I drift off into another world, feeling so serene.
My hands float above my head and my feet twist in the smooth grass.
I lay with the moon shining over me, illuminating the lake that stretches before me.
Forever doesn’t even begin to explain the amount of time I could spend here.

My head spins with ideas of circling purples, and cool blues. Lifting myself up I walk over to the sparkling water, letting my feet find their way. The calm water graces my feet, and slowly fills up to my waist. I never want to return, the world has nothing for me. I eagerly look forward to the time when my mind wanders off to this hideout, one that I solely created for myself. I dance my way further. Splashing the water as if I was a four year old again. "Never never never, don’t let me go back, please!" the chant rises from my red lips. Who knows when I’ll return; why not stay here for eternity? My rationality seems perfect in my eyes. I feel something pulling me under, grasping my foot. I don’t fight it; it wants me to stay here.

***

"they say she just walked straight off the boat."
Veronica had quite the group around her. Everyone that day was seen with the local newspaper, reading about Mallory's death. And many versions had sprouted from the headlines. Even the teachers were gossiping about it. I knew what had happened; I was with Mallory on the cruise. Even though we rarely hung out during the time I was still aware of her. I noticed the way she would just sit alone on the edge of the boat holding onto the rails staring completely off into space. She was always like that though. Ever since I had known her Mallory had been this lighthearted girl who was never aware of the things around her. Never once did I think she had mental problems, I always thought she was just dancing around in her own little world. "Her parents didn't even know she was gone, until the next morning. And by then it was way too late to figure out where and when she jumped off." the group and scattered about the lunchroom now, I guess they were already bored with Veronica's story, venturing off to find another wacky version of her Mallory's death. I felt sorry for Mallory's family. They had to live each day knowing that their daughter had taken her own life, and that maybe if they would have awaken when she had gotten up this all could have been just a dream.

I still doubt that this was a suicide. Sure Mallory was unhappy but so is every teenager, they always search for something more and that’s just apart of growing up. She had seemed strong enough to deal with it. That’s all we have to do, is just deal. Also to drown is quite a harsh death and the carefree bubbly Mallory that I knew? Well she didn’t seem like the candidate for the “Drowning Suicide”. There are so many questions surrounded her death. For one, no body has been found but there were many accounts of a young blonde wandering the boat aimlessly. One person even said they had seen a girl lying on the deck of the boat, with her arms flat above her and her feet twisting as if she were playing in grass. And the fact that the manifest of the boat didn’t match up to the number of passengers leaving the boat also gave another clue. None the less, Mallory’s parents were searching in a frantic for the last day of the cruise. The police finally eliminated and interrogated until they had came up with the statement that Mallory had most likely jumped off the boat on her own free will. Whether she was under the influence of something still raised eyebrows but Mallory’s parents constantly reminded everyone that Mallory would “never do such a thing”. I still find it a little eerie that Mallory’s body hadn’t been found. It was like she disappeared into her own little dream world.