Shade Strong

Chapter Four: Grand Bay

Zillah walked into the air conditioned mall with a handful of completed applications. Today would be better than last week, she told herself. Britt had made sure to tell everyone from JC Penny's to Sunglasses Hut that Zillah was "the worst employee ever." Zillah had tried other stores, but no one was hiring for the summer. They all informed her that she'd have better luck waiting until winter and the holiday season. In a last ditch effort to get any position she could, she had filled out applications for stock room help, hoping that someone would need extra help with their shipments.

Next she stopped by all the stand alone stores: Target, Kohl's, Pier One, even Publix. Nothing. She sighed. She'd try Walmart tomorrow and then maybe the restaurant circuit. How frustrating to be competing with 19 year olds for jobs. Why had she even bothered with a degree? It was useless. She closed her eyes, touched the adderstone necklace she was wearing and tried to calm down and look on the bright side. Genevieve had given her back the necklace after a fight they had last week over Zillah's abrupt exit at her birthday dinner. Genevieve had called Zillah selfish and cruel for leaving early because she was pissed over a stupid career book. Zillah hadn't felt ready to share the real reason why she left, so she'd lied saying she'd gotten upset about the book. Genevieve hadn't seemed to mind until she'd spoken to Reynardine Applewood about his and Zillah's chance meeting at the Raceway. Apparently leaving a birthday dinner was fine as long as you didn't embarrass your sister in front of her crush on the way home. Zillah had no idea what she'd done to embarrass Genevieve. She'd barely spoken to Reyn, but obviously it was enough to set Genevieve against her. She'd driven over to Zillah's house and screamed at her, throwing the necklace at Zillah before storming off. Grim had growled at Genevieve, but Zillah held his collar to keep him in place. Once Genevieve was gone, Zillah had picked up the necklace feeling doubly rejected by her. Evie wasn't really her sister and now she'd even rejected Zillah's gift, the one she'd made as a reminder to Evie of who she was. She knew she was being irrational, but it felt like the necklace was a final peace offering to Genevieve. That she could so easily disregard it hurt.

As Zillah clutched the necklace she tried to ignore her hurt and focus on this afternoon. Evie's AP summer class was cancelled for this afternoon and Zillah had invited her to go out to Grand Bay. She had nothing to say to her parents, who hadn't bothered calling her either, but she felt bad about Genevieve. They would never really be sisters, but Evie was only seventeen. She wasn't to blame for Zillah's childhood, and Zillah felt that if she cut herself off completely from Evie when their last conversation had been a fight, she'd always feel guilty. Today they'd go out to Grand Bay and when they got to the top of the tower, Zillah would tell her the truth. If Genevieve wanted to keep in touch after that, it would be up to her. If not, Zillah could move on without regret.

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Zillah stretched her legs as she got out of the car. She heard Evie's door slam shut on the other side and tried to breath calmly stamping down her irritation. Evie had refused to come if Zillah brought Grim, so she'd had to leave the dog behind, much to his dismay. Grim growled and barked like a hellhound when she'd locked him inside the house. She'd wanted his presence as a support in case things went badly today, but she understood Evie's concern. It's not like her and Grim had gotten used to each other, and he was an intimidating dog. Genevieve had spent most of the ride in silence, only speaking up when Zillah asked after Evie's current crush Reynardine Applewood.
"Reyn is doing fine. Why?" Evie had asked accusatorially.
"Just trying to make conversation." Zillah had replied.
Evie's eyes had been narrow, but as they continued to talk she couldn't help the dreamy look in her eyes. She clearly had it bad for this guy. Zillah couldn't fault her for it either. Reyn was gorgeous, but there was something about him that seemed dangerous to Zillah. A restlessness that made him both more attractive and less trustworthy. Zillah was glad for Evie's sake that her connection with him would be over in a few weeks once she finished the class.
Zillah closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of Grand Bay. This was one of her favorite places in the Valdosta area. The forest/swamp was home to alligators, birds and every insect you could imagine. Time seemed to move more slowly here and it had an other worldly sense. Evie sighed loudly bringing Zillah back from her wondering. She looked at Evie and smiled.
"Beautiful day."
Evie looked around and nodded in agreement. The shared smile on her face gave Zillah the first real sense of connection with her in months. She felt more sure about her plans for the day and started towards the walkway as a leisurely pace. Evie fell into step beside her and for a while they walked in silence stopping to watch the movements of the marsh water and the sway of the foliage.
It took about an hour to get to the observation tower at the end of the walkway. Zillah's heartbeat picked up when she saw it. Her plan was to wait until they were up at the top of the tower before confessing to Evie what she'd found in the study. She'd rehearsed her speech several times but as they neared the tower her mouth became dry and each swallow was an exaggerated effort.
There was a break in the walkway near the tower that allowed the Grand Bay staffers to walk out to the edge of the water. It was off-limits to visitors but most of the local kids had a game to see how close to the water you were braver enough to go. The bravest, and stupidest, kids would walk all the way out there and touch the water. This was a common feeding area for the alligators so walking out there and touching the water was asking to be alligator bait. Evie had never liked the game. She'd cried when Zillah, who was often foolhardy, had first taken her out there and touched the water. Evie swore if she ever saw Zillah do that again she'd tell their parents. Even now, as they passed the entrance to the staff walkway Zillah saw Evie tense. She smiled. Maybe with enough shared memories from the past they would find a way to be friendly in the future. Zillah hoped so.
They walked up the steps to the observation deck, stopping halfway to check a spot in the distance where several alligators usually could be seen. There was nothing there at the moment, so they kept walking up to the top. The top of the observation deck had a fence made of metal grate about seven feet tall all the way around it. There was a shorter wooden railing about three feet tall that wrapped around the inside of the larger fence. When you stood next to the fence and focused on the marshy water down below, you could almost render the fence invisible. Zillah and Evie enjoyed a moment's silence while they stared out at the beauty beneath them.
Finally Zillah knew it was time to talk.
"Evie, I didn't leave your birthday dinner because of the book."
Evie turned, as if she hadn't been listening. "What?" She asked.
"I said, I didn't leaving because of the book. At your birthday dinner."
Evie just stared at Zillah. Zillah sighed and motioned to the bench. "Sit down and I'll explain."
Evie sat.
Zillah explained about the will on Evie's father's desk and what it meant. As she spoke Evie looked into her eyes but she didn't express any emotion Zillah could detect.
"Do you understand?" Zillah finished, searching Evie's eyes for any response she could find. Evie looked away and out at the Bay.
"You've been looking for a way out forever. You must be happy." Evie said flatly, still looking out at the water.
Zillah was still for a minute. "What do you mean?" She questioned, worried she wouldn't like the answer.
Evie took in a deep breath. "You never wanted to be part of this family. You must be so pleased. You really are as different as you always wanted to be."
Zillah was floored both by the words and the cold, indifferent way they were delivered.
"I never wanted-" she started.
Evie snorted. "Oh please. Every time mother or father praised any of my accomplishments you would roll your eyes like we were all idiots." She abruptly got up and started down the stairs.
"Evie!" Zillah called, but Evie was already halfway down the tower by the time Zillah took her first step. She rushed to catch up to Evie, but by the time she was close enough to talk Evie was at the staffer entrance. She turned towards Zillah. "Look at me! I'm Zillah Stark, and I'm not afraid of anything!" Evie called out, opening the staffer entrance and walking out on the service walkway. Zillah stopped in surprise, Evie had never gone out there before.
Evie walked straight out to the end of the service walkway shouting, "I'm Zillah Stark and I'm so much better than my stupid family." She knelt at the edge of the water and splashed the water up in Zillah's direction. "Look at me, all brave and special, unlike my stupid, scaredy-cat little sister. Oh wait, not my sister! Shocker! Guess I don't have to care about anyone but myself now. Not that I ever cared in the first place!" She brought both hands into the water, splashing water all over herself in such an unexpected tantrum Zillah was stunted silent. She stood there holding onto the entrance gate, astonished by what she was watching. There was only one reason for such an out of character reaction: Evie cared. Zillah's eyes watered as she tried to speak around the lump in her throat. There were stars in her eyes as she cleared her throat and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she heard a growl, a snap and a huge splash. She looked up but Evie wasn't on the walkway anymore.
Zillah opened the gate and ran towards the edge of the water, sliding to her knees next to the edge searching the ripples. As she leaned forward her adderstone necklace came free from under her shirt. It caught the light and she looked through the hole in its center to see an alligator under the walkway closing in on her with its mouth wide open. She snapped back, and the alligator's teeth shut on air and marsh grass.
"Evie!!" Zillah screamed frantically as the surface of the water broke less than five feet away and Zillah saw her sister's head. Evie's left arm flailed up and she screamed, trying to pull her right arm away from what appeared to be another alligator.
Before Zillah had time to think about what she was doing she scrambled up to a crouching position and jumped into the water aiming for the gator attacking Evie. The force of Zillah's jump and added weight combined with the alligator's grip and sharp teeth broke Evie's arm on impact. She screamed and took in great gulps of water and weeds as the gator dragged her under water again. Zillah tried desperately to keep hold of the alligator attacking Evie but was wrenched away when something clamped down on her right leg. She had forgotten about the other alligator. She lost her grip on Evie's attacker and turned to free herself from the gator attached to her leg. She couldn't see anything in the murky water so she felt about her leg until she found teeth and tried to pry them off of her. When that didn't work, she tried to punch the gator or kick it in the head, but the angle was awkward and she was losing oxygen.
She lost track of how long she fought with the alligator, but somewhere in her mind she knew she was losing. As the alligator dragged her down lower and pinned her to the bottom of the Bay she thought how soft the ground was. Then she wondered if Evie had survived. Then she saw a twinkling light in front of her eyes. Then she died.