FINAL CHAPTER: Cynthia Ann's Story Told

[Laine]

Cynthia Ann momentarily pulls away but submits to the will of her mother before she becomes more angry.

One of my last days....

The tone of her mother's voice and the words she used with her earlier at the dinner table makes Cynthia Ann begin to tremble.

[Laraqua]

Mama leads them down into the lake, her grip tight, but she doesn't stop at the water's edge. She starts stepping into the water, ignoring the cold as it slips into her shoes and coats her ankles. She doesn't seem about to stop anytime soon. "It be all right. Now don't you struggle any. It be all right soon. You gonna meet Papa soon. We all gonna meet Papa soon."

[Laine]

Once again the words of her mother during their meal rang through her head.

She means to kill us, drown us in this lake..

No longer can she stay silent and still, she attempts to pull away from her mother while reaching into her pocket for the needle which she intends to thrust into the wrist of the now insane woman who was her mom.

"He ain't comin back!"

Her eyes flare with an intensity as the struggle for her life begins.

[Laraqua]

Cynthia jabs at her mother's hand but the needle skews left and right anddoesn't manage to hit anything vital enough to really hurt.

"Now, now, there ain't no need to be naughty," said her Mama, implacably moving forward until the water rises up over Cynthia's waist.

"Mama, no, I'm scared," wailed her brother, not quite sure enough to fight yet.

[Laine]

"NO! IM NOT GOING IN! YOU'VE GONE BONE HEADED LOONEY!"

Cynthia Ann will attempt to pull away as much as possible and reach forward with her mouth to bite down with her teeth into her mother's arm.

"RUN FRANKIE! Please!

[Laraqua]

Cynthia can't get a real grip on her mama's hand.

"I can't!" cries Franklin. "She's too strong!"

Moments later, her mother kicks out his feet out from under him and drops him under the murky water before planting a foot on his back.

[Laine]

Cynthia Ann will desperately try to bite her mother again in hopes that she releases her grip on her.

"PLEASE! You can't do this, daddy is already dead!"

[Laraqua]

There's no sign of Frankie as Cynthia struggles and fails to pull herself loose. Her mama starts humming their papa's song, all the while she has a foot planted on Frankie's back. "Now you best behave or your papa won't want nothin' to do with ya over on the other side. And that won't be good, will it girl?"

[Laine]

"Mama, you're hurting him please let him go.."

Her last vain words were nearly a just a whisper as Cynthia Ann realized just how little she could fight the will of her mother. For the first time since she was first abused by her mother's new friends it felt like she rose above her body and the pain and torment of years of abuse seemed to be washed away from her by the waters of Toluca. Her frail body fell limp in her mother's hands and all resistance stopped.

Maybe that was papa signing..

[Laraqua]

Soon her Mama took her shoe off her brother's back, letting him float up, limp and unmoving, at the lake's edge. With slow determination, her eyes so soft, face so carefree, so calm and unlined by pain or anger, Mama took hold of her daughter's head and pushed her down beneath the water. It doesn't take long for instinct to take over where reason gave up, and Cynthia struggled in her grip with wild, animalistic abandon. All she wanted was air.... All she needed was air.... Her lungs burned for it. Her heart pounded for it. Her limbs kicked and struggled to reach it. Her hands broke the water's surface and she grasped the air that her lungs so desperately needed until, finally, her body took one last, hopeful breath and filled her lungs with that hateful cold, soaking it into her lungs, and throwing herself headlong into death.

And with that, Travis comes back to himself.

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