"Hey guys look!"
"What?"
"It's one of our canoes!"
They began paddling closer, all laughing and cheering. Excited to show everyone back at the camp what they found. The heroes of the day, fooling around and nearly tipping the raft over by fooling around so much. Barbra was sitting behind Eddie. Laughing and cheering, she kept padding as fast as she could. Finally they just got close enough. Woodstock turned around and locked eyes with her.
"We're gonna go on so hold on."
Then…
The figure jumped up, garden shears glittering in the sun. His disfigured face staring down at them like a monster. This was the first time Barbra had clearly seen him. Screaming, she leaned back frozen in fear as he went down, blades flashing before her eyes.
"NO!"
Barbra shot up from bed, still half asleep. Quickly her eyed adjusted and she shook the awful image that filled her mind. Taking a second, her eyes drifted across her dark bedroom, the shade pulled all the way down on her window. Her heart still racing, she took a moment to relax.
Just another nightmare.
They seemed to be getting worse.
Eyeing her dresser, she saw what seemed like millions of bottles of pills she now took. Most of the time she felt like she was a zombie, always in a dazed state. Looking at the clock, she saw it was still mid afternoon. Sighing, she sat there feeling as if she wanted to cry again.
Nearly a month now and she still couldn't get over it.
All she wanted to do was die.
Just then her bedroom opened, revealing her mother.
She was thankful to have such supportive parents through the entire thing. They handled the press and made sure nobody bothered them. Plenty of friends and family had wanted to see her after what happened, but Barbra simply pushed them away. She wasn't ready yet.
"Honey? You okay?"
"Yeah mom…just another bad dream."
Her mother slowly came in, a handful of letters.
"Your friends keep writing, I bet their worried…why won't you answer them?"
Barbra took the letters before tossing them on her nightstand.
"Will they be able to change things?"
Her mother sighed.
"School starts soon, any thoughts about going back?"
Barbra shrugged.
"I don't know…"
Her mother weakly smiled before reaching out and touching her arm.
"Honey, I understand somebody could never get over what had happened…but this is your second chance at life, how are you going to take it?"
Barbra laid back, her eyes filling with tears.
"I just can't face anyone right now…"
"I know honey, I know…"
Barbra hugged her mother as she sat on the edge of her bed. Crying into her shoulder, Barbra felt as though she couldn't wake up from this awful nightmare that had taken over her life. Her back began to ache.
"Why? Why did I survive mom?"
Barbra sobbed.
Her mother gently rubbed her back.
"Because that's what was supposed to happen honey, that's all."
Shortly after, her mother went downstairs to make her some tea. Barbra meanwhile sat in bed flipping through her mail. Mostly from everyone from camp. It seemed as if everyone wanted to talk about what happened.
But Barbra couldn't.
That's when she saw a letter from Woodstock's parents.
Opening it, she read that his parents had received a phone call right before everyone left on the canoe trip last month from their son. They explained he never sounded so happy before in his entire life and talked about her. They wrote that Woodstock must of cared deeply for her and that she was in their prayers.
Folding the letter, Barbra felt tears begin to build behind her eyes.
She tried to remember him when he wasn't on the raft screaming.
Her heart began to hurt.
That's when she thought of Woodstock and then froze.
So much had happened in the past month, she hadn't even noticed. In fact it was the last thing on her mind.
Just then her mother came in with the tray for her tea. Barbra felt as if she was going to be sick again. Looking up at her mother, tears began rolling down her face.
"Mom…I need to talk to you."
