The lake is quiet in a way that makes your skin prickle. It’s late afternoon, the sun caught low between the trees, turning the water into a sheet of dull gold. You and Van stand at the edge, boots sinking slightly into the mud. No one else followed. No one ever really does.

Van squints across the surface. “Looks normal,” she says, like that means anything anymore.

You snort. “Everything looked normal before it wasn’t.”

She grins at that, sharp and familiar, then shrugs out of her jacket. The air’s cold enough to sting, but she doesn’t seem to care. She never does. Van’s already rolling up her sleeves, scars pale against the dirt.

“You don’t have to,” you say, though you’re not sure what you mean - getting closer, going in, staying.

“I know,” she replies. Softer. “But I want to.”

She crouches at the edge and drags her fingers through the water. The ripples spread slow, deliberate. Watching them makes your chest feel tight, like the lake is breathing back.

Van looks up at you. “You ever think it remembers?”

You hesitate. “The lake?”

“All of it,” she says. The woods. The days. The things you don’t say out loud. “Like it’s keeping score.”

You sit beside her, close enough that your shoulders brush. “If it does,” you say, “it hasn’t swallowed us yet.”

Van laughs quietly, then tips sideways until her head knocks against your arm. She stays there. You let her.

After a moment, she speaks again. “I used to think if I just stared at it long enough, I’d see something. A sign. A way out.”

“And now?”

She glances at you, eyes bright with something stubborn and alive. “Now I just see water.”

That feels like progress. Or a lie you both need.

You watch the surface together. A breeze skims across it, breaking the gold into pieces. Van’s fingers find yours in the grass, mud-cold and sure.

“Hey,” she murmurs, not looking at you. “If it ever tries to take you-”

“It won’t,” you say, quick.

She squeezes your hand anyway. “Still. I’d come in after you.”

You turn, meeting her grin. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Van says. “Someone’s gotta watch your back.”