I was lakeside and it was night. Stephen and I were one of many couples. Later, when I tried to write down what I remembered for the police, I wrote "Katie and Paulo" though I faltered when writing Paulo's name because I knew they were no longer a couple, and then I wasn't sure what I remembered.
We were all getting in the lake which was warm, and each couple was getting intimate in the water with one another, so that none of us was really paying attention to each other. I could feel my feet bouncing along the lake bottom. I was happy, excited. Moments later, when my feet bounced along something that was not the lake bottom, I paused, but did not let on that anything was wrong. I could hear laughter and everyone was enjoying themselves. When I bounced again, I knew what my feet were hitting. I was hitting the wrists and arms of a human body.
Suddenly I was walking out of the lake, carrying Hope W. in my arms. She was dead. I was keenly aware of everyone standing on the shore who had been in the water, and some were crying and shrieking. I was sobbing but mostly silently. My chest was heaving with the effort. I carried her to the sand and lay her down.
We--and a lot of other people unknown to me--stayed with her through the night and into morning. Men in suits came to visit but I understood they were her friends. By then she was in a body bag and wearing a shimmery white dress. Her eyes were closed. When I looked at her once, I saw her eyes open and she was breathing. I cried out and looked away. A man in a suit told me that he had opened the body bag and she had heaved a great sigh and then vomited. I was afraid to look back at her because I did not want to see her dead body come to life in a horrifying way.
My father arrived. I was crying and there were people milling around. We had a conversation I don't remember. I think I had to tell him who Hope was exactly.
