Watery Graves Read Online Free PDF Page B

the right choices all along, have we? We should have been going down to the village from time to time to see a doctor. A check-up was all it would take.”
    “But there’s no point in bothering a doctor unless you’re sick.”
    “Sickness can creep up on you. And when you live like we do, it’s harder to detect. We’re not forced to work. We choose to. We enjoy waking up every day and doing what we love. We don’t notice every creak and groan our bodies make.” Ingrid rubbed her face, and grinned.
    Emmy guessed her smile was forced.
    “Sometimes, no matter how hard you try you can’t hide from the things you fear the most,” Ingrid finished.
    Emmy wanted to ask her mother what it was she feared exactly. What was the ‘it’ they were too late for? She wanted to hear exactly what could happen to Maya. But to ask might be too direct. It might set her mother off. And really Emmy knew all the answers. It just wasn’t something she wanted to think too much about.
    Emmy watched Ingrid lean forward and light the candle between them, then switch off the lamp above. Ingrid’s eyes rested on the flame and Emmy noticed her mother’s body soften.
    With the pages lit only by her small lamp, Emmy shifted in her chair and tried to settle back into the story. But her gaze fell onto the candle flame too. It was calming watching it flicker.
    Ingrid rose quietly and slipped out the door into the night.
    *
    In the loft bedroom above their sitting room, Emmy woke from a dream laughing. She believed in dreams. They held the answers to life’s hardest questions. When she turned to cuddle into her mother, she discovered the bed was still empty. Ingrid had not returned.
    She rolled over to face the window. The lights were off in Kristian, Maya’s and Sebastian’s cabin. The kitchen cabin was in darkness. There wasn’t really anywhere else for her mother to be. Emmy couldn’t think of any other time her mother was alone. She was always with someone. In the day, she was with Maya. But at night, Emmy took over.
    Thoughts of where her mother might be made it tough for Emmy to fall back to sleep. She sat up against the wall, cuddling her knees to her chest and waited for her.
    *
    It was a long time before she heard footsteps on the stairs. Emmy scooted under the sheets, and flopped onto the pillows.
    The mattress dipped as Ingrid eased into bed beside her.
    “Are you okay, Mum?”
    “Yes. It’s late. Go to sleep.”
    “Where were you?”
    “Out walking.”
    “Alone?”
    Ingrid cocked her head to the side. “I’m tired now Emmy.”
    “I had a dream. Maya’s going to be okay,” Emmy said, slipping her hand into her mothers. Their fingers interlocked. “Maya and I were swimming in the river. I was doing handstands. Water was going up my nose and she thought it was hilarious. She had the pinkest cheeks. And I wasn’t afraid of anything.”
    Ingrid settled beside her. “I want that for you.”
    “It felt real.”
    “Dreams are real.”
    “If you and Maya went for a walk in the middle of the night she can’t be too sick.”
    “Emmy, don’t say anything about this tomorrow.”
    Emmy considered not asking the next question, but her lips made the sound before she could stop them, “Why?”
    “Please, just don’t. Okay.”
    “You want me to keep a secret?”
    “Look, I just went and sat with Kristian. I needed to talk to someone. I don’t want Maya to know how much I’m flipping out about her.”
    Emmy looked at her mother. She seemed fine, compared to the way she usually flipped out. “I think Maya knows , Mum.”
    She saw her mother shake her head but she smiled. “You’re probably right about that.”
    “You can talk to me.”
    “I know.”
    “Anytime.”
    Ingrid smoothed the hair back off Emmy’s face. “I’m scared,” she said. Her face crum pled.
    Emmy felt that familiar panic wash through her, as if she was drowning. “Don’t be.” It was all she could come up with. “Please don’t be