Chapter 2Back at Seven, I Jumped Into the River Before My Dad

A bag of reeking garbage slammed against our front door.

Foul-smelling liquid seeped under the door and into the living room.

"Open up! Come out, you cold-blooded freak!"

"A murderer's family has no place in this neighborhood!"

The shouting outside went on and on, punctuated by hard kicks against the door.

Mom wrapped her arms around me, her face ghostly pale.

"Michael, what is going on?"

Dad sat hunched on the couch with his head in his hands, saying nothing.

His phone screen was still lit with a message from his transit manager, George Smith.

George: [Michael Carter, we've received over a thousand complaints about your conduct.]

George: [You're suspended effective immediately. Don't report to work tomorrow.]

My chest ached so badly I could barely breathe as I stared at Dad's slumped shoulders.

That night, a strange sound woke me.

I pushed open the bathroom door, and my heart lurched at the sight.

Dad was standing at the sink, trying to wash his face with cold water.

As soon as the water reached his nose and mouth, his whole body started shaking violently.

He stumbled backward and collapsed onto the floor.

He gasped for breath, both hands clamped around his throat.

Part of him was still trapped underwater, back in that suffocating moment. It hadn't let him go.

"Dad!"

I rushed over and wrapped my arms around his cold, trembling body.

"It's okay, Dad. There aren't any monsters in the water anymore."

Dad was drenched in cold sweat. His eyes were red as he looked at me. His lips trembled, but he couldn't get a word out.

Early the next morning, Mom took me to the local police precinct.

She hurried over to Officer Ryan Cooper and clutched his hand.

"Officer Cooper, my husband was framed. Please, can't you check the security footage?"

Officer Cooper sighed and pulled up the recording. The screen was completely black.

"Mrs. Carter, it's not that we don't want to investigate.

"Someone smashed the security camera near the river with a slingshot the night before.

"We don't have any evidence proving that the man in the water deliberately grabbed your husband's ankle and pulled him under."

That couldn't be a coincidence.

The camera just happened to be broken right before Derek pulled his stunt?

No way.

Derek had cased the area ahead of time. This whole thing had been planned from the start.

"And what about the people coming to our house every day?" Mom asked, close to tears. "They're dumping garbage on our doorstep and harassing us. Can't you do something?"

"We'll step up patrols in the area," Officer Cooper said. "As for the online backlash, your best option is to make a public statement and tell your side of the story."

As we left the precinct, Mom's phone buzzed.

Derek was live.

On the screen, Derek lay in a hospital bed with a bandage wrapped around his head, looking pale and haggard.

The livestream had already topped 100,000 viewers.

"Guys, thanks for checking in. I barely made it out alive."

Derek squeezed out a few tears for the camera.

"But I can't just let this go.

"Michael Carter, I know you're watching."

The pitiful look vanished from his face, replaced by something cold and vicious.

"I'm giving you one last chance.

"Tomorrow at noon, bring that lying daughter of yours to the riverfront, get down on your knees, and apologize to me!

"And if you chicken out, the internet won't let your family off the hook!"

The live chat exploded.

[Derek's right! Make him kneel!]

[We'll be at the river tomorrow. Don't let him get away!]

I gripped the phone so tightly my knuckles turned white.

When we got home, the house was eerily quiet.

I pushed open the bedroom door.

Dad was crouched beside the bed, his eyes red, clutching a thick rope.

The moment he heard me, he hurriedly shoved it into his toolbox.

"Mia, you and your mom stay home tomorrow. Don't go anywhere."

His voice was unnervingly calm, so flat it sent a chill through me.

"I caused this mess. Tomorrow, I'm going down to the river... and putting an end to it myself."

My eyes fixed on the length of rope sticking out of the toolbox. My blood ran cold.

He wasn't going there to apologize.

He was going to sacrifice his own life to satisfy that bloodthirsty mob, just to buy Mom and me peace for the rest of our lives.

No.

Absolutely not.

I walked over and yanked the rope out of the toolbox.

"Dad, we're not going to the spot Derek picked by the river."

I looked up at him, refusing to back down.

"Tomorrow, I'll go with you to the precinct. We'll take the route across Old Stone Bridge."

Dad froze and opened his mouth to object.

"Listen to me, Dad."

I took his trembling hand in mine.

"We can't give in to monsters like them."