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The late morning sun was already slowing its ascent, and the warmth from its rays comforted Chris in a way that it hadn't all summer. Possibly even longer than that if she really thought about it.
She didn't really know what she expected. Some great weight lifting off of her shoulders, breathing a sigh of relief as the clouds would part with ethereal rays of heaven's light? Instead, she walked back home. Back to the parents that ignored her more fiercely than ever, back to the room that was more like a fortress of solitude than anything. Washing away all the sewer grime as best as she could, she went straight to bed, letting herself be lost in a dreamless dream.
And when she woke up that morning, everything was the same. She would've screamed had she not forced herself into believing all the madness was as over as summer. For the sake of her sanity, she had to.
She had barely finished breakfast when she got a call from Beverly. She was expecting the worst, but she was only met with a simple request to meet in the Barrens, out where the bridge to the outside world sat over the Kenduskeag. She rushed over as fast as she could.
It didn't take her long to get there, and a few minutes after her arrival all 8 of them sat in a circle by the bank of the river. The only sound for a long while was the rushing of water and the somnolent hum of birds and insects. Chris' attention had been diving in and out of the shallow conversations between them, preferring to stare at the weeds shivering in the last of the summer breezes as August faded into September. There was a lot on her mind, and if she thought about it hard enough she'd feel the push of tears behind her eyes. She hated that feeling, but since then she had come to realize that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to feel.
Eventually, someone had gathered all of their attentions - Bill, to no one's surprise.
She hadn't heard it clearly enough, but she assumed it was about yesterday, in the cistern. Something about Beverly. Bev tensed a little before relenting.
"I can only remember parts, but.." she wrung her hands in her lap. "I thought I was dead. That's what it felt like."
Chris turned her head slightly, gaze switching from the girl sitting next to her and the river behind her, scratching off pieces of bark from the log they sat on.
"I saw us, all of us together - back in the cistern." she began, voice soft and hesitant. "But we were older, like, our parent's ages."
"Wh-Wuh-What were we all doing there?" Bill asked.
"I just remember how we felt. How scared we were." she rubbed her arms, brows knitting together in mild distress. "I don't think I can ever forget that."
Chris scratched the back of her head. "Were we all still friends?"
Beverly's smile returned, but just barely. "The best."
