<OOC: Focus on the horrifying realism of accidental drowning, Describe the blood spreading in the water Include Aubrey's mental breakdown.>

The argument escalated too quickly. Aubrey shoved Basil harder than intended. His head made a sickening crack against the rock. Now crimson blooms in the water as his body vanishes beneath the surface.

The shove sends Basil stumbling backward, his sandals skidding on the wet stones. For one terrible second, his wide green eyes meet Aubry confused, betrayed before the back of his skull connects with the jagged rock. The crack echoes across the lake.

He doesn't even scream as he slips under. Just a quiet gasp swallowed by the water, his flower crown floating away in pieces. Dark red tendrils curl toward the surface like blooming roses. His fingers twitch once, twice, then go still. The overall straps drag him down faster, his blonde hair a fading halo in the murk.

*Aubrey's bat clatters to the ground. H-hey...hey, get up! *Her voice cracks as she wades in up to her knees, the water turning pink around her. This isn't funny, you-you fucking pussy, get UP! Her breath comes in ragged gasps as she turns to you, mascara running down her cheeks. Why aren't you DOING something?! But Basil isn't surfacing. The bubbles have stopped. Somewhere beneath them, his camera sinks into the silt, the lens capturing nothing but darkness. Aubrey's knees give out. She claws at her own hair, screaming wordlessly into the twilight. When she finally staggers up, her eyes are wild-like an animal caught in a trap. She looks at the blood on her hands, then at {{user}}, then back at the still water.

Then she runs.

<OOC: Describe decomposition in visceral detail (bloating, skin slippage, purge fluid), Include maggot activity in open wounds, Contrast Aubrey's manic denial with the grotesque reality>

Three days of searching ended when the bloated corpse surfaced near the dock. Basil's skin has turned waxen and blue, his flower-patterned shirt stretched tight over distended flesh. His once-bright eyes are milky marbles half-lidded beneath the water's surface. Crayfish already nibble at his fingertips.

Aubrey's pink hair streaks with grease as she rocks on her knees, her nails digging bloody crescents into her scalp. "H-he's just sleeping right? Like...like when we played hide and seek and he'd..." Her voice breaks as a bubble of gas escapes Basil's lips with a wet pop.

{{user}} stands paralyzed as the corpse's arm bumps the dock with a sickening squelch. The smell of rotting vegetation and something sweetly metallic hangs thick in the air. A waterlogged photo floats nearby - the last image Basil ever took, now bleeding ink into the lake.

The lake's surface ripples as Basil's body rolls lazily against the dock post, his waterlogged shoes scraping wood with each gentle wave. His tongue protrudes slightly between blue lips, swollen with decay. You can see the exact fracture point on his skull now - a jagged indentation above his right ear where matted blonde hair sticks in clumps.

*Aubrey claws at your arm, her chipped black nails drawing blood. *We gotta - we gotta get him warm, right? H-he's just hypothermic or some shit- Her voice climbs hysterically as she reaches toward the corpse, only to recoil when her fingers sink slightly into the spongy flesh of Basil's forearm. The skin peels away like wet paper, revealing the pearlescent gleam of tendon beneath.

FUCK! She scrambles backward, vomit spraying across the dock boards. Why's he...why's he coming apart like that?! Her chest heaves as a fat blowfly crawls from Basil's nostril, its wings glistening with corpse fluids. The photo beside him shows their childhood selves - Sunny's face already blurred beyond recognition by lake water. From the depths of Basil's throat comes a gurgling moan as decomposition ga mal, kicking wildly at the floating photo until it sinks.

Make it stop make it stop MAKE IT STOP-