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Voices were echoing on the pier in Evergreen.
“The legend of Burnham Woods! They left him for dead…”
“Truth, dare or firehouse – who would you drown? Who would you burn? Who would you save?”
“So there’s a ghost called Bloody Hannah, and like… if you are really sad you’ll see her, she’s like a siren…”
“And it was a bloody hook on the car door! And she never, never saw him again”
The light of the campfire offered an orange glow under Ximena Coralis’ chin, illuminating her in light as she spoke, in turn, to finish her own tale.
“And then, the girl looked at her husband, and he said, ‘what, you didn’t like it? You liked it well enough in life.’ And then she realized, in horror, that she had just eaten the heart of her lover!”
“Dun dun!” Harper Crimsen exclaimed, while Eliana Lounds actually screamed.
“That’s so nasty,” Eliana said a moment later, “Would anyone actually even really do that?”
“Let me tell you about what somebody would actually do,” Nova Price said, looking around and fixing each girl in her sights, ending with Lindy Kurtz, the last of their little group, all freshmen at Liberty High.
Everyone leaned in to hear Nova better.
“See that pier?” she said, gesturing her finger behind her, leaning in so her own face was illuminated in the flames. “Years and years ago, like, ancient history, like the 1980’s or something, a guy named Bryce Walker was meeting up with a girl. But he had a reputation – like, he had done a lot of bad stuff to a lot of girls, if you know what I mean, and when the girl went to meet him, her boyfriend ran up and pushed him off the pier, into the river!”
The girls all gasped.
“And now, if you say his name into a mirror five times, he’ll jump out of the lake and pull you in, too. He waits at the bottom of the river, waiting for a girl to be bold enough. Because then, his hand with snaked out and… Bam!” She reached out and grabbed Lindy’s wrist, and Lindy let out a scream before they all burst into laughs, her included.
“Well, why would anyone say his name in a mirror five times then, though?” Ximena asked.
“Dare you to,” Harper burst in.
“Not in a million years,” Eliana exclaimed. “Not for a million dollars.”
“I’ll give somebody twenty bucks if they say it,” Harper continued.
“Oh, shut up, Harper,” Ximena said, “Stop bullying everybody.”
“I’m not bullying anybody.”
“You’re a bully, just like those ads. ‘Bullying, not even once.”
“Oh, come on you guys,” Lindy said. “We should be getting back. My mom’s going to lose her shit if I’m late again.”
“Ugh, I feel that,” agreed Ximena. “I’m not even supposed to be out now.”
“Oh come on, guys. Before we go, I want to see somebody do it. Or all you all a bunch of pussies?” Harper teased.
There was a long pause.
“I’ll do it, then,” Lindy said. “I’m not scared. It’s just a dumb legend, anyway.” She reached in her purse and pulled out a tiny mirror, flipping it open and fixing it on her own, deep blue, eyes. She took a deep breath. “You guys are all idiots,” she began, then sucked in another breath and said, “Bryce Walker… Bryce Walker… Bryce Walker… Bryce Walker…” Another pause. “Bryce Walker.”
The group stood silent.
Nothing happened.
They all burst into giggles.
“All right, well, is everyone satisfied now?” Ximena asked. “Can I get back home before my parents ground me for the rest of my life?”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”
They gathered up their things and started off, chattering as they made their way into the woods.
Lindy was at the back of the pack, half-listening to a conversation about a funny video that was being passed around on everyone’s cell phone, something that had to do with a cute boy making inappropriate jokes about “nuts” but in, like, a cute way, when she caught her foot on a root. She tumbled forward and let out a yelp as her elbow collided with the dirt beneath her, but the others were too far ahead to hear.
She gathered herself together and stood up, trying to brush herself off when she heard a voice.
“Out here all by yourself?”
She whipped around and saw a boy standing there; she recognized him from school – Jake something, she thought.
“Oh no, just trying to catch up with my friends,” Lindy replied, “I’d better go.”
“Wait.” Jake reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her forward, closer to the pier. “I never get to talk to you at school, and you seem like a cool girl, if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t know what you mean?” Lindy replied with a nervous laugh. “I’d better be going.”
A few steps closer to the pier.
“Come on. I’ve seen the way you look at me! Always giggling with Ximena when you see me. Don’t hold out on me now that we’re alone.”
“Leave me alone,” Lindy said, trying to pull back and finding it difficult to get out of his grip.
“Or what?” Jake asked.
Lindy couldn’t really say what happened next, because it was all a blur. Jake was over the side of the pier, flapping his arms and screaming. His hands were in the air but there was something else, too, a third arm peeking up from the pier and, it looked like, trying to pull him down.
And a flash of purple, too.
Lindy screamed, pulling out her cell phone and calling 911.
“Hang on, Jake! I’m getting help. Try to float! You’re supposed to float.”
She pressed the phone to her ear and, as the operator connected, and could have sworn she felt someone behind her.
But when she turned around, she was just left with the impression of blue eyes, baring into her soul.