Light Over Water by Carle Noelle

Author:Carle, Noelle [Carle, Noelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-10-05T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Ruthlessly Sent to the Bottom

When Alison came to herself, it was with the realization that it was pitch black out, and Aubrey was gone. She recognized disbelief and despair over what had just happened hovering on the edges of her consciousness, but, as if afraid to touch a fresh wound, her mind refused to dwell on this horror. She remembered Aubrey scrambling away. It seemed she heard him crying and saying how sorry he was, then it was quiet. However, minutes later he was back and incongruously, he pulled her skirt down over her legs, and straightened her shirt over her chest. She realized these things now; they were like a dream that she couldn’t quite piece together. Mechanically she sat up, buttoning her shirt. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. She could see the outlines of the trees against the sky. She could make out the bulk of the fort over her shoulder. The piles of granite blocks were just dark shadows set against the darker trees. She could hear the steady splash of waves pushed in by a now gusty breeze. That breeze soughed through the trees shutting out any other sounds.

How long she sat there she had no idea. She was gripped by a disinclination to either think or move. She realized that tears were dripping down her cheeks, but she felt nothing except a dull coldness moving up her body until she was shivering violently. She held at bay all the thoughts that were clamoring for her attention; the pain in her body, the loss of her purity, the change this would mean for her life, the contemptible selfishness of Aubrey Newell, and her own sense of guilt over her intimacy with him. She focused on remembering what happened with her schoolbooks. She found herself standing. Then she was walking back over to the pile of granite. There they were, forgotten as she had knelt to examine the sculpture. Being near it was akin to being near Sam and she couldn’t bear it.

Alison snatched the books up and ran across the lawn to the woods. Bears, bobcats or coyotes never even crossed her mind as she ran. She must get away, get back home…home! No, she couldn’t face them. She thought she couldn’t face anyone, for surely they’d see; surely they would know to look at her that she was no longer the Alison she was.

She burst through the trees onto the road and ran all the way down to the center of the village where she spied Remick approaching in the buggy. He pulled up next to her, asking disinterestedly, “Where you been? We already ate supper. Figured you were at Eliot’s.” He nodded up the hill.

Alison blinked, wondering what time it was. She just stood there mutely, peering up at her brother in the swaying light of the lantern hung from the buggy.

“What’s the matter with you?”

Grateful for the intermittent darkness, Alison spoke out the first thought that came to her. “I’m going to Mrs.

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