When they caught me, I was taken away, but the loss of my life’s purpose tore me apart. I was lost inside myself. The only thing that held me to reality was the number 7. It was seven months since we’d been together, I was going to turn 18 and didn’t want to, and the digits in 43 added up to seven.

“What are you doing!” screamed a voice. A woman’s voice. I had taken seven strides out into the water. I was up to my neck. All it would take was one more step. I’d find myself again. I was here, in the lake. The last time I knew myself was here, before he hit me.

“You again! I knew it was you.” A boat floated close, a shadow eclipsed the sun, and I knew it was her. The lady who had “saved” me before from the burning cabin, from the little white boat, the Queen of Dietz Lake

“I’m getting tired of saving you, so this time you’ll have to save yourself.”
“I want it to end.”
“Fine. Have it your way.” She sat down, the yellow sun now blinding me.
The heat was suddenly warm, the day too bright, the audience unnerving