Page 58 of Pierce Me

It happens in the blink of an eye. No one has any time to react.

I reach the edge of the cliff, my heart in my mouth, and look down. Pooh cannonballs into the water like a furball, disappearing into the clear-blue waters, and immediately surfaces back up and starts to yap his little head off. The girls all collapse against each other, laughing so hard they’re struggling for breath, unable to stop.

Pooh, as a Maltese, is a good swimmer, but I can already see that there is a current under these still waters. And it is way too strong for him. He’s already being carried towards the waterfall, and he seems like he is enjoying his little heart out, for now, but this is absurd. Bordering on cruel.

None of the girls seem to realize the danger. Is this what mass hysteria looks like? I peer down. Pooh is swimming quickly and grabs the stick. He seems unaware of the danger and the strong current. If he isn’t freezing his little ass off in the excitement of grabbing his beloved stick, he will soon. He starts to make his way slowly to the bank, but it’s taking the little dude a long time to reach it.

“Come on, get up, Lou!” The giggles continue as the girls try to untangle their limbs from each other and stand up. “Now you definitely need to jump in too! Pooh is waiting for you. Pooh! Here comes your mama.”

Claire and another girl start tugging Lou towards the cliff.

I look around for Ren, ready to beg him to jump in and rescue Pooh if the little dog doesn’t reach the bank within the next two seconds. I see that Jose is climbing down the other side of the mountain quickly, and I sigh in relief. He’s going to grab the dog and this whole thing will be over.

“No!” Lou shrieks. “It’s going to be too cold.” She turns to the Claire girl. “You go bring Pooh up.”

Oh, so that was the plan. She was never going to jump in herself. She had meant for this to happen all along. She wanted record to Pooh falling in the water, and then make her ‘friends’ look like the bad guys for throwing him in. And also humiliate them by posting videos of them half-drowning in the lake.

Is this who she really is?

Why haven’t I seen it before?

My mom always says that you should believe people when they show you who they really are. Then why am I such a coward? After I lost my dad and then Eden and then my entire future, I thought that not giving a crap about anything anymore would protect me. That it would keep me separate from pain and betrayal and the sudden twists of life.

But what if instead it’s led me to this?

To these people I hate, doing things that disgust me? To a life I loathe?

To a self I absolutely despise?

I swallow a sudden wave of nausea. I look down: Pooh is still not out of the water. He’s struggling, still happily swimming against the current. Jose has reached the rocks, and is beginning to wade in, but he’s too far away. I look at the girls: Lou’s friends, much as they want her approval, are too chicken to jump, after all.

She didn’t count on that, did she?

She didn’t count on Pooh drowning either, but maybe she did think of that possibility, and she just didn’t care. Pure, unbridled rage runs through me, as I quickly shrug off my jacket to throw it at my feet. I’m going in after him, if no one else is.

And then I hear a splash.

Someone has jumped in before me. Oh, thank goodness. Which one of the bodyguards was it?

“Oh dang!” Claire whines, the laughter finally stopping, genuine terror trembling behind her words. “That servant girl has jumped in after him! Lou, tell them to stop filming! Stop filming now!”

And that’s when I know.

The Elliot sisters chat room

Manuela:By the way, dad is going a little bit crazy, I thought you should know.

Eden:Oh, I know, believe me. We usually speak three times a day on the phone. Guess how many times he’s been calling me since I’ve landed in Greece.

Manuela:Five?

Eden:More like seven.

Manuela:I’ll tell him to dial it down.

Eden:I don’t mind. We have a lot to catch up on, you know?

Manuela:I know. But that’s no reason to blow up your phone.

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