The breath leaves my lungs, and for a second everything goes still. I stare at him, trying to understand.
“How…Why…” I try to formulate a real sentence. “She’s dead?”
“It was an accident,” he says dully.
My body prickles with goose bumps, and I have to hug myself to stop from shivering. “What accident?”
Everett stumbles to his feet, staggering toward the well.Anxiety churns in my stomach as I watch him grip the rusted metal lid.
“What are you doing?”
He grunts as he tries to move it. It scrapes loudly, the sound grating in the silence around us. The lid barely budges. With a determined frown, he digs his fingers in and pushes harder, his face tightening with the effort.
“Everett, stop.”
He ignores me. “No one’s opened this in ten years.” His voice is strained. He’s panting by the time the lid finally slides open to reveal a dark, gaping hole. He glances my way. “I’ll go down first.”
“What? No! You’re not going down there…”
He’s already swinging himself over the edge and onto the metal ladder that runs down the inside of the well. The structure creaks, a haunting sound in the stillness.
“Come back,” I say, starting to panic. “Please.”
He gives me a quick, hollow smile. “It’s shallow. Only thirty feet or so. I’ll be fine.”
Then he’s gone, disappearing into the darkness below.
I lean over, watching the top of his head grow smaller until he vanishes completely.
After a few heartbeats of silence, I steel myself and step onto the ladder, gripping the rungs so tightly my knuckles ache. I have no desire to go down there. None. Zero interest. But I’m worried about Everett. I’m scared for him.
And I’m not leaving here without the truth.
The descent feels endless. I reach the bottom and find Everettwaiting for me. He stands in a small concrete-walled space that’s totally barren. No debris. No water. Just an empty floor a different shade of gray than the surrounding walls.
“Why are we down here?” I ask, trying to ignore the tremble in my voice.
“Because I thought maybe this would make it feel real. Make her gone.” His gaze trails over the concrete floor. “We’re standing on her.”
A strangled noise escapes my lips. Jesus. A part of me wants to throw myself back on the ladder and get the hell out, but I force my feet to stay rooted.
I shiver, the gravity of his words sinking in. “What happened to her?”
“I was seven. I overheard them talking about a divorce. When I confronted them, they told me it was true.” He sounds like he’s reciting facts from a textbook, rather than his own life. “Mom said she didn’t belong here. She wasn’t happy. With my dad. With—” Now his voice catches, finally revealing some emotion. “With us.”
A wave of sympathy tightens my chest. I want to take his hand, but I’m worried it’ll make him stop talking.
“They sat me down and told me Mom would be moving to the city, and Nikki and I would be staying here with Dad. She said we’d still get to see her, but I could hear it in her voice—she didn’t mean that. She didn’t plan on seeing us. At least not often.” Bitterness drips from his every word. “Before that day, my life was perfect. My family was perfect. And suddenly it wasn’t. I couldn’t take it. It felt like my entire world was ending, so I ran out of the house. I ran here.”
I don’t know where he’s going with this, and my heart races at all the terrible possibilities swirling in my mind.
“Mom ran after me. She tried to console me and tell me she’d always be here for me. That she’d always love me. But I didn’t see it that way. I felt like she was abandoning us. I got angry. So fucking angry. When she tried to hug me, I pushed her away, and, I don’t know, I guess I pushed too hard.”
I stifle the gasp that rises in my throat.
“I didn’t mean to. But she stumbled. And she fell into the well.” Everett winces. “I heard the sound when she hit the bottom. I called for her, but she must’ve died on impact.”
“Oh my God.” I bring my hand to my mouth, feeling the horror he must have felt that day, so young and afraid.
