A Murder in Providence: Day Three

My daughter woke up
In the middle of the night
Screaming

I went into her room
And she was saying
'The girl, the girl'

And it wasn't like before
When it first started
And it...

Look, this is going to sound nuts
But it started a week before the murder
Before they found that woman
Floating in the river
In that pink dress

My daughter
My four-year-old daughter
Woke up
In the middle of the night
Screaming about a girl
A girl in the pool
A girl in a dress
A pink dress
She actually said
A pink dress
And the girl, she said
The girl needs help

I just thought it was a nightmare
An imaginary friend or something
That she'd made up
But she was crying so hard
I took her back to bed with me
So she could relax
And even then
She shook so badly
I thought about taking her to the hospital

That happened every night for a week
And then...

The night it happened
--And, keep in mind
I didn't know it was the night that it, you know, happened
I didn't know the girl
I didn't know anything...
I mean, about--the murder

I just knew that I'd started sleeping in the hallway
Right outside my daughter's room
Waiting for the, you know, explosion

And this night, I mean, on the night
The girl actually did drown
Or was killed
Or whatever

Nothing happened

I sat there
Listening
My ear pressed up against the door
Waiting to hear something
And...nothing

I thought, Oh thank, God
It's finally passed
This thing
This phase
It's over

We can go back to normal

I got up to go back to bed
And then...

I don't know what it was
But I stopped

They say 'dead in your tracks'
And I did
I stopped dead in my tracks
Because something...

...Wasn't right

I opened the door to my daughter's bedroom
And she was...

Oh God

She was soaking wet
Everything was

The bed
The floor
Her toys

Water dripping from the ceiling
I'm not kidding

I ran over to the bed
And pulled her to me

She was choking
There was water in her mouth

I grabbed her and ran downstairs
To the garage
Screaming the whole time
For somebody to call 9-1-1

I got her to the hospital
But by then, she was fine

She'd just swallowed some water

They told me a water pipe burst above her room
And some of the plaster in the ceiling gave way
And that's what happened

Easy explanation

But that was before we knew about the girl

The girl in the river

Now, my daughter talks to her
That girl

She doesn't know about the murder
She just knows she has a new friend
Who only she can see

I don't know what any of this means
I really don't

But it's strange, isn't it?

Don't you think it's strange?