The Lake of Lost Girls

by Katherine Greene

Regardless, Mom and I steered clear of the garage. It wasn’t exactly a place you wanted to spend much time in.

Whelp knew something was wrong from the start

Most people couldn’t understand how the thought of leaving my parents alone with their unending grief, left me with a sinking feeling of guilt that was much worse than letting my mom continue to do my laundry and my dad to dutifully pay my car insurance.

“It’s my life, too!” He snapped unexpectedly, confusing me. “What?” I snarled. He seemed to get ahold of himself, looking contrite. “I’m sorry, it’s only … I’ve been looking into this case, all of the cases, for as long as I’ve been a journalist. I’ve put everything into it, wanting them to be solved. I know it must sound ridiculous to you, but this case—Jess’s case—it’s important to me, Lindsey.”

“It’s hard to escape the memory of someone who has become perfect through the very act of remembering them.” It

And what I said was the truth. My truth. And it was irrevocably linked with my shame. But it was about time I owned it instead of suppressing it.

My dad was great at making me feel better. He understood me in a way no one else did. Not Mom. Not my friends. No one.

People are willfully blind if it’s something they don’t want to believe. Because of that, the police barely questioned him. And no one wanted to think he could be a killer.”

Before life led you down ugly paths and the people you loved twisted into someone unrecognizable.

I loved my mother, but it was an obligatory love. And its shallowness sometimes hurt as much as my father’s deep affection.

I could never summon my anger when it counted. It only ever came out in wild, unpredictable ways. But the people, the men, who deserved my rage, never received it. I was conditioned to want their regard. Their tenderness. As much as I loathed to admit it, I would turn myself inside out in my desire to claim it.

I had a hard time doing what was best for me. Needing to be loved above all others would be my downfall.

I was sick and tired of my actions being dictated by selfish men. Every bad thing in my life had to do with their wants and desires consuming me.

And for the first time, I was thankful. I didn’t want this kind of love. The kind that could choke you. “She wanted to ruin me, but in the end, she ruined herself.”