What Lies Beneath

Twenty-Two

Before

My mother knew something was up with me though I hadn't admitted it myself. She gazed upon me with her dark, brown, doe eyes. Her lips curved downward and her head tilted at an angle, trying to read me. It was a pattern we'd fallen into for the past three years. As my nights in Lake Bellinor grew more restless by the day, she grew more suspicious of the cause.

"Are you sure everything's alright?" That was the fifth time I'd heard that question in less than three hours. My algebra teacher, Mr. Bell was to blame for that. I knew my grades had been slipping but I had no plans on confessing that until I had the evidence to show her I was trying to improve. But he just had to open his mouth during the parent teacher conference earlier tonight.

"Yeah, I'm sure, mom." I fixed my blanket over my legs and cleared the scratchy itch from my throat—a failed attempt to make myself comfortable in a very uncomfortable conversation.

"Maybe we should look into a tutor for you. . ." she mumbled, gnawing at her bottom lip.

"Mom, I promise you I don't need a tutor. I'm fine, okay? I've just been a little stumped with all my classes. It's been hard adjusting to high school, you know?" Liar, the thought invaded my head before I could push it away.

Really, I'd just been ashamed to tell her the truth. The truth, that at fourteen-years-old, I was still hiding from the same voice every night. It was an odd dream that I couldn't escape, and it always started the same way only to unravel differently. Never starting until everyone in the house was asleep except for me.

My mother sighed and shook her head. "Okay. Fine, we'll talk about this more in the morning. Get some sleep until then," she said, turning. As she backed out of my room, she flicked the light off, leaving me to the darkness and my protruding thoughts.

I sighed and tucked myself further under the blankets. For the next few minutes, my eyelids fluttered up and down, until eventually, I drifted into a deep slumber. I wished I could say it was peaceful, but in this sleep, I opened my eyes in front of the lake again.

My bare feet were planted on the edge of the border where the land met the lake, nearly touching the water. My reflection, clear and unnerving, peered back from the water alongside the tall, old, lanky trees behind me. Around me, the sound of air flowing and the lake swishing, did nothing to calm me in this familiar territory.

Joining the soft noises was one particular voice. I could never tell if the voice belonged to a man or a woman. Whoever it was, they hummed the same beautiful symphony I'd always heard in this dream. It resembled the melody of a lullaby. Specifically, Rock-A-Bye baby. I knew better than to try and find the source of the voice. Like always, my neck wouldn't turn.

Instead, I found myself closing my eyes unwillingly, letting their soft tune trap me in. As if the scenery weren't eerie enough, the cool draft from the lake crept in, brushing the hairs on my legs and arms up. Shivers engulfed me. The cool draft was soon nothing compared to the fog rolling in. When I opened my eyes again, my view was still set on the lakeside.

"Set us free." The softest of whispers invaded my personal space. I tensed up.

The first thing I could think to do was fold my hands over my ears. But that didn't seem to work. In fact, the whispers were the least of my worries. Something violated my personal space in other areas. From my ankles to my wrist, I could feel hands touching me. Whatever remaining peace I had left flew out the window as my brain crashed into a panic.

"Get off! Get off!" was all I could scream in a rage of horrified cries. I felt my neck, my arms, and wherever else I could reach. There was nothing that gave me the impression there was anyone touching me, or even standing behind me, for that matter. At least from what I could feel.

My eyes dropped back down to my reflection in the water, eyes bursting at the terrifying image before me. I felt nothing. But my reflection said otherwise. There had to be at least ten hands caressing my body at once. I dug the heels of my feet into the dirt, trying hard to resist. The hands were much stronger.

"Augh!" I screamed as my body plunged head-first into the lake. My arms flailed frantically, and my legs kicked back and forth. I puffed my chest out to hold my breath. Above the water, there wasn't a person or anything that might've been heavy enough to knock me over. Where the hell had those hands come from then? My heartbeat could be heard for miles. The lower I went, the more I was sure that I'd begun sinking. 

The dream always got to this point before I'd wake up. I'd always thought of it as a premonition of death—whether it was my death or someone else's, I wasn't sure because I'd never make it to the end. Tonight was different though. I didn't wake up in a sweaty haze yet, wondering what the hell was going to happen next. I was still here. Still asleep.

A hand, from my peripheral view, pushed the bottom of my shirt aside. I trembled and squirmed in an attempt to shake them off. The action only brought them closer. Several hands—all multiple shades of colors—latched onto my boy. They slid over the right side of my torso. Then, more hands covered my left arm. Along my back, they gripped the base of my neck. I was now entangled in hands, attached to no clear bodies, from every side.

"Tyler. . ." Another whisper.

The humming was back; the same symphonic voice that calmed me just a tiny bit. My pupils dilated, squinting through the dark waters to trace the outline of the figure swimming towards me from afar. A loose white gown was all I could see. Then, the woman inside the gown—long black flowing curls, brown skin, and eyes filled with a beautiful amber brown—distracted me.

She was gorgeous.

Not gorgeous enough to stop me from freaking out but her presence freaked me out less. Slowly, her hands crept forward. I tilted my head away from her and shut my eyes, scared of what she might do next. To my surprise, all I felt were her hands. They caressed my cheeks in a slow, gentle movement that caused me to pry my eyes open. A close-lipped smile greeted me on the woman's face. The hands I thought were trying to drown me released their hold on me. My body felt lighter, and something beneath me pushed me up.

I floated to the surface as a light glared through the water, blinding my vision. It was so quick I didn't realize I was no longer dreaming until there was a shift in the atmosphere. My body jerked forward, eyes opening in a hurry. It took me a moment to adjust to the darkness of my room. My hands shot up, feeling around every inch of my body to make sure I was still whole.

"Goodness grief. . ." I groaned in annoyance when I saw the sweat stains seeping into my pillow. Shaking my head, I turned the pillow over, and laid my head back down.

Who the hell were those people? That'd been the only thought on my mind. And as I forced myself back to sleep, the question remained at the forefront of my mind unanswered. But even as the days continued on, every so often, those faces would appear before me again in my dreams.