As the hazy light filtered through the trees, I examined the body in the water. She was covered in blood, nearly unrecognizable. I took the moment of peacefulness and stayed there. A cool calm fell over me, my breath suddenly becoming steady, my mind clear. And then, I pulled. 

The girl gasped and sat up. For a moment, she stayed in the shallow water, staring up at me with ice-blue eyes. Silence reigned between us before she spoke. 

"You're late," she said. I took a breath. I should have let her stay dead. 

"A thank you would be nice," I replied. She stood, her clothing soaked and dripping back into the lake. 

"We don't have time for thanks, we need to leave," she snapped at me, running her fingers through her tangled hair. I gestured behind me, the stolen SUV idling. I tossed her the keys. 

"There's a change of clothes and some towels in the trunk." 

She trudged up to the car, the mud sucking at her feet as it fought as though to keep her. I turned my back to her as she stripped her shirt off. I admire the dark, glassy surface of the water. So peaceful, yet so foreboding. It reminded me of her. Beautiful, serene to look at, but underneath the water it was cold as ice, filled with brutal unknown creatures.

My stare is interrupted by a splash. She had thrown the shirt into the deepest parts of the lake. After a few minutes she shouted from the passenger seat.

“Let’s go we don’t have all day!”

“We should really work on your people skills,” I say, going anyway, because she’s right. It’s only a matter of time before they find us. And that would be a death sentence for us both.