When Sara came home, she slammed the door so hard the house shook. If she was going to lie to she was going to make her discontent known. Margaret, rather than rushing into the living room, stood leaning against the wall by the stove where she was roasting something in the oven.

“Don't think I'll put up with that crap.” She chased after Sara who was making a quick dash to her room. Margaret cut her off at the stairs. “I said, I won't put up with that crap.”

“You think I'm going to let you lie to me without hearing a word about it? You're wrong.” She tried to push past Margaret, but she cut off Sara's path.

“I will be respected in my own home.” She met her granddaughter's eyes with a threatening tone.

“You wretched old hag.” Sara advanced on her. “I was beaten and violated. I killed two men. If you know what happened, you have to tell me.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Sara advanced on her grandma again causing her to retreat backward.

“Yes. You do.” Sara reaffirmed.

“No. Sara you were delu—

“Delusional!” Sara bared her teeth. “Grandma, are you going to let me live the rest of my life not knowing what that was?”

“I am.”

“Start talking to me or so help me god...”

“No.”

Sara nearly knocked her grandmother off balance trying to get to her room. She threw the door closed and climbed into bed so she could hide her head under the covers. Sara was never going to find peace, not one second of it until she got a full explanation. She heard voices, doing things. She had a right to know what was going on.

Sara wanted to trust her grandmother. She thought that Margaret would find some way to make things alright. They would sit and reminisce, cook together, maybe walk. Her time at her grandmothers should be centered on healing and remembering her mother. Sara needed that support. She needed honesty and trust. If Sara couldn't trust her grandmother, then she would have to grieve alone.

She felt robbed. The terror was supposed to be over. She was out of the hospital, but she didn't feel free. She was trapped with Margaret, and she needed to leave. Sara changed clothes and climbed down the trellis outside her window, careful not to make too much noise when she landed.

She walked downhill until she was sure she was out of earshot. Then she called Andrea and made plans with her to meet down at the beach. Sara had sawed Andrea before Andrea saw her. She was standing near the water with her shoes thrown over her shoulder.

“Hey.” Sara walked up beside her.

“Oh, hey.” She turned away from the water. “How was your first day?” They stood side by side watching the waves.

“Traumatizing.”

Andrea giggled. Then she got a glimpse of Sara's sour face. Sara should've just gone on walking alone. She couldn't have a normal conversation, not with anyone, much less some random girl she just met in high school. She pointed to a trail leading up alongside the cliff. “You want to take that?”

“Sure.”

They cut through across the sand until they reached the cliff trail and shortly after that found themselves walking alongside the edge of the cliff with the open air just a few feet away. More than once, Sara felt like she was about to fall when she got too close. It was a thrill, which generally would've driven her crazy but with her head pounding the way it was, it didn't do much. Having Andrea quietly walking alongside her didn't help much either. Her friend would probably want to talk, and that's exactly what Sara didn't want.

The girls stopped and climbed onto a boulder sitting at the edge of the trail. When Sara sat down, she felt like she could see over the brink of the world. For what seemed like miles there was nothing but navy blue water and clouds.

“Do you think it's nice up here?” Andrea pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her backpack. Sara peered at them longingly.

“Yeah, uh...”

“Here,” Andrea handed her a cigarette and lit it for her.

“Thanks.” Sara took a thick puff and let it linger in the air.

“No problem.”

“It is nice.”

Andrea pointed out at the beach. “There's tons of seafood. People come out with lobster traps and catch shrimp with nets and little boats. There're bonfires on the beach. Usually, the police will leave everyone alone, so it's nice. Kids stay out there all night.”

Sara caught a glimmer of something on the beach while Andrea was talking. It looked like a cell phone or a flashlight but it was obviously artificial. Andrea noticed that Sara wasn't actually listening and turned her head to see what Sara was looking at.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing. Hey, thanks for coming.” It was a nice way of telling her to fuck off. She didn't want to hurt Andrea's feelings, but she couldn't stand having the girl hovering around her while she was trying not to lose her mind.

“Huh, what—

“I just got to be alone,” Sara reassured her.

“Oh, alright.” Andrea sounded disappointed, and Sara felt sorry for sending her on her way, but Sara needed to. She had enough going through her mind. Sara didn't need other people. She needed to quiet her mind and let her thoughts flow into the water.

When Sara closed her eyes, her mother's face still crept out from behind the shower curtain and her arms were still tied to the gurney. Sara had been through more than one person could handle. She was sitting on the between life and death. She needed a reason not to jump off the cliff.

Given the right opportunity, she would still do it. Sara might have failed at dying once, but she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. She'd run right off the edge and let the fall snap her neck. There was nothing left for her, no home, nobody to talk to. Her own family was turning against her. Things couldn't possibly be any more horrific. Nothing was keeping her alive except for momentary hesitation.

She might end up throwing herself off the cliff when she hopped down from the boulder.

It would be too dark to walk back soon, so Sara started down the trail. She took one last peek down the before she did. The light she saw when Andrea was there had moved up to the cliff on the other side of the beach. It seemed to stop at the edge. Then it fell straight towards the water. Maybe somebody else had the same idea. It felt like the right kind of night to die on. The air was thick and gnats were swarming everywhere, picking at her skin while she pushed through swarms of them.

Sara was in no mood to wander. She just wanted to get home, but to do so, she would have to follow the road away from the shore and into the hills. The walk would quickly take her an hour or more. She decided to take a shortcut through the field.

The wind was picking up, blasting off the coast, sending with it a crisp chill that wrapped its arms around Sara and just wouldn't let her go. It got so bad that she was hunched over, shivering with her arms pulled close to her chest. She stopped, looked around and realized that she was going to get caught out there in the middle of the night. She would have nothing to light her way except for her phone.

She was standing in the middle of a vast expanse of grass. If it got dark, she would never find her way through this. She would just wander around lost until she fell off the edge of a cliff. A breeze hit her in the face, driven by what sounded like a gunshot.

Something just ran past her.

She froze and started looking around. There didn't seem to be anything but the empty field. She had to get out of there. Her feet moved smoothly, and propelled her forward. She was going to beat the sun and get home before it got dark. She didn't want to be out there.

Sara didn't realize she was on the ground until something tore her carotid artery open and expertly held back the fountain of blood. It moved slowly, lapping up the warm spray while its rough tongue scraped around inside her.

Then it started to drink. It began with quick swallows as the blood gushed from its mouth. That's when she began to struggle. All she managed to do was lift her head enough to get a look at the thing. It was like a man's form carved out of white marble, and its blond curls were so thick it looked like a wig.

Sara's last thought before passed out was that the thing that killed Sara's mother was trying to kill her too.