And I don’t need him to.
I swim back toward my dock.
My body is going numb. I need to get out of this water. Parker is standing at the edge, staring at me, saliva spilling off his lips.
“Stop this!” I beg.
For one moment, impossibly, he listens.
Parker reaches his trembling hand down toward me, his dark eyes pleading. I see the little boy he once was—lonely, lost, and for half a second, I falter—truly realizing the difference between him and me. I have empathy, compassion, care. But even deep down, those aren’t qualities he hosts. He’s a monster, through and through.
I snatch his hand and use my remaining strength to pull him into Lake Blair with me. The surface erupts between us, foam and rain colliding as he plunges under. I kick away from his sinking shape, chest burning, legs fighting to keep me afloat as the waves splash against my face.
Instead of swimming away, I dive on top of him. My hands slam into his shoulders, forcing him down. His weakened body bats against me, and he almost breaks free. But I push harder, screaming into the storm.
“This is for my mom!” I bawl, shoving him under the water with a newfound force.
My arms quake, but something holds me steady. I see a delicatepair of hands lying atop mine, and I know I must be hallucinating. But I hold on to the visual for as long as I can, feeling a warmth radiate through my body. When I look above the waterline, following the hands… I see her.
My beautiful mother.
She’s smiling with a look of determination.
You got this, baby girl,she whispers, and I don’t care that it’s only inside my head. It feels real.
I see her. I feel her. Among the chaos.
“I love you, Mom,” I sob, the words tasting like salt. I hold on to the visual as long as I can, knowing I will never see her again.
And that is all the motivation I need to end the man who took her from me. Because with one final surge, Parker stops resisting. His body loosens, and my hands release.
Mom is gone.
Parker’s body bobs on the surface, face down, half sunken, and he floats toward Sawyer Dam.
Guilt cuts through solace.
Why me? Why was I able to outrun him, to shove him under, when Mom couldn’t?
I tread toward the dock, thrust my body out of the water, and collapse on the wooden platform, the alarm still wailing from the house.
I can’t help but worry he’ll crawl out of the water and follow me. Like he was playing dead.
Still, I hike up to the driveway and break into a sprint for the Holloways’ house. The street remains sleepy, and I worry something went wrong. That the police aren’t on their way. But when I spot Madison and Amelia, huddled out of the rain on the Holloways’ porch, I hear a blooping police cruiser. I jog back out to the street, flagging them down.
“Here!” I scream, waving my arms above my head. Amelia limps over, Madison hanging on to her.
Two patrol cars skid to a stop. The first door flies open and Officer Wright barrels toward me, radio at his mouth.
“Dispatch, this is twelve. Arrived on scene. I need medics rolling, stat.” He approaches me. “Miss Bly? What’s going on?”
I can barely form the words, my lungs still ragged from the lake. “He… Parker Lane. He had us. I think he’s dead. Down at the lake.”
My words get bungled, fragmented pieces of the story flying out of me.
The officer behind him whips his flashlight behind me, blaring against Amelia’s and Madison’s faces.
“Wait,” he says. “Holy… Is that Madison Tory?”
