Brenna opened Hallie’s suitcase. Upon finding it empty, she unzipped and searched every pocket thoroughly before concluding there was nothing in the bag.
She decided that Hallie wouldn’t put this file just anywhere. She had to turn over everything in the entire suite if she wished to find what she was looking for.
Brenna felt under the sofa and chairs. She lifted cushions. She undid the bed, searching the sheets and pillows. She lifted the mattress from the boxspring, finding nothing flattened in between.
Finally, she found herself in the bathroom. She immediately searched the cabinet underneath the sink. Yet, she found nothing but a few rolls of tissue and some other toiletries.
“Damn! It has to be here,” she cried, feeling increasingly irritated as the heat from her body rose a few degrees in fruitless search.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Chelsea. Just getting frustrated,” Brenna said with a sigh, looking towards the entrance where her friend was perched. “Just focus on keeping a look out.”
Brenna walked out of the bathroom and found her eyes drifting across everything in the room. Yet, everything her eyes were laid upon had already been searched. Agitated and ready to give up, Brenna’s eyes had stopped scanning the room and rested on an air vent, located on the floor by the nightstand.
She flung herself to her knees and tried to pry open the vent. To her surprise, it popped open quite nicely as if it had never been screwed in place. Looking into the hole in the floor, Brenna saw something in the bottom. Sticking her arm into the duct, she brushed it with her fingertips, realizing it was exactly what she was looking for. Grasping hold of the file, she pulled it out of the hole.
Making herself comfortable, she sat on the floor Indian style and opened the file. Not knowing what she would find, she flipped through its contents quickly, feeling the need to answer the questions in her head.
As she scanned the contents of the file, she realized what Hallie had been up to the past year. Feeling her heartbeat quicken, Brenna had found pictures of herself, taken without her knowledge, throughout the year. She found a homemade map of Camp Summerwind with the location of each camp counselor on the night of her sister’s accident marked in red ink. However, the locations of two camp counselors were missing: Chelsea’s and hers!
Searching deeper, Brenna found a correspondence from the camp. Hallie had asked them for information regarding Chelsea. She wanted to know how long Chelsea had been a counselor? What group was she in charge of? Had she had contact with Morgan?
The camp’s response was swift.
Brenna read the letter aloud. “As we are unable to disclose specific information with regard to our counselors, and such information is restricted for the privacy of our institution and of the individuals who work here, the full disclosure of the information you seek has been denied. However, it is not a violation of our policies to inform you that no such person exists within our institution or has ever existed.”
As the letter shook within her grasp, Brenna read the letter again, but there was no mistake. Chelsea had never worked for Camp Summerwind. Brenna wondered if it had been a mistake. Chelsea had to have worked there. After all, she met her at the camp, and they had talked about managing camp groups.
Brenna wanted to call out to Chelsea, but she had no words. What did she know about Chelsea? She wracked her brain for answers. Chelsea had just appeared into her life. One day she was just there as if she had always been. The friendship was instant. They just understood one another. They liked the same things. How could she not be who she knew her to be?
“What are you doing?” Hallie walked into the room, finding her things thrown all over the suite. “What did you do?”
Brenna looked up in shock, wondering why Chelsea hadn’t warned her that Hallie was coming. “What have you done?” she questioned, holding up the file for Hallie to see. “You’ve been following me!”
“I needed to know,” Hallie shouted at her.
“Know what?”
“I needed to know if you were involved,” Hallie told her, glaring.
“Morgan is dead, Hallie. No one is to blame. It was an accident.”
“No, it wasn’t,” she told her through gritted teeth. “You know it wasn’t.”
Brenna shook her head. “Stop this! Stop treating me like I am the enemy. It was an accident. Everyone can see it but you! You need help, Hallie. You can’t just go around accusing people.”
“Where is Marissa? Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?” Hallie said, doing little to mask her hatred.
“No,” Brenna said in a whisper, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Do you really expect me to believe she just got lost or whatever Orman is trying to convince everyone of?” Hallie questioned angrily.
“I don’t know,” she told her at a loss for words as hot tears began to stream down her face at the mention of her missing friend. “I don’t know anything.”
“How well do you know your friend Chelsea?”
“You are delusional if you are going to blame Chelsea for any of this.”
“How did you meet her?”
Brenna backed away from Hallie. Her mind raced. She couldn’t think. She was so confused.
Images of Chelsea popped in her head. Chelsea... just appeared in her life one day, but she couldn’t pinpoint the exact time. The memory of their first encounter evaded her. Brenna found herself frightened by this. How had she forgotten?
“Where is Chelsea, Bren? I haven’t seen her since I boarded. Why else would she be hiding from me?” Hallie told her. “Something happened to my sister, and I know you know something about it. Something is not right about you, Bren, and I am determined to find out.”
* * * * *
Brenna ran to her suite in tears. Confused, she wondered how Hallie could ever believe she had anything to do with her sister’s death. She would have never hurt Morgan or Marissa. She loved them like sisters.
She threw herself on the bed and began to cry. She was so confused. Why did Marissa have to fall overboard? Why was she even on the balcony and where did the blood on the bracelet come from? Why did Orman feel it was better to throw the bracelet overboard? Was he trying to prevent a scandal? A girl murdered at sea would be a sensational story. Or was Marissa’s disappearance merely an accident?
Hours passed, but Brenna remained in her room. She refused to share the same space as any of the people she once called her friends. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she didn’t know her friends at all. She had a glimpse at the real person within each of them, and in that instant, their true colors were apparent to her. They blamed her.
They blamed her misfortune. They blamed her for Morgan all along. They never trusted her. They only waited for the right opportunity to destroy her life, and she never saw it before. Were they making up Marissa’s disappearance to mess with her mind? Or to force her to confess to Morgan’s accident?
She had never heard of any rivalry with Marissa. She had never heard of any bad blood existing between them and Marissa. The idea that any of them disliked Marissa was a new one. In her suspicious mind, any of them could have knocked her off balance and thrown her over the railing. Or, at least, faked it to drive Brenna insane. The ship was huge. Marissa could have been hiding anywhere, and Brenna didn’t join the others in searching the ship.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Brenna didn’t respond, remaining quiet and hoping her visitor would go away.
After a short while, Dylan stepped into the room without being invited.
“We couldn’t find Marissa. The coast guard gave the captain the okay to dock at the nearest port,” he informed her sadly. “The authorities are going to inspect the ship thoroughly there. They want to go through her things. Orman said she was pretty drunk last night so it should be cited as an accident.”
“Is there a reason you are telling me this?” Brenna questio
ned, sitting up in bed.
“We are going to dock in Miami for a few hours. The rest of us decided to cut this trip short and head back home.”
“Fine,” Brenna answered shortly.
After a long moment, Dylan walked across the room and sat on the edge of Brenna’s bed. “What are you thinking? You look... scared.”
“I can’t believe it,” she told him, her tone as soft as a whisper.
He nodded.
“The pieces don’t fit,” she said, thinking aloud. “This trip has been a disaster from the beginning. We have been more at odds with each other than ever before.”
He stared at her, appearing to try to follow her thought pattern.
“Things just don’t make sense in my head right now,” she said, mashing her palms into her forehead.
With his green eyes intent, Dylan grabbed her hands to prevent her from injuring herself. “Talk to me. What is going on in your head right now?”
“No one could fall off that railing,” she told him. “It was a calm night. There weren’t any huge waves rocking the boat. She would have had to climb over the railing and fall over.”
“She could have decided to end her life by drowning herself.”
Brenna scoffed. “She was not suicidal.”
Dylan looked at her pensively. “You didn’t know Marissa.”
“She was one of my closest friends, Dylan. I knew her better than anyone else on this boat,” she told him matter-of-factly.
“You knew the side she wanted you to see,” Dylan said, running his hands through his black hair. “You didn’t know the real Marissa.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked softly, trying her best to make sense of the circumstances she found herself in.
Dylan hesitated.
“Tell me, Dylan. Tell me the truth for once in your life,” Brenna scolded, her mind racing with what Marissa could have had over his head. “Did Marissa know about you and Morgan? Were the two of you together?”
He shook his head. “Hallie convinced her I was seeing Morgan while we were dating. Before the accident last summer, there was a fling. I didn’t want to hurt you, Brenna. I thought if I just pretended like it didn’t happen, then it would all be wiped away. Then Morgan died, and Hallie suspected me. She suspected you. You were different. I had never seen you so depressed. You just isolated yourself, and focused only on school. Your chance for a scholarship seemed more important than me.”
“I was trying to cope with my friend’s death by doing what I do best. School work was a way out of what I was feeling. The more work the less I had to feel. I was not punishing you,” Brenna told him, trying hard to listen to him without judgment. Yet, she was hurt. Everyone had disappointed her, but none more than Dylan. “What did Marissa threaten to do?”
“Marissa found out everything last summer before school ended and you went to work at the camp. She said she was going to tell you if I didn’t stop seeing Morgan,” he said shamefully. “I wanted to. I knew it wasn’t right. Morgan was furious though. She didn’t want to let go.”
Brenna folded her hands over her chest. “And?”
“After Morgan’s accident, Marissa just wouldn’t let it go. I think Hallie had convinced her that something was not right about the way Morgan died. She said you were her best friend, and she had to be honest with you. She was going to tell you during this trip. That’s why I didn’t want to come,” he said, looking heartbroken. “I felt like she was toying with me. She held that secret over my head like she enjoyed torturing me. She was cruel that way. Orman told me some things she did to him. She was not the person you thought she was. I couldn’t take being with her on this boat. She threatened me all of the time, following me around the boat.”
Brenna stood quietly, unable to find the words that would justify how she felt. She had been lied to by the two people she trusted; her boyfriend and her best friend. “You should have told me.”
“I shouldn’t have kept anything from you,” he said, looking at the floor. “I guess I wanted to hurt you at first, but I didn’t realize how that would make me feel. I feel like such an idiot.”
Surprised and confused, Brenna asked, “Why would you want to hurt me?”
Dylan gawked at her. “Morgan told me how you felt. That is why I started seeing her secretly last spring.”
“What are you talking about, Dylan?”
“She told me how you would say you didn’t feel anything for me anymore. She said you were ready to move on. You told her it was practically over.”
Brenna shook her head. “I never told Morgan anything like that.”
“So, you didn’t say those things?”
“No. Morgan knew how in love I was. I wasn’t going to break up with you last year,” she said, frustrated. “She just told you that.”
Dylan’s face dropped. “Why would she do―”
“Because she wasn’t the friend I thought she was,” Brenna concluded, feeling drained by the conversation. Marissa threatening Dylan over a short-lived romance with Morgan seemed like too much to believe. Brenna couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that everyone she knew had lied or kept things from her. “None of you were.”
* * * * *
Brenna awoke with a start. She had the same dream... of Morgan hitting her in the head with a paddle. It seemed more vivid this time. She could feel the pounding pain of being hit. She felt her body sink under the waves, feeling halfway conscious. Her world went still momentarily.
But then she woke up.
Why was Brenna having these dreams? Did she feel guilty about something? Did she do something wrong?
Confused, Brenna got up from bed and went to find Orman. He said he would give her all of the answers, but he never showed up at her suite. Orman was pretty predictable, and she knew exactly where she could find him. He didn’t wander too faraway from the bar at night.
Brenna went to the dance club and found Orman passed out on the bar. Shaking him until he almost fell over, he began to stir from his sleep. His unfocused eyes stared at Brenna, and he smiled.
“Hey, Bren,” he said, smelling of liquor. “Do you want a drink?”
“No,” she told him. “Get up. I need to ask you a few questions.”
“Not now, Bren. Let me sleep.”
“Did you push her over?” Brenna asked him, point blank. “You weren’t in the room last night.”
Orman’s mood immediately changed. “Are you crazy? Now, you are blaming me?”
Brenna looked up at him. “I know what I heard last night. It sounded like a body being dragged and thrown over the railing.”
“What makes you think I would hurt Marissa?”
Brenna shook her head. “Dylan mentioned she did horrible things to you. I feel like I didn’t know her at all. Like I don’t know any of you.”
“I didn’t hurt her,” Orman said somberly, his blue eyes afire. “But I know who did and you do, too.”
“Who?”
“Don’t you remember?” he asked, confused. “Don’t you remember how she asked to speak to you privately?”
Brenna gawked at him, dumbfounded. Her mind raced as quickly as her pulse. “Tha―that nev―never happened, Orman,” she stumbled over her words, feeling as if she couldn’t put a cohesive thought together.
“Yes, it did,” he said bitterly, inching toward her until his breath caressed her face. “You went with her to her cabin. She said things you didn’t want to hear.”
Brenna began to hyperventilate. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest. Her eyes fluttered uncontrollably, feeling as if she was about to black out. “No,” she said weakly, trying to block out Orman’s words. “I was asleep... and I heard a hor―horrible sound.”
“Everything I did was for you, Bren. I have always loved you. If Dylan wasn’t in the picture, we would have been together,” he said, taking hold of her shoulders. “But he doesn’t have to be in the picture.”
“Let go of me,” Bren
na shouted, breaking free of his grasp and running as fast as she could. But she couldn’t run fast enough away from his words. Something resonated within her. Something clicked in her head, and her mind became inundated with images. The dark cloud that separated her from her memories had lifted slightly, and she saw beyond the veil.
Reaching the upper deck, Brenna bent over the railing and began to vomit. Her mind was moving at a dizzying pace, and she felt sick as a vision appeared before her eyes.
Marissa ushered her into her suite and lead her into the sitting area. “So, I wanted to talk to you, because I’ve been holding back something, and I can’t hold it in anymore. I just have to get this off my chest.”
“I’m tired, Marissa. I want to go to bed so go ahead and spill it,” Brenna told her, yawning.
“Brenna, I need to hear the truth from your lips,” Marissa told her, appearing concerned. “No more lies.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, bewildered by her friend’s words.
“Did you kill her?” Marissa asked bluntly, tears rimming her eyes.
Brenna stood up abruptly. “What are you accusing me of?”
“I know the truth... and it wasn’t hard to put things together,” Marissa said, standing and crossing her arms. “How could you do it? She was our best friend.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Brenna shouted at her, feeling her insides turning.
“What was Morgan doing on that rowboat? Was she meeting you? Did you find out about her and Dylan?”
Brenna covered her ears in an attempt to block out Marissa’s questions. “Stop!”
Marissa angrily grasped her arms and shook her. “Tell me! I need to hear it!”
“Stop!”
“How did you do it?”
Trying to quiet her, Brenna pushed her away with all of her force.
Marissa fell over, hitting her head on the corner of the coffee table. Marissa screamed. When she hit the ground, the air was pushed out of her lungs and she was silent. Within seconds, she sat up, wiping her head and exposing the inch-long gash on her forehead. She showed Brenna the blood on her hands. “I’m bleeding!” she screamed, glaring at her. “You did that on purpose!”
“No,” Brenna said, shaking her head. “No, it was an accident!”