Her Story

Chapter 23

I hear someone walk towards me but I back up. "I'll be over there. You guys have fun." I say and walks over to an umbrella set up near by. I lay down on a towel  under the umbrella and hides my face from the others my back towards them. My thoughts spiral through my head as I lay there staying out of the sun. I hear the sand move as someone approach me then sit down. "Hey." Ben says and I look over at him. "Why aren't you with the others?" I ask rolling over to face him. "Eh, I hang out with those guys enough already. Stepping away for a few won't hurt anything. Besides, I want to hang out with you and ask some questions." He says. I sit up and nods my head. "Okay, I guess. So what do you want to know?" I hum. "Well, I was wondering what that "Thing" was about. You know, what happened at school?" He says and I bite my lip and fidgets.  "Ok, forget that question." He says and smiles. I look up at him with wide eyes. "It seemed to be something you didn't want to talk about right now. But just know I will ask again another time." Ben says and I nod my head. "So, how come you don't have a criminal record for attacking Levi? You never mentioned going to jail or anything." He says. I smile softly. "Where I lived, Survivors cove remember, anyway they covered for me. Saying that someone broke in and attacked him. But they wouldn't let an ambulance take Levi to the hospital. One of the others had some medical skills so she fixed Levi up and my mother never found out. We all swore to secrecy of what actually happened." I say fidgeting with my hoodie. Ben nods his head. "You must know your neighbors really well for that to happen.  Do you know their stories? How they got there." He asks. I look up at the others as they play in the water. I watch Toby for a split second then looks down at my hands. "Yes. I do." I whisper. "Me and Levi would be at their house's all the time when mother was away for work. They told us how they ended up in Survivors Cove. Levi wouldn't remember any of them he was so little. They all adored Levi, especially our one neighbor. Said she had kids like us,  Missed them dearly. Said one was dead and promised us that one of those years she would take us to visit the grave." I hum softly. "Maybe later would you tell us some of their stories?" Ben tilts his head.  I chew on my lip, tearing at the dead skin till my lip bleeds. "I don't know. I have to think about it. They all asked to keep it to myself. In case the ones that caused them to be there would find out." I lie through my teeth. I had promised to keep those stories to myself, not in fear of their pasts coming back. More of who and the pain of losing them. Ben smiles and nods before getting up. I look at him as he holds out his hand to me. "What?" I tilt my head confused. "Come on, lets go hang out with the others." He says. I sigh and grabs his hand letting him pull me up off the the towel. Ben holds my hand tightly and drags me closer to the water. I stare at the water in fear and gulps nervously. The water laps at the shore like it's hungry. But I don't fight against Ben, I let him drag me. Once we get closer I hear someone quickly approach me from behind and scoops me up into his arms.  I look back to see Jeff smiling evilly and my eyes widen and he runs into the water till it's up to his knees before throwing me up and into the deeper part of the water. I cry out before the water swallows me. I sink down into the water and I struggle to get to the surface but I feel something grab my ankle tightly and drags me farther down and away from the light. I can hear muffled voices. One stands out through the chaos. But it is a lot clearer than the others. 'JD, Sister, Moon. Call for him, Call Zalgo and have him save you before you drown. Please I need you.' His call is broke off and I hear Zalgo's voice growl in my ear. 'JD, Heiress, Moon, let me help you. Please, me and Sun don't want to lose you.' He says. 'I can't, it hurts. Something has me, She is drowning me.' my lungs cry out for air. My brain fighting the signals my lungs send. 'FIGHT, DO NOT GIVE UP MOON!!' Zalgo snarls. I see someone swimming down towards me and they pull me into their arms and drags me to the surface. 'I..... I am saved. Someone saved me, King.' My head breaks through the surface of the water.