Page 65 of In All My Dreams

Ijerk myself awake with a muffled scream into my pillow.

I sit up and see that the clock reads 2:00 a.m.

“Link?” I ask, my throat painfully dry. I reach for his side of the bed, only to be met with a cold and empty space. It’s obvious he hasn’t come home yet.

Strange. I swear I thought I heard something, but maybe I was stuck in one of those nightmares that Georgia is frequently plagued with.

Or maybe Link is downstairs hunting for food in his drunken state. I roll my eyes. He had better not wake the girls.

I make my way out of bed, grabbing my robe from the chair in the corner and pulling it on before heading into the darkened hallway.

Georgia’s door is already open when I peek my head in to check on them, but when my eyes finally adjust to the darkness, I see that both beds are empty. The blankets are both pushed tothe end of the beds as Horton is sound asleep on top of Georgia’s pink pillow.

I head downstairs, straining to hear them. I bet they are in the kitchen with Link getting fueled up on sweets before he sends them back to bed.

When I get to the kitchen, I flick the light on, and again, the room is empty.

Where on earth are the girls?

I walk toward the window to see if Link’s car is here, but the only car in the driveway is my own.

I stare up at the full moon. It’s beautiful tonight as it illuminates the yard. I catch movement in my peripheral.

Movement toward the lake, just past the willow tree.

I stare into the darkness, waiting to see something, anything, when I see something—no—someonesplashing in the lake.

I rush out the back door and run as quickly as I can to the lake’s edge.

My blood runs cold when I finally see them.

Georgia and Irene are both in the lake, too far for their toes to reach the lake bottom.

“Georgia!” I yell as I run into the bone-chilling water toward them.

“She won’t wake up! She started sleepwalking!” Irene yells as her head bobs up and down in the water, trying her hardest to stay afloat next to Georgia’s still form. “She won’t wake up!”

No, no, no. I can’t lose her. I can’t lose my only baby.

“Georgia!” Irene screams, her words muffled by the water as she pulls on Georgia’s arm. “WAKE UP!”

I’m only a few feet away when Georgia goes under completely, leaving only a dark ring of floating hair as she sinks lower. Irene starts thrashing wildly as she reaches for anything to keep her body afloat. That’s when I notice that she’s holding ontoGeorgia’s body, pushing her down farther as she uses my baby as a life raft.

“No!” I scream at Irene. “Get off her!”

As soon as I reach the girls, I grab Irene’s arm and yank her off of Georgia, pushing her harder than I mean to away from us, deeper into the lake, and grab Georgia’s still form.

I lift my daughter into my arms and kick furiously toward the shoreline. Georgia’s dead weight threatens to drag us both under as I call on all my strength to get us out of this watery prison.

When I finally reach the shore, I lay Georgia down gently and bring my ear to her mouth, listening with my whole soul for any type of noise.

Nothing.

Tears stream down my face as I start CPR on my daughter. Her tiny body jerks violently with every thrust down.

“Come back to me, baby girl, come back!” I yell between movements.

After what feels like forever, her body convulses, and she sits up, spewing water all over both of us between coughing and panting for breath.

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