**Say What You Mean Out Loud**

~ S E V E N ~

Memories Best Forgotten

Greyson Elliot shoved her hands deeper in her pockets, glancing down at the water a million feet below. She decided to sit down and let her legs dangle, while the soft breeze swept the hair out of her face.

Her mind wandered to faded memories, things she wanted badly to see fresh in her mind, but they were too cloudy.

Stanley stuck out to her. His mature mannerisms and his OCD gave him a different kind of aspect that the rest of the losers just didn't have.

Even as an adult, Grey was drawn to his quiet, sarcastic, kept way of talking.
She was drawn to his astute observation and his reluctance to be bold.

She knew he was bold, he just didn't show it.
She sighed, and thought, Guess I'm going to have to show it to him all over again.

Grey looked around, searching for something, anything she could use as a memory.
Down below, there was the patch of land where the kids had relaxed in the sun years ago.

She made her way down the cliff, instead of jumping down and swimming in.
The clouds were hindering the sunlight from basking Grey, but honestly she preferred it that way.
She liked cloudy.

Finally she go to the bottom of the rocky structure, kicking her dirty sneakers off and carrying them.
This was same place her and her friends had gone, many times that summer.

Where they swam to cool off.
Or just a place where they could go to... just freakin' be kids! No one ever let them do that when they were kids.

She sat criss-cross on the edge of the rocks, running her fingers through the water.
The water was really cool, and it made Grey smile.
Not a big cheerful smile, a small and simple one.

Down below the water, laying just out of her reach was a turtle shell.
Grey smiled and vividly remembered the turtle they had tried to find the one day.

She rolled up her jacket sleeve and reached far down in the water, trying to reach the shell.
It rested on an underwater rock, barely perceivable from the sunlight peeking into the pool.

The water got up to her elbow and she still couldn't reach.
She got on her knees and pulled her jacket off, reaching farther into the water to get it.

Her fingers just barely wrapped around it when more pieces of her memory puzzle jammed themselves into place.

She remembered swimming right over there, and thinking she saw a turtle.
Right before she called out to her friends, she got dragged... under...

Abruptly, a hand grabbed her wrist and she screamed, yanking her arm away with all her might.
The hand around her wrist was horribly disfigured, covered in gashes and wounds.

It yanked her further in the water, pulling her whole body forward so that she was up to her shoulders in water.
She screamed, bubbles rising all around her.
She tried lifting her head up but was unable to get any air.

She couldn't breathe, and she was pretty sure her nose was bleeding.
But that was only a educated guess.

She yanked her arm back harder, her head coming up for air for only a second.
Then she was pulled back under.

She wrestled the monster for her grip, trying to not waste her air while still trying to get her arm back.
The turtle shell was mere inches from her head, and she screamed again, pulling her arm back with all her might.

She had the turtle shell in her hand, and fell backward onto the rocky platform, gasping for breath.

The deformed, mangled hand was still wrapped around her arm, but there seemed to be no body connected. It was just a long arm that emerged from the water with no end.

She screamed and kicked at it, prying the horrible thing from her and crawling away.
She jumped up and started running.

The quarry was such a wonderful place, and escape from the horrible illusions of adulthood.
You get dragged underwater one time and the fucking clown never lets you hear the end of it.

As she ran up the incline, back to the landing and out down the streets of the town, the water did not magically disappear like it had in the restaurant bathroom.

She did not run back into civilization and have the terrifying illusions wash away.
She was still dripping with lake water and blood, grasping the turtle shell in her hands while she ran back to the hotel.

You take something you leave something I guess.