Faking Sanity

Names (Ch.9)

        I remember. Absinthe, we were friends growing up for almost three years, I remember spending a lot of time together by the river but... I'm forgetting something important. Her tombstone says she died in 2005, I can't remember how. How could I forget?? We were so close, I suppose I was really young. But now I've finally gotten control of my legs, racing home, I ran along the road. glancing towards the water where we once played. Is that..? I slowed to a stop, leaning forward in disbelief before running down to the water. Black hair was floating in the gentle stream, a submerged girl drifting, motionless as her small body drifted, barely afloat. For a moment I only stared, unsure of how to react. Then a crowd of people strolled along the other side of the river, talking as they pointed out ducks in the gentle current. Am I only hallucinating again? But she looks so real... I shook my head, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, hoping that when I opened them that the imaginary body would disappear. I slowly lifted my eyelids, taking a step back and gasping in horror. She is looking at me. Her eyes were sunken, dark circles underneath the soulless eyes. Her lips were round, red. She looked to be seven? Eight? There was a trail of blood as she drifted along, her hands bleeding from several cuts. I couldn't turn away. I couldn't move, not because I was not in control, but because I was afraid. The little girl lifted her face halfway out of the water before seeming to collapse from the effort back into the water, her body sunk until I could no longer see her. By now I was kneeling in the gravel, tears streaming down my face as I realized what I just witnessed. This is how Absinthe died.
"Welcome ho-" Mom called as I tan through the for and upstairs, locking myself in my room and tripping in the panic. I crashed to the floor, knocking over a stack of games, books, and movies that scattered with a crash. I jumped to my feet, running to the window and bolting it shut, pulling down the blinds to keep out the brought daylight. Once my room was tightly locked I learned against the wall opposite the door and slid to my knees. My breathing was shallow and my heart pounded at an alarming rate.
"Sage?" My door handle twitched as Mom tried to open it. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah." I answered as calmly as possible, but it was a lie. I can't forget the chilling words that echoed in the back of my mind.

I'll drag you to the bottom too...