It was the perpetrator, wasn't it? She wasn't used to staying still this long. It was affecting her. That was the plausible explanation and so heading out for fresh air seemed the smartest idea. She didn't know Repose well enough to know quite where she was going but she wanted greenery and trees and a distinct lack of vehicles if possible. So, in all honesty, she was trailing the edge of the lake, with no intent of stopping.
The same sensation as inside the house makes the decision for her, having her stop dead in her tracks by the water's surface. Finger tips curl around the edge of her sleeve and she only has a moment to worry about whether she's losing it worse than she thought before the memory washes over her senses.
Seeing a body would have been distressing enough for her. Her experience with corpses was limited to funeral homes and viewings. And as far back as she could remember, she'd avoided going up for final goodbye's in those scenarios. It was unsettling for her as a notion.
So there was no reality or situation where she'd have been in a position to be regularly looking at a cadaver.
It's the build up that leaves Zee feeling cold. It reminds her far too much of movies from childhood that she tried to evade. Stories with hidden government projects, who studied people with powers, or anything even close to that was strict no-go's for her. Men in Black? X-Men? X-Files?
They were terrifying and the same feeling that used to be summoned by those types of narratives, that she never had vocalized to her family or friends (who all thought it was so funny that she was afraid of Mulder and Scully), rose to the surface. Thoughts on why she was imagining possibly fictional moments for Hugh was pushed to the side. Suddenly, she was back to feeling like she was nine years old, afraid she was going to be taken away to a sealed room if anyone knew.
She pulled in shallow, panicked breaths.
And while the figure under the sheet was certainly startling, and frightening to see in actuality and to know through the flood of memory that it was truly real, it was the room and the people that scared her far, far more.