The Last Time I Lied

by Riley Sager

There’s surprise in his voice, as if women are somehow incapable of boldness.

The inside of the Harris is as somber and hushed as a cathedral. And I’m the sinner tiptoeing inside. An impostor. Someone who doesn’t belong.

What happened to Vivian, Natalie, and Allison wasn’t an accident. I know because I’m the one who caused it. Although their eventual fate remains a mystery, I’m certain that what happened to those girls is all my fault.

I can't imagine a scenario where this could be her fault.

“The village is still there, deep below Lake Midnight. And the people who drowned now haunt the woods and the lake.

Is this a reference to the intentional flooding of the predominantly black town of Oscarville to create Lake Lanier in Georgia? Or a coincidence?

At the edge of Lake Midnight, I place the towel on the cracked dirt of the shore, drop the robe, and step gingerly into the water.

I'm very upset that she's going for a swim in the death lake. Alone. In the middle of the night.

Bits of brown stuff floated just below the surface. When some touched my ankle, I recoiled. Theo tightened his grip around my hand. “Relax. A little algae never hurt anyone.”

Absolutely not. This is why I can't do lakes.

“We know, Emma,” she tells me. “We know what happened to you after you left Camp Nightingale.”

WELL CAN SOMEONE LET ME KNOW??

I’m curious, Em, she said. Did you really think you could get away with it?

Bro wtf did Emily do?!

“In that dirty water? No thank you.”

!!! She is me.

Instead, I say, “Two Truths and a Lie. Let’s play.”

This is about to be a hell of a crashout.