“Where was Boomer?” Anthony shouted.

“I couldn’t really see him. I think he was monkeying around with the zip line. I could hear him, but I couldn’t see him. Jeff was creeping up on the branch, and I was too afraid to move. They screamed for me to jump on the line before Jeff could push me. That’s when they started throwing the rocks. Throw the rocks!” she screamed.

It was no longer a reenactment. She was ten years old and consumed with so much fear she was frozen to the tree branch. She could hear Jeff’s crazy laughter behind her. That and the hatred in his voice finally propelled her forward. From far away she could hear Boomer Ward shouting that the line would break if Jeff added his weight to it. She heard him bellow at the top of his lungs, “Don’t do it, Jeff!”

Cady reached for the wooden handle that would let her slide to the bottom, where her friends waited. She took a deep breath, saw the rocks hurtling her way, then squeezed her eyes shut. When she pushed off she felt Jeff King’s hand grab hold of her shirt while his other hand yanked at her head. He screamed into her ear just as she pushed off.

Pain engulfed her as she let go of the wooden handle and fell into the water.

“Let go, Jeff, let go!” Boomer shouted.

Her world turned black.

Cady slid down the zip line and landed on all fours. She wondered if she looked as dazed as she felt. “I did it! I really did it!”

As one, they hugged her. “Do you remember now?” Anthony asked anxiously.

“Yes. Yes, I remember. They thought I was dead. Amy told them I was dead. Pete wanted to go for help, so did Andy, but Amy said I was dead. They went to the park because they thought they would be blamed and sent away to some awful place. They left me there, and I couldn’t move.

“Boomer came back and pulled me out of the water. He put his hand on my chest to see if I was breathing. I heard him clear as anything. He said he was going to get help. He told me not to move, and then he said he didn’t do anything to the line, that he was trying to make it as tight as he could so it wouldn’t snap. He told me not to cry and squeezed my hand.

“I woke up in the hospital. That’s all pretty much a blur, with people asking me questions that I couldn’t answer. Finally, they gave up.” The only thing she left out of her summary were the words Jeff King had screamed in her ear.

They were at the base of the tree now, where Lola stood. Cady could see her grandmother visibly shrink before her eyes as Lola reached out for Agnes Jordan’s trembling hand. Cady stared at them for a minute before she moved forward. “I’m going to walk home. I need to think,” she said softly.