The Lake (Short Story)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

June 17 2002; 6:00 am

Echo had the dream again.

The sirens were loud in her ears. She could hear the screaming of her name in the background, the sound of the medical nurse trying to wake her.

But this time . . . they weren’t for her.

Echo shot up in her bed and realized that she hadn’t dreamed, there were sirens right in front of her house. Quickly she grabbed her slippers and threw them on. She went down the stairs four at a time.

The first thing she saw was her wailing mother, holding her sister. Her father was nowhere to be found. Neither was Jeremy.

“What’s going on? Why’s the ambulance here?” Echo asked hurriedly. But no one answered her.

She felt chills up her arms and ran to the patio. The ambulance truck was in their backyard, there were a few medical engineers. But still she couldn’t find Jeremy.

She found her father talking to one of the officers.

“Yeah, he seemed fine.” Grant said brokenly to the man. “Gen, my wife, went to check on him. He wasn’t there, we figured he went into my middle daughter’s bedroom but he wasn’t there either. My eldest daughter spotted his body in the water . . .”

Echo stopped cold.

“Can I see my son now?” Grant pleaded; the officer asked something to the girl next to him and then shook his head at Grant.

“No, they’re rushing him to the nearest hospital. They’d like for you to join him in there, your family is welcome to travel behind us” Grant nodded and met Echo’s eyes.

“Jeremy” she whispered. Grant looked away.

“I don’t know yet, we’re going to see him, you’ll be driving with your mom and sister.” Grant went to go and talk to Gen and she nodded vigorously. Echo followed her mother and sister to their car and clenched her fists when they got in, driving to the hospital.

She made a silent prayer hoping that Jeremy would be fine.