“Sweetie?” Laura asked. Rebecca could only manage to look up at her, the color rinsed from her cheeks.
“Right up here,” Jack said. To Rebecca, it sounded like a warning, or maybe like a carnival ride operator — here we go! — just as he pressed the button that launched you up the coaster’s ramp, careening towards certain doom.
They trudged through a swampy portion of grass, recently churned into mud by police car tires. Yellow crime scene tape spread out in all directions like a spider web.
Rebecca broke free of her mother’s grasp and ran ahead.
“Rebecca?” Laura shouted, but Jack held her back.
“No, let her.”
Rebecca approached the burnt willow tree, split in two, its submerged branches creating a giant fork in the river, collecting leaves and trash. Jack and Laura stepped behind her.
Rebecca stood in awe, something she had only dreamed was now standing before her, as if she’d conjured it into existence. And then a horrifying thought occurred to her. If this was real, then what if he was too?
“Look familiar?” Jack asked. Rebecca looked back at him, her face white, her body shivering with fear. Feelings of Deja Vu and panic rushed to the surface, her face a merry-go-round of emotions.
“Tell us what you’re feeling?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know.” Rebecca’s voice was trembling.
Laura reached out to touch the tree.
“This is where she was found. Right here,” Jack said. Laura jerked her hand back, as if she’d touched something dead.
Jack placed his hand on Rebecca’s shoulder and knelt down before her, eye to eye. “This was the place you described to Leonard?”
Rebecca jerked away, but he held onto her gently.
“Let go,” Rebecca said.
“Rebecca, the other night, you said something to your mother about a necklace. You said you couldn’t find it. Do you remember that?”
“She doesn’t even remember me coming into the room,” Laura said.
Jack reached in and pulled out Carmen’s gold cross. “Does it look like this?” He held it up for Rebecca to examine.
Rebecca took the necklace. Her eyes went glassy, her mouth open. Jack had managed to pull something out of a dream. Rebecca recognized the necklace, the memories were a blur, but the emotions attached to it engulfed her. She knew in her heart this once belonged to her. “This was mine…”
Laura stepped closer. “What is that?”
“It’s my necklace. Jack found it.”
“You don’t have a gold necklace like that.” Laura turned to Jack, eyes sharp. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Jack slowly stood up. “I just wanted to see—”
“This was Carmen’s, wasn’t it? And you’re giving it to my daughter, for what? To convince her she’s crazy? This isn’t what we talked about. I wanted to help her, convince her none of this was real, but you’re trying to convince her it is! You’re only concerned with this case, not with my daughter.”
“That’s not true—”
“Carmen was my friend. But she’s dead. She’s dead! My daughter is alive. I foolishly thought this might help her. I thought if we did this she’d see that nothing would happen, that none of this was real and she was okay. So we could work through the nightmares. But you believe — you’re trying to trigger some past life memory to solve this case. It’s bullshit! And I’m a fool for agreeing to it, thinking this could help. I must be losing my mind.”
“Mom?” Rebecca said, her eyes wide and hurt, her lips quivering. Laura looked back at her. “You knew her? You knew she was real?”
Laura took Rebecca by the hands. “Sweetie, I was going to tell you—”
“You lied to me. It’s not in my head. I’m not crazy. She was real, her name was Carmen. All this time. You lied to me, you LIED to me!”
Rebecca turned and ran.
“Rebecca!” Laura shot Jack a look that could kill as they both gave chase after her through the woods.
All at once, Rebecca’s world began to spin. Her windpipe clamped closed, like some force was pushing her head down. She started gasping and fell to her knees. Laura and Jack quickly surrounded her.
“Rebecca?” Laura shrieked, witnessing her daughter spasm and sputter. She grabbed her by both forearms and crouched down.
“Mama! Mama…lo siento. Lo siento!” Rebecca shouted. Her voice wasn’t her own. Her eyes went all funny and distant. She saw flashes of something, like a waking dream, dirty hands reaching for her. Her body became heavy, the blood rushing from her head. Her eyes glazed and she fell head first into Laura’s arms.
“Oh God, Rebecca!” Laura held Rebecca like a clamped vice, as if a swirling storm funnel was trying to wrestle her body from her grip.
Jack held onto Rebecca’s twitching legs. Rebecca stared blankly up into the trees, her eyes lifeless, as if her body were just a shell. Then suddenly her eyes went wide, she shivered, staring intently upon something only she could see, something terrifying.
Then, as if a silent bomb exploded inside her, Rebecca let out a spine ripping, banshee-like shriek that made all the birds in the trees scatter. It nearly knocked Laura over like a punch to the gut.
Rebecca shielded her face reflexively, as if fending off an invisible attacker, her screams growing louder, more frightful. Laura had been through this every night with her, but never so pronounced, never so lucid. And this time, even with her eyes locked on her daughter’s, Laura couldn’t calm her, rouse her from whatever evil force was torturing her mind. Rebecca was wide awake, screaming, and Laura could only look on helplessly.
Rebecca convulsed so hard, spit started dribbling down the sides of her mouth. Laura cleaned it off with her fingertips as Rebecca’s nose started to drip blood.
“Rebecca!” Laura’s terror turned to anger, she turned and raged at Jack. “What the hell did you do?”
Jack swallowed hard. “Nothing. I had no idea—”
“You had no idea? You show her God awful pictures of dead bodies, criminal mugshots, put that fear inside her head. You bring her to the gravesite of a murdered girl, show her something she used to wear! What next? Show her the knife she was stabbed with?”
“No.”
“What the hell is the matter with you? What did you expect to happen? She’s a child!” Laura’s rage reduced Jack to an open mouthed statue, frozen, dead inside. One good tap and he would have shattered into a thousand pieces. Guilt curdled his stomach, his brain went tilt. He wanted to get it over with and die right there.
Rebecca stopped twitching. She rolled towards Laura’s breast and calmed. Then her eyes slowly opened and looked up at Laura. “I found you. I missed you so much. I’m not angry anymore.” Rebecca’s eyes were trancelike. Laura’s face twisted with confusion.
“Rebecca? Rebecca?” Laura’s voice was urgent but calm, she didn’t want to startle or frighten her into another episode. Rebecca closed her eyes again.
“I can breathe again now,” Rebecca said. Laura began rocking her back and forth.
“Yes, you’re okay. You’re safe. You’re safe. Oh thank God…”
Jack reached out to touch Laura’s shoulder, but then pulled back, unsure. He got up on one bended knee as Laura scooped Rebecca into her arms.
Laura placed Rebecca’s head on her shoulder and carried her away in a sprint; no clear direction, she just wanted to get away from Jack. Jack followed sheepishly.
“Laura, I’m sorry, please.”
Laura marched a few more yards and stopped out of exhaustion.
“Just take us home… please take us home.”
Rebecca coughed and opened her eyes. Red had replaced the pale milk color of her cheeks, the spell subsiding. Getting her away from the river — the gravesite, seemed to help.