More screams from the lake. Except…
Awareness shot through Jess and chased away the haze of memories and the tangle of troubled thoughts. Someone was screaming…and it sounded different now. Not playful, but panicked. She ducked her head into the opening in the window…and heard a faint but very clear shout for help.
Jess’s scalp prickled and a chill ran down her back.
One moment, she stood paralyzed, and the next she was barreling down the steps, through the kitchen, and out the back door. She paused in the backyard long enough to hear more desperate cries and spotted a trail that cut into the woods from behind Ike’s garage. Jess made a beeline for it, stopping every so often to make sure she was still headed in the direction of whoever was in trouble.
It seemed like she was running down a hallway that just keep getting longer and longer, but eventually the trail turned and opened up, providing a straight-on view of the water. Sweating and breathing hard, Jess broke through the edge of the trees and skidded to a halt. Scanning the lake, she saw someone splashing and trying to hold onto what appeared to be a small, overturned boat. Cries also came from a dock a little ways around the lake, where a lady was calling out to the person in the water. Jess took off toward her.
The woman noticed Jess first and flung an arm over her head. As Jess got closer, she noticed that the woman was older, her braided, pale-blonde hair all shot through with gray. In jeans and a white blouse, she was also pretty, and she reminded Jess of an old-time country-western star. A lawn chair sat behind where she stood on the dock.
“Can you swim?” the woman called, her voice strained with fear. “I can’t and my little guy can’t either, and I’m afraid Ben’s gonna pull Sam under trying to keep himself above water. I’ve called my husband but I don’t know how long it’ll take him to get here. Oh, God.” The words spilled out in a jumbled rush.
Jess’s boots pounded on the wooden planks as she closed the distance between her and the lady. “I can swim,” Jess said. “How deep is it?” She bent to unzip her tall boots and inhaled deeply, trying to get her breathing under control.
“Oh, I’m not sure. Not too deep here, but deep enough out there that they won’t have a chance of touching.” The woman paced, her hand against her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun. “Hang on, Sam!”
The minute both boots were off, Jess climbed down the metal ladder at the end of the dock. The dark-green water immediately soaked through her jeans, much colder than she expected given the warm day. Fuck, she should’ve taken the denim off, too, but it was too late to worry about that now.
“Oh, hurry!” the lady cried.
Jess pushed off with her feet against one of the slimy wooden pylons and swam as fast as she could. That it had been a long time since the last time she’d gone swimming was immediately clear, but she couldn’t worry about that right now. She couldn’t worry about the bite of the cold water or the drag of the heavy denim or that she was already tired from the uncharacteristic run from Ike’s house—not to mention the fact that she’d only gotten about two hours sleep before the noise of someone breaking into her house had sent her scurrying for a hiding place.
Legs kicking, arms plowing into the water, Jess pushed herself for long minutes until finally, finally she was close enough to talk to the boys.
“Hey guys,” she said in a breathy voice. “I’m Jess.”
“I’m Sam,” the bigger boy said, fingers gripped around a handle on the edge of the boat. “This is Ben,” Sam said. Crying, the little boy stared at her with wide, terrified eyes, his arms wrapped tightly around the other boy’s neck.
“Hi, Sam.” She swam closer, close enough that her hand grasped at the boat’s aluminum bottom. “Ben. Do you think you can—”
The little boy dove at her and clutched her around the neck. His legs wrapped around her belly like a vise.
Unprepared for the extra weight, she nearly went under. Jess grasped the same handle onto which Sam hung, pulled herself up, and shook the water off her face. Ben wailed into her ear. She had to get him calmed if she had any chance of getting him back to shore. She rubbed small circles against his back. “It’s okay, Ben. I’ve got you. I’m gonna give you a tow back to the dock, okay? But I need you to calm down first.”
“I caaaan’t,” the boy cried.
“He thinks he saw a snake after we flipped the boat,” Sam said.
Oh, fuck. Snakes were great as tattoos and jewelry. In real life, not so much. Jess schooled her expression and forced a smile. “Even if you did, he’s long gone by now. All the noise we’re making would totally scare him away.” Hopefully. Please, God.
Ben’s crying turned into a breathy whimper. “Weally?”