Chapter 9

"Vera? Vera?! Oh my god, James, is she alright!?"

Vera heard Greta's frantic voice pierce through the silent void in her head. Feeling groggy, she managed a grunt and after squeezing her already-closed eyes tightly shut, opened them slowly to find James' face taking up her field of vision, his dampened hair plastered to his face. At his sudden closeness Vera let out a gasp and sat up, nearly head-butting him in the process. Immediately all prior thoughts came back to her in a dizzying rush.

"Vera! Are you okay? What happened?" A worried Greta suddenly came into view next to James by Vera's feet, her frizzy hair somewhat tamed by the rain that Vera now noticed had lightened considerably.

"The-the girl," Vera spoke as if her words held all the answers and quickly looked around them. There were subtle signs of where she had pulled herself and the child up onto the bank, but there was no sign of the little girl anywhere. Even the stream's water had calmed and appeared to have lowered from earlier. How much earlier? It was darker outside now.

"Where's the little girl? What happened to her?" Vera started again, her voice rising with panic as she tried to get up but faltered. "How long have I been out?"

"Whoa whoa, easy there," James warned her and she let him ease her back down with a steady hand on her shoulder.

Vera took a breath to calm her nerves and swallowed thickly, her eyes going back and forth between their faces. "What are you guys doing here? How did you find me?" she asked, her voice sounding a little more composed than before.

"We were driving over to pick you up at the library," Greta answered her. "James finished work a little early, so we thought we'd drive over and get you – that way you wouldn't have to walk out in the rain."

"But then Greta saw you over by the bridge, and the next thing we knew you were jumping off," James continued, a worried expression crossing his features. "When we saw the flooding in the stream, we followed its path in the car until we saw you washed up here."

"I called the police when we found you," Greta finished. "Are you hurt?"

Vera nodded a few times, though she did so with some hesitancy. "I'm okay. Just a bit tired and shaken up, I think. But there was a girl here – a little girl in a blue raincoat. I saw her fall into the stream from the bridge; that's why I jumped in. I-I pulled her up with me here…" she trailed off and looked to her side, reaching out her left hand to the space where the child had last been.

What happened to her?

A feeling of dread began to well up inside Vera and she bit her lip to keep herself in check. At her side the cousins exchanged worried glances.

"Vera, there was no one else here when we found you," Greta spoke calmly and carefully.

"But I – how?" Vera turned her head around once more to look about, as if the child would suddenly emerge before them. Nothing. "But I saw her; she was right here." Worried and confused, she turned back to her friends' concerned faces. "Please, you have to –"

"We believe you, Vera," James interjected, "and we can have the police look for her once they arrive, but right now, we need to get you back up to the road and make sure you're alright." His tone was sympathetic, but the look he gave her told her not to resist.

"Okay," Vera quietly nodded and allowed the cousins to help her to her feet, though they kept her arms slung about their shoulders in case she might lose her footing or feel faint.

Carefully they maneuvered themselves further up the bank, their feet sloshing in the muddy grass until the earth became firmer and turned to pavement beneath their shoes. The trio stopped once they had taken a few steps to the other side of the street, and James helped Vera sit down with Greta on the curb before jogging off to the right where Greta saw their car parked. Farther from the water, she could now hear police sirens nearing.

A moment later two patrol cars came into view with their lights flashing, a single officer exiting each; one stayed back to talk with James while the other came over when the two young women were pointed out.

The officer who approached the girls was female, looking to be somewhere in her 40s with a short brown ponytail and squat figure. Getting down on one knee once she was in front of the two, she looked between them and gently placed a hand on Vera's shoulder.

"Miss, I'm Officer Burnoe of the Derry Police Department," she introduced herself with a strong voice that matched her presence, a slight southern accent tinting her words. "We received a call from your friends here that you took a bit of a tumble into the water; can you confirm this for me?"

Vera almost let out a humorless laugh at the expression of her 'taking a tumble,' but gave the officer a nod.

"Alright now, do you feel any pain – anywhere? Any discomfort or nausea when you move?" She looked Vera up and down some more, trying to take note of her overall state.

Vera shook her head. "No, I think I'm okay. Maybe a couple bruises, but other than that, I'm fine," she tried to sound convincing, but the slight tremble in her breath suggested otherwise. She did just do something unordinary that had her anxiety reeling, after all.

"Okay, well we're just gonna take you down to the hospital, make sure you're all right; we can talk more once you've been checked out."

At the mention of a hospital, Vera shook her head adamantly. "Please, no, don't take me to the hospital." The thought of unnecessary time spent being tested and medical expenses were at the forefront of her mind. "I'll be fine; nothing a little food and rest can't fix."

As Vera spoke, James and the other officer appeared behind Officer Burnoe. "Ma'am, this young man here says you said you saw someone else in the water?" the officer inquired and Vera quickly turned her attention towards him.

He was younger than the woman and had thick, dark eyebrows that gave him a stern look, but something about him made Vera think of him as someone who seemed somewhat unsure of themselves and their actions.

"Yes, officer. It was a young girl with brown hair– she had a blue coat on. I don't know what happened to her; she was there one minute and when I came to…" her words trailed off there and her eyes grew unfocused as she tried to pull the memories from a dark recess of her mind. The effort did little to help, unfortunately. "At least tell me you'll check, please," she pleaded, the worry back in her voice as she looked between him and his fellow officer. "I don't know where the stream or whatever it is goes, but if you just look –"

"We'll look for her," Officer Burnoe interjected and gave her shoulder a light squeeze in assurance. "But I would still prefer you see a doctor, just to be safe."

"If I start to feel bad or anything begins to hurt in the next few days, I'll be sure to see someone, but right now, I think I just need some rest."

The woman gave her a skeptical look but let out a sigh as she stood back up to her full height. She couldn't force Vera to go since she wasn't in trouble or in any way unstable. "Alright, Dawes," she turned to her companion, "if you wanna go ahead and radio another couple folks out here to help look for the child, I'll escort this young lady home."

Officer Dawes gave a short reply of understanding and began heading back towards his vehicle.

When he was gone, Burnoe turned to Greta and James. "Thanks for calling, you two. For now, the both of you can go on home; we'll send someone by later to see how you're doing and ask a few more questions."

"Thank you," James gave the officer a firm nod.

But Greta turned to look worriedly at Vera, her small hand lightly grasping the side of Vera's wet shirt as though afraid to leave her. "Vera…" the name left her lips with uncertainty.

"It's okay, Greta," she assured the younger girl quietly with a small smile. Pushing herself up slowly in case her body had second thoughts about working properly, Vera managed to stand with little discomfort.

With a satisfied nod, Burnoe glanced between the three young adults. "Whenever you're ready, miss," she informed Vera without rush and began heading back towards her own police cruiser, leaving the three alone for a moment.

"Thanks for looking out for me guys," Vera spoke earnestly though there was now a weariness in her voice. "I really – I don't know what would have happened if you guys hadn't seen me." Thoughts of drowning and pale, washed up bodies came to mind and she shivered involuntarily.

"Don't think about any of that. Just focus on getting better," James instructed her and Greta nodded in agreement.

"Be careful, Vera." She took a step forward and carefully gave the older girl a hug. "Call us if you need anything. Or the police, or the doctors, or whoever. We'll be there."

"Thanks, you guys." Vera gave the cousins another smile to let them know she would be alright and began making her way slow and steady towards Officer Burnoe who was patiently waiting for her to say goodbye to her friends.

Friends. The word held a sort of warmth to it now despite the light, cool rain that was starting up again, and Vera found comfort in repeating it through her mind as the officer held the back door of her cruiser open for Vera to get in.