Chapter 15 Brush with Death

EVELYN

I felt myself sinking rapidly.

Darkness crept toward me, its tendrils of shadows reaching for me eagerly.

At first, I could hear Skyla screaming, her shrill voice growing thinner by the second, but the sound of her cries quickly faded. Soon, it was as if the sound had never existed at all.

As my lungs screamed in pain, I tried to free myself from the plants around me, but it was no use. I felt a strange force pulling at my ankles, dragging me deeper into the water.

I kicked and fought, but no matter what I did, it was no use. No matter how much effort I expended, no matter how hard I tried, it was no use. I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was trapped, doomed to die beneath these waters just as I nearly did as a child.

Water began to fill my nose and mouth when my lungs gave out, and just before I lost consciousness, the water around me seemed to warp. I knew it was nothing more than a delusion, but I could see a vision of my father rushing toward me, jumping into the river, and pulli