Follow the Leader by J. J. Maguire

Author:J. J. Maguire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror books for adults, horror paperback books, horror books new, horror thrillers, folk horror books, british horror books, occult horror
Publisher: J. J. Maguire
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

After not getting the water birth that we’d intended, Jude and I always had this weird concern Sam would never enjoy being in the water. Swimming, playing, and all that kind of stuff.

We’d research the hell out of it and convince ourselves so hard that water births made kids natural swimmers, that there was no alternative.

But like so many parts of raising a child for the first time, we were wrong.

Sam was a human fish from an early age.

We’d take her to the Sandcastle Indoor Swimming pool in Blackpool, and she’d sneak onto slides she had no business getting on at her age and size. But she just didn’t care. She was never happier than when she was in the water.

There was one incident where my mum took her to the swimming baths though, that somehow changed everything. To this day, I don’t know what happened. My mum just said Sam freaked out while they were in the shallow end, and was hysterical until she showered and dressed. She said she never took her eyes off of her, and I have no reason not to believe her.

But Sam wouldn’t set foot in the water for years after that. She could never explain it herself. She was too young.

Something happened. Had to. To change her.

When we moved out to the country, we made sure we were within walking distance of a beach. And as time went on, we reprogrammed her again. She started splashing her feet in there after school every day. Then it was up to my knees.

And then she was back.

But I was on the opposite side of our world, further inland than I’d been before, further from the coast than I’d been, despite that, somehow, ending up in the water.

But this wasn’t the fun water. This water was colder than anything I could ever have imagined.

The splashing I caused trying to run into the deeper water after the sinking Paul had hidden his face from me, and all my screams and shouts were worthless as he carried his ears with him down into the lake.

There was no real thinking behind what I did next. Logic might’ve come up with better ideas. But logic was way back at the cottage, helping the police sweep the area, searching and investigating. I was out there on a vigilante suicide mission and it was too late to turn back.

Dove straight into the area that he vanished in, and swam below the surface, holding my breath even though my heart was pounding with adrenaline around my body. Scanned the water, murky and hidden, a wave of bubbles blinding me from my running still.

The air in my lungs burst out of me as I tried to shout underwater and ended up taking in far too much.

I pushed myself back to the surface and gasped for air. I wiped my eyes and scanned the lake, hoping Paul would have floated to the surface, but that was optimistic.

The icy coldness hit me and I knew I had to keep moving, keep searching.

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