Chapter 5 #3
“She didn’t have to walk back to the cottages by herself.
You said a couple student rangers offered to go with her and she refused to let them,” Lydia pointed out.
She set aside her knitting and put her arm around her niece.
“Listen, darling, I hope with all my heart that Nicole’s okay.
But no matter what happens, it’s very important that you understand it’s not your fault.
It’s not the other kids’ fault, or the chaperone’s fault, either.
Nicole knew full well she shouldn’t have left that party by herself.
She knew her mother wouldn’t have wanted her to do that, she knew the chaperone was concerned about her safety, and she knew it wasn’t a fair thing to do to you, especially after she said she wouldn’t.
But she did it anyway because it was what she wanted to do. It was selfish.”
But deep down, Caitlin knew that she was the selfish one.
She realized Mrs. McDougal was right: she was the one who’d snuck off with her boyfriend, when she should’ve been looking out for Nicole.
Suddenly, as she thought of saying, I love you , and kissing Donald, a bilious taste filled Caitlin’s mouth and her eyes brimmed with tears.
When she squeezed her lids shut, Lydia must have seen her and thought she was tired because she left the room and returned a moment later with a pillow. “You’re welcome to stay out here with me,” she said. “But I think you should put your head down for a while and try to get some rest.”
Caitlin didn’t know what time it was when she drifted off to sleep, but it was after daybreak when she woke to the sound of the phone ringing.
At first, she couldn’t figure out where she was, but then she heard her aunt’s voice from the kitchen saying, “Oh, no. Oh, no. That’s horrible, Bob. I’m terribly, terribly sorry.”
Caitlin bolted upright on the couch and noticed her uncle leaning against the door frame across the room. The phone call must have jarred him awake, too. Their eyes met but they remained frozen, speechless. It was as if time were suspended while they waited for Lydia to say something else.
“Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I see.” Her murmuring was barely audible. There was another extended pause before she spoke again. “How can we help? We’ll do anything, anything at all.”
Caitlin could hardly hear over the commotion of her heart. She leaned forward, cocking an ear toward the kitchen.
“No, of course not. That’s fine, I completely understand,” Lydia said, coming into the living room, the phone pressed against her ear. Her skin looked ashen as her eyes darted from Albert to Caitlin. She nodded and said, “We’ll be sure it’s ready… Thank you for calling, Bob. Please take good care.”
The second she ended the call, Caitlin pounced toward her. “That was about Nicole, wasn’t it?” she asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Come, sit with me. You, too, Albert,” Lydia said, plunking onto the middle sofa cushion. Albert shuffled across the room and took a seat, wrapping an arm around his wife, but Caitlin was too anxious to sit still.
Shifting from foot to foot in front of them, she asked, “What did Mr. McDougal say? What happened?”
“I’m afraid it’s very bad news.” Lydia took both of her niece’s hands, forcing Caitlin to stop fidgeting.
“According to two witnesses—a married couple who were night fishing nearby—Nicole must have completely lost her bearings. Or else she thought she was crossing a tidal pool instead of the tidal river, and she didn’t realize how wide and deep the water was.
In either case, she fell in and screamed for help, but the current was so strong, it pulled her inland, to the marsh.
She must have panicked or she got tired and couldn’t keep her head above water.
By the time they found her, she was unconscious and she wasn’t breathing. ”
“But-but-but someone did CPR, right? They revived her and she’s going to be okay, isn’t she?”
“No, I’m afraid she’s not.” As Albert moaned and covered his eyes, Lydia squeezed her niece’s hands tighter. “Nicole passed away, Caitlin. She died.”
“No, she didn’t, Aunt Lydia,” Caitlin immediately argued, yanking her hands free. “She was airlifted to the hospital , remember? She’s been there for hours and hours. That means they’re treating her.”
Suddenly, Lydia looked exhausted, her face lined with wrinkles, her shoulders sagging.
“It’s Pam who’s been getting treatment, Caitlin.
When she found out that Nicole died—” Her voice caught mid-sentence.
“She was very upset and the doctors thought it was best to give her some medication and keep her there overnight, so she could rest. Her relatives are flying in to help with… with everything. Someone will stop by the cottages for their luggage, so Bob wanted us to ask Marion to pack their things for them.”
“I’ll go talk to her,” said Albert, his voice somber and low. He slowly rose to his feet. “When she’s done packing, I can bring the bags around front so they’ll be ready for Pam’s family.”
“Why won’t either of you listen to me?” cried Caitlin.
“Nicole’s not dead! This is just an act.
You’ve never seen her perform, but once she gets into character, she’s super convincing.
She does this kind of thing all the time.
It’s her way of getting attention. But she probably snuck out of the hospital by now and I bet I know right where she’s hiding. ”
“Caitlin, I understand that this is a huge, horrible shock, and it’s very difficult to accept, but Pam and Bob confirmed that?—”
Before her aunt could finish her sentence, Caitlin bolted from the house, allowing the door on the screened-in porch to slam behind her, and charged into the windmill.
Calling Nicole’s name, she clambered up the stairs to the loft, but even before she reached the top step, she saw that the room was empty and Nicole’s T-shirt and leggings were balled up on top of the package of paper towels, just where Caitlin had left them for her to find.
She snatched up the clothes and shook them hard in front of her face, asking, “How could you do this? You promised you wouldn’t leave the party. You promised, Nicole! How could you go off by yourself and die ?”
She kicked the pack of paper towels, spilling the rolls across the floor.
She kicked those, too, and they bounced against the walls and knocked over a mop and broom.
Caitlin kept kicking and stomping until she was exhausted, and the loft was strewn with paper products, dented cardboard boxes, and upended buckets.
Then she dropped to the floor, buried her face in Nicole’s T-shirt, and sobbed.