The Offering

Chapter 32

How could I have been so blind to what had been right in front of me the entire time? That had been my first thought when I'd opened my eyes. How had my common sense not to mention psychic instincts missed what was so incredibly clear to me now? The true identity of Clara's and Kim's heartless killer. Of course, I'd already know exactly who it was even before my eyes had opened, because Clara had shown me...

Inside my unconscious mind I found myself looking up to the sky above me which I noted was decidedly starless. There was just a single sliver of moonlight in the darkness, which sent beams of light radiating across the lake before me. The air was thick with moisture, as though at any moment a coming storm would unleash a torrential downpour. The kind the earth desperately sought after a long, dry Summer.

I jumped ever so slightly as I felt a hand enclose itself within mine, it was cold to the touch which had caught me by surprise. I looked to who the hand belonged to and saw Clara stood beside me, the expression on her face was nothing less than sheer terror combined with something which looked distinctly like guilt.

"I'm so sorry Alice," she insisted, squeezing my hand tighter within her own, "I didn't know this was going to happen," I could see the genuine panic in her eyes, eyes that seemed suddenly a little more human.

"What was going to happen?" I asked in confusion, instead of replying Clara let go of my hand, turned and extended her trembling arm behind me.

I turned to see where she was pointing and gasped as I saw another Clara stood by the lakeside. Only this Clara I recognised even more so than the one stood with me. It was the Clara I had always known. No sodden blonde hair, no bloodied floral blouse, no soulless black eyes. She was entirely human again, living and breathing and beautiful as always. Yet even from where I was standing I could clearly see she was filled with anxiety. She was pacing rapidly back and forth before a rickety wooden pier that led into the lake. She had her phone in her hand and was checking it every other moment.

I looked back to the Clara beside me in confusion, her entire body was shaking with fear as she watched which caused my own heart to leap up into my chest. Something very, very bad was about to happen. She knew it and so did I. More than that I knew exactly what that was. She had finally done what she'd been too afraid to do previously. She'd taken me back, back to the night of her murder. And we were both going to watch it happen together, right in front of our eyes.

"You have to wake up Alice, wake up now!" Clara cried, "I didn't know this was going to happen, I'm so sorry. I just wanted you to stop anybody else from getting hurt!"

Despite her pleas I couldn't keep my focus on the Clara before me, my attention was too intrigued by the Clara I saw in front of the pier. The Clara waiting in anticipation; I wondered if she knew the person she was expecting was going to be her killer? If that person was in fact who every inch of my being was screaming it to be-Jake.

I yelped suddenly as the Clara with me grasped my arms suddenly, her eyes piercing into my own as she warned,

"You need to wake up now Alice, please wake up. I'm so sorry for making you do this. I need you to wake up now before it's too late!"

I felt a quizzical expression fold into my face as her words sunk in. My attention was drawn back to the other Clara as I heard a sudden scream from behind. The scream itself was truly chilling, it seemed to reverberate deafeningly around me. I felt a visceral reaction in my stomach as I saw that the Clara by the lakeside was now led on her stomach. She was face down as a figure with it's back to me knelt beside her. It was too dark for me to make out very much at all from where I stood but from Clara's convulsing body and her close proximity to the lake, I knew that the identified figure was pushing her face into the water.