Chapter 4 A new Dawn

Morning came too bright and too cheerful for a place that had shown them impossible photographs and ancient carvings the night before.

Mara woke to sunlight streaming through gaps in the curtains and the smell of coffee drifting up from downstairs. For one blissful moment, she forgot where she was. Then she remembered the photograph. The date and Devon's scream that had turned to laughter.

She sat up slowly, her body was stiff from a restless night. She'd barely slept, every creak of the cabin settling, every rustle of wind through the trees had jerked her awake with her heart pounding. Twice she'd been certain someone was standing at the foot of her bed, watching. Both times, there was nothing.

Sharing the room with Aria should have been comforting, but Aria slept like the dead, she was completely motionless, and somehow that was worse. Like sleeping next to a corpse.

Mara dressed quickly and headed downstairs, drawn by voices.

The kitchen was surprisingly lively. Theo stood at the stove flipping pancakes, while Sienna sliced strawberries beside him. Juno had her camera propped on the counter, filming the domestic scene. Devon sat at the table, scrolling through his phone despite the complete lack of service, probably looking at downloaded memes. Rhett was doing push-ups in the living room.

"It's still good," Eli said from his spot by the coffee maker. He poured a mug without asking and slid it across the counter to her. It was black with no sugar. He still remembered.

"Thanks," Mara said quietly, wrapping her hands around the warmth.

"So we're just… pretending last night didn't happen?" Aria appeared behind Mara, looking considerably more put-together despite having slept in the same stale cabin air.

"What's to pretend?" Theo didn't look up from the pancakes. "We found some old photographs and Devon got spooked. It's weird, sure, but there's probably an explanation."

"An explanation for a photograph dated 1982 that shows our cars?" Aria's voice was sharp.

"Photoshop," Eli said, but he didn't sound convinced. "Someone's messing with us. It's probably the owners' idea of atmosphere. You know, playing up the whole haunted cabin thing."

Devon snorted. "If this is their marketing strategy, it's working. I'm terrified of their decorating choices."

"Can we just have one normal morning?" Sienna's voice was softer than Aria's but somehow cut through the conversation more effectively. "Please? I just want to have breakfast with my friends and not think about creepy photographs for like, an hour."

Silence settled over the kitchen. Then Theo nodded, flipping a pancake. "Breakfast first. Existential dread after. That's the rule."

"I can live with that," Juno said, finally lowering her camera. "Besides, I found something awesome when I was exploring earlier. There's a lake behind the cabin. Like, an actual lake. It's crystal clear water, little beach area, the whole thing."

"You went exploring? Alone?" Mara felt her chest tighten. "Juno…."

"Relax, mom. I was gone for like twenty minutes. The lake's literally right through those trees." Juno pointed toward the back of the cabin. "We should go swimming after breakfast. The water looked amazing."

"Swimming sounds perfect," Rhett said, joining them in the kitchen, barely winded from his workout. He wrapped an arm around Sienna's waist and she leaned into him, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "We came here to have fun, remember? We've got three more days. Might as well enjoy them."

Mara wanted to argue. She wanted to grab the photograph from the living room and make them all look at it again, really look at it. But she was tired of being the one who saw danger everywhere, who couldn't let go, who turned every moment into a investigation of what went wrong five years ago.

Maybe Eli was right. Maybe someone was messing with them. Maybe she was just seeing Ethan in every shadow because she wanted to find him so badly.

"Swimming sounds good," she heard herself say.

Eli raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. The relief on Sienna's face made the lie worth it.

Breakfast was better than it had any right to be. Theo's pancakes were perfect, Sienna's strawberries were sweet, and Devon kept up a running commentary of increasingly stupid jokes that had even Aria cracking smiles. Juno filmed bits and pieces, narrating their "rustic wilderness adventure" while being dramatic

For a little while, it almost felt normal. Like they really were just friends on a last hurrah before graduation, before real life scattered them in different directions.

Mara caught herself laughing at one of Devon's stories and felt guilty for it. How could she laugh when Ethan was still..

She shut down that thought. Not now. She'd promised herself one normal morning.

After breakfast, they changed into swimsuits and headed toward the lake, following a narrow trail through the trees that Juno had discovered earlier. The forest was dense here, it's pine and oak were pressing close.

"See?" Juno said triumphantly as they emerged into a clearing. "Told you."

The lake was beautiful. Maybe fifty yards across and the water so clear that Mara could see smooth stones on the bottom. A small sandy beach curved along one edge, and on the far side, the forest was in sight in dark green walls. The surface was perfectly still.

"Last one in does dishes tonight!" Devon yelled, already running.

He hit the water in a graceless belly flop that shattered the mirror-surface and sent up a spray. Rhett and Eli followed with considerably, diving cleanly. Juno waded in filming, somehow keeping her camera dry while submerged to her shoulders.

Sienna sat at the water's edge with her feet dangling in, sketching in the small notebook she carried everywhere. Aria had brought a book, because of course she had, and settled onto the sand like she was at a resort.

Theo stood at the shoreline with hands on his hips, studying the lake with clinical assessment. "Water's surprisingly clean for a stagnant body this size. Must be spring-fed. Temperature's probably around sixty degrees. Definitely safe for swimming."

"Your pillow talk must be incredible," Devon called from deeper water.

"I don't have pillow talk. I have conversations."

"That's what I said. Incredible."

Mara waded in slowly, letting the cold work its way up her legs. The water was shockingly clear, and when she looked down she could see her feet magnified against the stones, every detail. She pushed off and started swimming toward the center, letting the cold quiet her thoughts.

Underwater, everything was silent and blue. Peaceful. For the first time since they'd arrived, Mara felt like she could breathe properly.

She surfaced near Eli, who was treading water and looking oddly serious.

"You okay?" she asked.

He studied her for a long moment. "Are you?"

"I'm trying to be."

"That's not the same thing."

"I know." She floated on her back, staring up at the perfect blue sky. "But it's the best I can do right now."

They floated in silence for a while, the sounds of their friends playing and laughing distant and dreamlike. Then Eli spoke quietly, just for her.

"I'm glad you came on this trip. I know it's hard for you, being here. But I'm glad anyway."

Mara closed her eyes against the sun. "Me too. I think."

When she opened them again and looked toward shore, she saw Sienna had stopped sketching. She was staring at her notebook, her face was pale, and even from this distance Mara could see her hands shaking.

"Sienna?" Rhett knelt beside her, concerned.

Sienna shook her head quickly, closed the notebook and forced a smile. "I'm fine. Just….the sun. Got dizzy for a second."

But Mara had seen her face. That wasn't dizziness. That was fear.

The lake suddenly felt colder. Mara looked down through the clear water and for just a moment—just a flash, she could have sworn she saw something else beneath the surface. Not stones, but shapes that were almost like…..

She blinked and there was nothing but rocks and sand and refracted sunlight.

"Race you back," Eli said, and Mara let herself be distracted, let herself pretend everything was fine.

But as she swam toward shore, she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Not by her friends on the beach, but by something in the trees beyond. Something patient. Something waiting.

She climbed out of the water and the air felt wrong against her skin. It was too warm after the cold lake, or maybe too cold despite the sun, she couldn't tell. The droplets running down her arms raised goosebumps that had nothing to do with temperature.

Devon was telling another joke. Juno was filming the lake. Aria was reading. Theo was probably analyzing the mineral content of the water.

Everything was normal. Everything was fine.

So why did Mara feel like they were all standing on the edge of something vast and hungry, one step away from falling in?