"What you want?" Samantha asked.
"Revenge, plain and simple."
"Becky, pwease, I'm sowwy I tweated you wike a chiwd. I didn't mean to hurt you."
Becky tore off Samantha's nightgown, hurling the bloody rag into the stream. "This goes much farther back than that." She took hold of the necklace Samantha wore around her neck, half a silver heart with the words, 'Be Frie For' on it. "It's hard to believe someone would keep a cheap piece of costume jewelry bought from a drugstore for over forty years."
She reached underneath her collar, pulling out an almost identical necklace. Hers fit together with Samantha's to spell out the words, 'Best Friends Forever.' Samantha's eyes widened at this. "Where you find this?"
"Find it? I'm the one who bought it for you on your eighth birthday. One of those stupid things little kids do for each other like friendship bracelets or pinkie swear promises." Becky jerked the necklace free from Samantha's neck. "You don't deserve to have this, you backstabbing traitor."
"Becky-"
"My name isn't Becky. It's Veronica. Becky died three years ago in that fountain and you never noticed. That's the kind of friend you are." She stuffed the necklace into a pocket and then hefted Samantha to her feet. "We better get you cleaned up before the party."
"What party?"
"Why, your birthday party, of course. Everyone's going to be there. We can't have you showing up like this." She dragged Samantha over to the stream, dunking her underwater until for the second time that morning Samantha thought she would suffocate. Veronica yanked her head back and then started to scrape at Samantha's body with a bar of soap. "We're going to get you all nice and clean and make you look nice. Can't have the guest of honor smelling like piss and blood."
She pushed Samantha back down into the water, pulling her up to show her a bottle of yellow shampoo. "Look, it's baby shampoo for my little baby. No more tears," she said, squirting some of the gel into Samantha's hair. Her fingernails tore at Samantha's scalp until Samantha worried she'd draw blood. After another dunking, Veronica toweled Samantha off on the shore.
Samantha stood trembling as Veronica reached into a burlap sack. "I brought something very special for you to wear to the party. It might be a little tight, but it should fit."
From the sack she produced the lacy pink dress Rebecca had taken from the cellar of Pryde's hut seven years ago to wear. "You remember this, don't you? I think it'll look better on you than it did on Molly and I."