Page 12 of Forbidden Knots

I stood up and walked toward the door, waving goodbye to my grandmother as she was too shaken to speak any more words. As I walked downstairs, I took my bag with a towel and opened the closet to take an old tent in case it rained.

As I stepped outside, I noticed Sophie already waiting. She wore an orange bucket hat that matched her orange crocs. She had dark circles under her eyes, and as soon as I saw her, I chuckled, "You have no idea."

She smiled at me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder. "Did your brother fuck some chick next door as well?"

"EW, worse," I said, laughing, "but you win."

SEVEN

Storm

The sky parted, the wind slowly receded, and a storm was coming as the rain lightly fell on our cheeks while we set up the tent. We moved it to the edge near the pine branches to shield us from the wind. Although it was about ten o'clock in the morning, it looked so gloomy outside as if evening was approaching, but we didn't care. I felt somewhat safer on the edge of the cliff with Sophie than I had felt last night.

I briefly told her what happened the night before on the way here, but she wasn't surprised because she still thought the house was haunted, and slowly, I was beginning to believe it too.

"I swear, Sophie, I thought I was imagining it all," I chuckled. "I had to pinch myself," I said, showing her the bruise.

The only thing I didn't mention was that the bruise on my arm was not from pinching myself, but from the shadow that was lurking above me, watching me almost all night long.

"At least you didn't have to listen to giggling and smacking lips all night," she rolled her eyes. "Tristan is such adriveller."

I laughed. "The whole night?" I stopped. "WOW."

"And no less with that slut Chiara," she whispered. "That Italian girl from the beach."

"Wait!" I said, "You're telling me you live in the house across the street?"

She nodded. "I thought you knew."

I shook my head, realizing that her brother was the hot neighbor I had been watching from my window. Image of him with that girl last night, how Sophie heard it all, it wasn't leaving my mind.

"I saw them," I chuckled and blushed. "They did it in front of me."

"Ewww," she said. "Well, that's a nightmare."

While we were giggling and laughing, suddenly our tent started shaking and the zipper at the entrance was closing from the outside. Sophie let out a loud shriek as I pounded on the inside to let us out, but only a familiar smile was heard, and the pounding got harder and harder.

At that moment, Sophie turned to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her, protecting her from the blows, while the impact reached my ribs. Then the tent started to turn, and we felt the edge of the cliff. The tent flap opened again, and as it did, Sophie jumped outside, pushing me to the edge. The tent rolled again, and I was falling inside.

It was one of those dark moments when you don't see light around you. It was one of those moments where you don't know what will happen next, and it was one of those moments I realized again that no one was there for me, and yet again, I was all alone.

Water surrounded me, filling the tent, its plastic walls wrapping around me as I gasped for air, but there was none. I tried to swim towards the exit, but I could feel only the water pulling me deeper and deeper down. My body twitched, gasping for the last bubbles before my lungs filled with water.

My eyes were closing, and slowly, I saw only darkness.

"C'mon," I heard an unfamiliar voice as I noticed his hands pressing on my chest.

I coughed up the water from my throat and lifted my head instantly, only to meet his eyes in front of me. One of his eyes was blue as the midnight sky, and the other was as green as the needle from the pine.

"What were you two thinking?" he turned towards Sophie and Chiara, who stood above him.

He was kneeling above me, his hair wet, his white shirt completely soaked. He had jumped after me. He saved me.

"This is not a fucking game, she could've died," he shouted. "Fucking kids." He stood up, shaking his head, then turned towards me, coldly saying, "You good?"

I was still coughing the water out and softly nodded my head, my voice not yet ready to scream. Sophie knelt before me, her eyes filled with tears. Chiara stood next to him and shouted towards me, "Drama Queen."

"Shut up, Chiara," Sophie shouted back.

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