Emily stood at the edge of the oasis, the sky a muted grey, peeking down at the water beneath her. Her image was unclear, muddled, as the water rippled from the breeze. The hushed whispers of the rustling leaves washed over her ears, filling her head with static.

     She loved the water. Her parents owned a quiet cabin in the forests of Colorado, near Lake Granby. As a child, she’d go to the lake every summer, where every morning she would play in the shallow depths of water, skipping rocks. In the late afternoons, she would swim far out in the lake and float there in the cool water, sometimes able to see the fish that swam in the depths of the lake when the sun hit just right. At night, she would stare in awe at the reflection of the moon on the still water, reveling in the quiet calm of the night.

     But these waters were different from her childhood waters. The water was now murky, with a layer of dense fog lying atop its surface and a musty, earthy smell that stung her nose. The vibrant trees that would surround the lake were shriveled and dead. No, this lake was not the same lake that evoked the nostalgia and warmth she loved from water. Now and forevermore, they held an unease, a quiet anxiety. A lingering chill of death.

     She wanted to see herself. She bent down, bringing her knees to her chest, her arms digging into the mud of the bank, and brought her head closer to water’s edge, hoping to get a clearer glimpse at her reflection. There were parts of her face that she could see. The waves of her dark black hair as it draped down the sides of her shoulders, the shape of her round face. There was a vague impression of her facial features, but the water was moving too much to make anything out. If she could just get closer to the water, she’d be able to see the rest of her reflection. See just what she had become. She drew her face closer, the tips of her hair touching the water, floating gently on its top before it soaked up the water and dipped under, the hair freely waving through. Her nose just began to touch the water’s edge and she felt the cool breeze of the wind on her face. She could see her mouth, slightly parted, her front teeth exposed, her pointed nose and high cheekbones within the reflection. Her eyebrows creased; she couldn’t see the reflection of her brown eyes. Instead, she saw black pits filling where her eyes should be. She went just a bit closer, half of her hair soaked under the water now, and she could just barely begin to see under the surface, until finally she could see eyes.

     Green eyes.

     She jumped back in confusion, losing her footing on the muddy bank of the oasis. The slippery leaves and mud guided her feet forward. She tried to keep her balance, her feet trying to gain traction beneath her, but it was no use, and she slid into the dark watery abyss, unable to make a sound.

     She became engulfed in the murky darkness of the water, her body sending shockwaves as the cold liquid seized her body. Water flooded her mouth, rushing down her throat. The water was thick and gelatinous, and tasted like rotting fish. Its slimy texture made her gag as it pushed its way into her insides and lungs.  Her eyes burned as she opened them. The bank of the lake was nowhere to be seen. Nothing but miles and miles of murky water stretched in all directions. Strings of black seaweed swayed in response to her presence. She raised her head up to face the gray sky above her.

     She kicked and kicked and kicked, trying desperately to break the surface, to spit out the slimy water in exchange for some air. Her body became heavier with every passing moment, as she sunk deeper down. She mustered all the strength she could and fought her way up to the surface, until she felt a tug on her leg. She looked down at the never-ending bottom of the deep black pool and saw a pale hand tightly gripping her pant leg. She froze, her heart coming to a full stop. From the small light cast on the pool, she could see the dark black veins that protruded from the hand, as it gripped her leg tighter and tighter. Her eyes trailed lazily from the hand to the wrist, then the arm, following the veins as if they were a map, guiding her as she became deprived of oxygen.

     As sunlight began to peek out from the grey clouds, it slowly lit the pool to reveal the body of the hand’s owner. The sun shone its light on the pale, bony torso. Ribs protruded from under the skin. It was a like a skeleton with skin stretched so thin over its bones. The black veins steaked across every part of its body, swirling into a black pit at the center of its chest. The water somewhat preserved the rotting corpse. Barnacles grew in patches along the body. The light showed the gently swaying mop of black hair on its head. Finally, as the clouds parted ways with the sun, the face of the corpse came to light as it tilted its head up, the neck slathered in black ink like a metal collar. The body was almost unrecognizable.

     But then she saw those green eyes and her blood ran cold, colder than the water trapping her. It clicked. Why these waters weren’t the same as she remembered, why she felt the chill of death on the bank of the lake, why she was sinking down, down in Lake Granby. Who the emaciated body was.

     Robert. 

     His poor, sunken face morphed into one that resembled deep sorrow. But it was his eyes that shown through, those bright green eyes, burning holes into her being, begging, pleading, as she saw the words “why?” forming from his mouth. And if she could, she’d be crying, as she tried to mouth back “I’m sorry” with lungs full of water.

     She wished she could tell him she didn’t know she was lied to. That her friends, his friends, Steven and Nia, were played for fools too. She wished they never had done it. She wished that they didn’t squeeze the life out of the kind, caring Robert she had only begun to love and left him to rot at the bottom of a lake. That she never listed to him, and his saccharine lies, whispering over and over in all their heads that Robert was a rabid dog that needed to be put down. She wished she could have seen past the innocent façade, his guardian act. Could have seen the soulless black pits in that devil’s eyes, hidden under a goofy smile and shaggy hair, the same black pits she had seen in her reflection. She wished that she saw the truth before all of this, who the real rabid dog was.

     She wished she could tell him that it wasn’t her fault.

     But instead, she tried to kick his arm off her leg and swim to the surface, up toward the warm light. Robert shook his head and began to pull her down with him, darkness from the black abyss shrouding his form. She tried to scream, bubbles one by one making a break for the surface as she could not. She reached for the sun, flailing her arms about, hoping to grab it and never let go. But the sun was not for people like her. And so, the last ray of sunlight kissed her hand goodbye before she too, was eaten by the dark abyss.