catch my breath.
“Turn around, Georgia,” I beg her when I see her staring at Irene with wide eyes.
Grabbing Irene’s still body, I listen for breath, the same way I listened for Georgia’s, and I hear nothing.
I go through countless rounds of CPR. But Irene’s body doesn’t spring back to life like Georgia’s did.
Her body remains motionless, suspended forever in this state. Her hazel eyes staring into the abyss of the night sky, the full moon reflecting through them.
That’s when the reality of it finally sinks in. I bring Irene’s lifeless body to my own, crying harder than I’ve ever done before as I rock her and hold her close to my body.
“I’m so sorry, Irene. I’m so sorry,” I whisper to her, my tears getting lost in her dark, wet hair.
Georgia whimpers behind me, and I feel as though my heart is flayed open.
Overwhelming panic fights common sense as I realize what I must do.
I can’t let Georgia get taken away from me. Everyone will think this is Georgia’s fault because of her sleeping spells. Even thoughshe has no control of them, she still walked into the lake, the dominos of cruel fate following in her wake.
I cannot be taken away from my daughter.
So we must lie.
I brush Irene’s damp hair away from her face, closing her eyes forever with the palm of my hand, then I walk her back into the lake and leave her there.
Everyone will think she accidentally drowned.
I can’t save her now, but I can save myself and my daughter.
If that makes me the worst person—the worst mother—in the universe, then so be it. I’ll surrender my soul to Hell before I let my own child grow up without me.
I walk out of the lake, leaving Irene’s body floating behind me. I wrap Georgia’s shaking body into my arms and walk back into the house with one thought playing in my head over and over again.
I just killed my best friend’s daughter . . . to save my own.
28
Georgia
