CHAPTER TWELVE
She crashed into the house, banging her knee on the table. Swearing, limping she ran into the bedroom and shook Trisha awake.
‘Trisha,’ she said. ‘Trisha, you have to wake up. Jesus Christ, wake up.’ Trisha sat up and pushed Michaela’s hands away. ‘Fuck, Michaela, what’s going on?’
Michaela was scrabbling around picking up clothes. She threw them at Trisha. ‘Put these on. You have to come outside with me.’
Trisha was reaching for the bedside light. Michaela jumped on her. ‘No. No lights. Just put something on, will you? You have to come and look at this. Christ,’ she said, panting, ‘you have to listen to it.’
Trisha was pulling on a jersey. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and tugged a pair of jeans on. ‘You’re freaking me out,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to come and look at anything. And I sure as hell don’t want to listen to anything.’
Michaela tugged on Trisha’s arm. ‘No way, you have to come,’ she said. ‘The light is back again, and this time there’re sound effects too.’
Trisha was on her feet, being pulled toward the door. Michaela didn’t stop to worry about shoes, just dragged her down the porch steps and towards the path to the lake.
‘Fuck, slow down will you,’ Trisha hissed. ‘And let me go while you’re at it. Jesus, have you lost your mind?’
‘Shh,’ Michaela didn’t turn around, and the only concession she made was to take hold of Trisha’s hand rather than the arm. ‘Shh. Look.’
They were by the jetty now and Michaela was pointing over the lake. ‘Oh my God,’ she said. It’s still there. I didn’t know if it would be.’
Trisha pressed herself to Michaela’s side and Michaela automatically snaked an arm around her.
‘That’s over where we were looking today,’ Trisha whispered. ‘Where we found that stuff.’
Michaela nodded and squeezed Trisha closer. ‘Listen,’ she said.
The laughter wasn’t as loud now, but Michaela thought that it made it worse. It was sweet and childish again, tinkling out into the night air. She felt Trisha shiver against her.
‘That’s fucking freaky,’ Trisha whispered. ‘What’s a kid doing out at this time of night?’
Michaela shook her head. ‘I don’t know if it’s a real child,’ she said. The laughter sounded again and Michaela groaned. Something was hiding under the laughter, she thought.
‘I don’t like this,’ Trisha whispered. ‘What’s going on?’
The light was dipping and spinning in between the trees, sometimes out of sight then reappearing. It floated upwards as they watched, then with a bright flash of silver it exploded. They both covered their eyes.
‘What the fuck?’ Trisha said after a moment. ‘It’s gone. Bright shit.’ ‘And loud,’ Michaela added.
They stared over the lake where the light had been. The night seemed dark and heavy with the sudden silence. Trisha tugged on the sleeve of Michaela’s robe.
‘Let’s go back inside,’ she said. ‘If anything’s still out there, you’re a sitting duck out here in this white thing you’re wearing.’