Chapter 1 - The Woman of the House

Underwater, time stops. Or maybe it stretches. It doesn’t matter. Clouds shift in the sky as lake water fills my lungs. When I close my eyes, I see a woman. The muscles in my arms and legs go slack. A black hole—her mouth—opens. A smile that looks a lot like a lie twists across her face.

As I sink deeper into the icy gray water, the image of our house fades. Before we moved in, I had been drawn to the house. It tugged at the lonely place inside me, reeling me in like a fish on a hook. I thought that feeling was fate, but that was before I realized fate was as good a liar as I am.

Seaweed wraps its arms around me as my skin goes numb and my vision fades. Now, there’s nothing left for me to do but drown.