The dead don't come back.
When I was a little girl, maybe four or five, I remember my mom patiently explaining this to me as we buried my pet hamper in the backyard. I was crying, because I was confused. Why was NomNom sleeping for so long? Why wasn't he waking up? Why had my mom insisted we make him a cute bed of paper towels and spare fabric and flowers and bury him in a shoebox by the daffodils? How could he see? How could he breathe?
"You see, Samantha," Mom said, "sometimes when animals get very sick or very old, they go to sleep and never wake up again."
"Never?" I asked, sniffling.
"Never." She took my hand, and together we said goodbye to NomNom and began to shovel dirt on top of him. I still don't know why we were saying goodbye. I still didn't understand how something could sleep forever. Even when I was really tired, I woke up eventually.
"But what if he's different?" I asked. "What if he's really just sleeping?"
"He's not coming back, pumpkin. He's dead now. The dead don't come back."
I swallowed, and things clicked far too quickly in my too-young brain.
"Do people die, too?" I asked.
She paused. I remember the way she looked at me like she was trying to figure out whether or not to tell me the truth. I could feel myself teetering on the edge of something vast and terrifying at that moment, and her answer would either pull me back to safety or push me over the edge.
"Yes," she finally said. "People die, too. And just like NomNom, they don't come back."
I thought for years that she'd decided to tell me the truth.
Only now am I realizing that it was a lie.
Because when I pushed Rachel into the lake and she didn't come back up, I knew she was dead. She wasn't coming back.
Except, the next day, she did.
YOU ARE READING
The Undrowned
HorrorSamantha and Rachel used to be friends. But then Rachel betrayed Samantha... and Samantha decided to make her life a living nightmare. Then one day, Samantha and Rachel found themselves in a fight by a lake. Samantha pushed Rachel...and watched as R...
