Walk With Us (#Wattys2017)

Marsh Sirens

"You're new here," Elisa said. "I'm sorry, you mentioned them and I... I thought you were making fun of me."

Why would mentioning the couple in white be making fun of her? She's not clearing anything up. "Who are they? You said people have seen them before."

"Yeah. Every few years there is a sighting, but no one really believes in the marsh sirens." The way she said no one made me wonder what significance was there. "They're an urban legend... a myth. It helps that the people who see them usually wind up leaving here shortly after the sighting. That makes it easier to ignore the sirens."

I pull the note out of my pocket and put it on the table. "I found this and a mask on the road. Is this some kind of prank on the new guy from the city?"

Elisa's lip trembles at the note. Is she going to cry? I don't know what I'll do if she cries. I feel all liquid inside. At her first tear, I'll turn into a pile of tears and mucus, writhing on the floor. She can't cry.

"Look, Elisa, I'm sorry if I'm being an ass."

"No, you're fine. And no, this isn't a prank. Why do you hate yourself, Len? What did you do? I promise whatever it is, you don't deserve this."

"Who've you been talking to?" I can't help the bite to my tone. But the truth is, she shouldn't snoop in my business. There is a reason I don't talk about myself. I can't.

"No one. They only come to certain people... people of a certain mindset." Elisa leans in, elbows sliding across the table. She drops her arms down, wrists up. Long puckered scars line her tan skin from the base of her palms nearly up to her elbows.

Coming to meet her was crazy. With each word the situation becomes clearer. Something in Elisa's brain is horribly wrong. I may not know what is going on, but it sure as hell doesn't involve some mythical beast I've never heard of. Yet she clearly believes it.

I can't let her pull me into her madness. I can't even save myself from the issues of the real world.

"I've got to go," I say.

"You're not at peace. If you go with them, you'll be lost." Her hand lashes out and latches around my arm.

"Let me go." I stare down at her sun-browned skin. So like my sister's hand as it clutches my forearm.

"Watch out!" Jen screamed. Brakes screeched. Tessa's face hit the glass, blocking Jen from view, but I heard Jen's scream turn into a gurgle. And a high pitch wail arched over all of it-a sobbing from the backseat which drove into me sharper than any blade.

I tug away from Elisa, trying to escape that scream as it echoes from the past through every nerve ending I have.

The crash wasn't an accident. "Accident" implies lack of fault. It was my fault. My hands were on the wheel.

"Len?" Elisa says.

"Len..." Jen moaned.

I stand, upsetting the chair behind me as I do.

I rush out of the café. Dealing with Elisa's crazy is beyond me. I have enough crazy of my own. But one thing is true-I'm not at peace. The marsh helps, isolates me from others so I can access my guilt at my pace.

My SUV waits around the corner. I climb in and peel out of the parking lot. Elisa shows in the rearview mirror, jogging after me.

I drive, pressing the gas until a cloud of dust blocks out the world and I speed blind down the road. Even without seeing, death fills my vision.

Jen coughed, blood staining her lips, glass in her hair like diamonds. Tessa, crumpled over the center console, the top of her head nothing but a bloody pulp. I struggled to move, pain splintering in my chest every time I tried. I kept watching Tessa's chest, hoping she'd breathe.