lakeside dread || zeke & parker [clue]

[Tom]

The water's never been her friend.

Lakes and pools were the only places in Six to swim and most of the time, no one had the chance to swim in them. Parker stands a ways away from the shore, camera in hand and bubblegum between her teeth. Snapping the gum in her lips as she stands looking out into the water, pretending like she hadn't done this too many times years before. Standing far enough away to feel comfortable, but close enough to be afraid of the water. Breathing in the calm air of the day, watching nothing in particular and letting the day wash over her. Parker Gautier hadn't been given a break at all, she's still the same girl she had been since last year, but no one needed her anymore.

A banner hung above the place, glittering the pieces of what she had done like a stain glass of her own creation, until it shattered over the summer when Scarlet Hyde's death reached her home. The water glistens against the shore with the silent sound of white noise; terrifying and calming at the same time. No one's seen her out here for too long before, she's always stood far enough away for most to ignore her or avoid her. Never quite there, but always somewhere close. Parties thrown by the lakeside in the past where teens swim, laugh, and joke without a care in the world. Parker had never been able to even step close to the edge and breath comfortably. The water's always been something she was afraid of since she was young, before popularity and school even became her life.

The eerie feeling of being afraid of what's beneath and the unknown of it all. Past memories of trying to swim and not being able to, the flashes of memories in the past where panic and fear set in. For a second, she blinks blankly to no one, breathing in air to her lungs until the sound of splashing water reaches her ears. Eyes glancing down to the lake where water is displaced, moving across the edges until she can see him. Zeke Provence shifts through the water almost like a beacon to her, living and breathing as he swims through it. She can't see what his face shows or where he's going, but she can feel herself reach for her camera. Fingers itching to snap a photo of something more genuine than the fake teens of Salvatore Academy.

A flash of a camera as she catches him coming up out of the water, splashing water about in a precise way that makes her smile softly. It's one of the realest moments she's gotten a photo of since coming back to school. For a second, she's staying far away, the next her heart hammers as she steps closer, ignoring the anxiousness bubbling on her chest. Silently, she turns the flash off, taking more photos of Zeke Provence. Yearbook was going to love these for the return from summer section.

Another shutter before she feels confident that she's gotten a great shot.

The water wasn't her friend.

Neither was Zeke.

Alone.

Where she belonged.