Page 25 of Everything She Feared

“Because Anna died.”

“Oh, honey, no. What you’re feeling is normal. Honey, it’s like the paramedics said, you’re shaken. You saw a horrible thing, an awful thing that was beyond your control.”

Katie didn’t answer. With the gentle trickling of the water, Sara decided now was her chance to press a little.

“Maybe we could talk a bit,” Sara said.

Katie didn’t respond.

“What happened has taken a toll on your nerves.” Sara swallowed. “You saw Anna step backward off—” she cleared her throat “—off the cliff. She just backed up, right?”

Katie nodded, as if in a hypnotic state, watching the tragedy replay on the tiled wall in front of her.

“She was taking a selfie?” Sara said.

Katie nodded.

“That’s what really—I mean, that’s all that happened?” Sara asked.

Suddenly, the water splashed as Katie thrust her hands to her face.

“Help me, Mom! Make it all go away!”

Sara hugged her, shushing her.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Katie froze, then asked: “Do you think it hurt when Anna fell?”

Tears filled Sara’s eyes. Katie was struggling to comprehend what was incomprehensible.

“No,” Sara said. “I think it was fast, that she didn’t suffer and went straight to Heaven.”

“Really?”

“Yes, sweetie, I really believe it.”

Katie stared at the tiles.

Sara continued, gently pressing, “It was so nice that she gave you her pretty necklace.”

“I love it so much,” Katie said.

“You said she gave it to you before she fell. When was that exactly?”

A long silence passed, punctuated by the drip from the faucet.

“It was on the bus.”

“On the bus?”

“Well, first she showed it to me on the sleepover last night. She said she just broke up with Tanner and he wouldn’t let her give it back, but she was so mad at him she didn’t want it. Then on the bus this morning she showed it to me again. She was saying she would throw it off a cliff or something but I said no, don’t, and that’s when she decided to give it to me.”

“So she gave it to you then, right there on the bus?”

Katie nodded. “I said it was pretty and I liked it so she gave it to me on the bus before we got off and I put it in my pocket because we had to get off.”

“Did people see Anna give the necklace to you?”

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