Treading Water

Your character is swimming in a lake, not wearing her glasses. She squints at a shape coming toward her in the water. What does she think she sees?

Treading Water

 

 

 

“Christ!” Rebecca thought to herself as she treaded water…alone. Why had she let Kyle talk her into coming out to Gross Point? She knew what he wanted, what he thought he was going to get by having her alone in the pond. She also was the only one of the two that knew he was going to get nothing as far as she was concerned.

 

It played out exactly like the thought it would. She had gone against the better judgment of her best friend Anna who had never thought kindly of Kyle. Those two had hated each other ever since she started dating Kyle not that it matter now as neither of them were with her in the pond. Kyle showed up an hour late drunk of course, tripped and almost killed himself falling into the pond. She was almost glad he had stormed off an hour after showing up, she had been trying to keep both of them afloat in the middle of the pond as she fended off his advances and bad pick up lines. “Why do I even bother trying..?” was the last thing Kyle had muttered after she slapped his face when he tried to grab her breast for the millionth time. He swam to the bank pulling himself out to drunk to even collect his clothes hanging on the branch as passed them. Instead he got into his Camaro and drove off swerving all over the dirt road leading away from Gross Point as Rebecca watched his headlights fade away.

 

“Craaack!” followed by a splash jolted Rebecca from her thoughts back to reality. He might have drunk as a skunk but at least she wasn’t alone in a pond getting colder by the minute when Kyle was there. She scanned the area trying to see what had caused the sound as she spotted a tree branch sticking out of the water. That was probably it she thought to herself not that it mattered because that was all the reason she needed to get out of the water at this point. She had always been the afraid of being alone type and had only let herself stay in the water this long to prove to herself that she didn’t need someone around her all the time and she was capable of not freaking out.

 

Then she spotted it. She felt the blood drain from her face or rather didn’t spot what she was looking for. The clothes were gone! Suddenly the last hour or so of treading water had caught up with her as her heart began to beat out of her chest. She rubbed her eyes not believing that her clothes, her glasses, car keys…all gone. Kyle’s clothes were gone as well. Her mind began to race. She wasn’t alone after all.

 

She scanned the bank of the pond spotting nothing out of the ordinary. She began to mentally replay everything thing she had done after Kyle left trying to remember if she had dipped her head under the water for anything.  Perhaps Kyle had come back and was messing with her she thought to herself and not wanting to believe it could be anything worse. “Kyle! Kyle God Damn you!” She screamed, “Where are my clothes? Quit playing around a*****e!”  Her mind began to race thinking back to every horror movie she had ever seen and knowing the outcome was never good for the blonde bimbo alone in the water. She did not have her virginity to save her either like so many of the virgins in those 80’s b movies.  She called out a few more times, her voice sounding less and less confident each time the words left her mouth until at last she sounded like she was whispering. She began to notice everything around her like we all do in those scared moments. The breath leaving her mouth as it dissipated into nothingness the further it got from its source. She speculated at the number of goose bumps that had populated on her arm in the last thirty seconds. It had to be in the millions she thought to herself.

 

She began to slowly paddle her self toward the bank of the pond speeding up every time she felt something touch her leg imaginary or not. She stopped midway as she heard laughter. It could have been a mans or a woman’s but Rebecca didn’t care the only thing she knew was that it was coming from behind her on the other side of the lake. She sped up her escape from the lake then halted again as she heard more laughter closer this time but coming from in front of her. She began to panic losing sight of her bearings, as the laughter seems to be coming from all around her. She stopped turning trying to locate the spot where the clothes had been.  Her car was parked a mile up the road in the same direction and if she could make it to the bank that was direction she was running. They all looked alike now and were growing more and more similar as she became more and more frightened. She must have turned around twenty times searching the river bank for any indicator of where her clothes had been but stopped this time as she saw something or someone in the middle of the lake right where she had been treading water. Whatever it was she was sure that it was coming toward her at a slow drifting pace. She did know what to do as the sinister laughter continued to surround her. Her breathing became labored. “Help! Someone anyone, Help! Please!”

She squinted as the object got closer and she mentally curses herself for not bringing her glasses into the water not that they would have been useful. Who anticipated possibly being killed in Gross Point? The most trouble this place had seen was the nightly high school couple breaking curfew and the sheriff busting up a make out session. Rebecca made up her mind that she was not getting out of the water and had rather take her chances with whatever was floating toward her.  As it draws closer she notices that it has the appearance of a buoy that you would see floating out in the ocean or near a lighthouse. Her heart continues to pound as she notices that is covered in plastic. The kind of plastic you get from home depot when you need to paint something and don’t want the floor to get fucked up.

 

She closes her eyes as buoy shaped silhouette floats now less than a foot from her. She holds her hands out in front of her as if defending from an attacker. She feels it bump in to her arm as harmless as a piece of a branch that is floating in the water and has reached its destination. She still can’t bear to open her eyes but lets her hands trace the outline of whatever is wrapped tightly in that plastic. Her scream pierces the air as she feels traces the outline of what is some ones face opening her eyes to find Kyle floating in front of her, the plastic containing the blood from his severed neck as his once handsome green eyes, now lifeless stare back at her.

 

Screams continue to fill the once silent wood line around the lake as Rebecca kicks and splashes her way to the bank. She makes a dead sprint in the direction of the wood line without any care or concern as to whether she is running toward her car. Cuts quickly adorn her bare feet as they catch on every rock and thorn. Her foot catches a root have submerged and she lands hard, her head hitting a rock. She pushes herself off the ground blood dripping from her head to her fist as she tries continues to run as far and as fast as she can from the horrendous site she has just seen. Those lifeless eyes like empty shells against the pale skin…skin that hours earlier were filled with such warmth and laughter as he tried in his own way to seduce her. Those were the thoughts she had before it all went dark.

 

The room was ultra bright, she must be looking at the sun she thought to herself as her eyelids fluttered briefly before shutting tight again to protect her from the light. Where was she? Had she passed out and fallen asleep in the woods? She felt the aches and pains that she imagined could only be compared to a freight train slamming into her head on. “Come quick! Come Quick! She’s waking up!” that voice she knew belonged to her mom. Her eyes finally adjusted to the light around her and she realized as she felt the tubes running into her arm that she was in the hospital. Memorial hospital, it had to be as that was the only hospital in the town.

 

“Well looks like she’s still with the living!” chuckled Dr. Smith You could never tell whether his chuckles were a good thing or not. Dr. Smith struck her as the kind of man that would chuckle at a funeral if he thought it would lighten the mood. “How do you feel Rebecca?” A weak thumbs up was all that she could manage it felt as if she had lost her voice. That’s when she remembered the screaming and the sight of Kyle. She panicked trying to sit up as her mom softly pressed her back down. “Every things okay baby, your safe.”  Her mother assured her. Dr. Smith resumed his questioning asking her the usual head case questions. Do you know what day it is? How many fingers am I holding up? Do you remember how you got here?

 

“Where is Kyle? Is he still dead? Who was at the lake with me? Did they find my clothes?” the questions poured out of her as her mom and Dr. Smith looked at her with mild confusion. She spent the next twenty minutes recounting everything that had happened to her including her not so favorite moments of Kyle’s hands on her breast. After recounting the grueling experience and avoiding their stares her mother was the first to speak. “I think we better call the sheriff.” She said. “Good Idea, Irene, you stay here with Rebecca, I’ll have one of the nurses phone Carl.” Rebecca grew restless waiting for the police to come and take her statement. She had watched enough Law and Order: Special Victims Unit to know they were going to want her to tell her statement at least one more time for them. She also knew that she wasn’t going to be lucky enough to get the handsome Elliot Stabler that had graced her television screen before high school boys filled her heart. Small towns equal small town sheriffs who are usually in there forties or early fifties compared to the rugged thirty year olds that portray them on TV. Sheriff Carl was no exception to the small town rule, but it was detective Elliot that filled her thoughts as the Benadryl that flowed through her IV unit until she was asleep again.

 

She awoke in a cold sweat, startled to find Anna standing above her staring in what appeared to be a cold stare. “Anna, how did you know I was here?” she choked out still surprised to find her best friend hovering so close to her. How had she not heard her come in? Anna’s softened immediately and the barrage of questions started. “Are you okay? What happened? Why were you naked? Are you going to sue?”

“Sue who?” Rebecca coughed trying to clear phlegm as much as she could without hurting her rib cage. “Your mom said you were hit by a truck trying to cross I95 and left for dead on the side of the road! I figured you would be suing whoever hit you.” “Well I wasn’t exactly..” Rebecca started but was cut off by Anna’s next line of interrogation. “Have you called Kyle yet? Does he know you’re here? He should be here!”

           

            The tears came out of the corner of her eyes much easier than the words that she choked on.  “Kyle… Anna…Kyle is… dead.” Rebecca sobbed no longer able to control herself the words flowed out as easily as her tears did as she spent the next twenty minutes recounting the messages from Kyle, the fight they had at the lake, the laughter, the body wrapped in bloody plastic, running through the woods and waking up in Memorial. “Oh my God, Rebecca! I am so sorry!” Anna tried to comfort her as she hugged her. The kind of hug you get from an awkward boyfriend trying not to mess up the life support tubes running into your arm. She did not feel the normal best friend warmth that use to radiate off of Anna when they hugged, but then again nothing ever seemed sincere coming from Anna when it was in regards to Kyle. She never knew why they didn’t like each other but it did not matter they always co existed for Rebecca’s sake. She wiped away her tears as Anna moved around the room adjusting the flowers that started to pour in as soon as she arrived in the hospital. “Its amazing how fast word travels in our town.” Remarked Anna as she continued about the room checking the names of cards seeing who thought enough of Rebecca to send flowers. It was the first chance Rebecca had to take in Anna’s outfit, which was always dressed to impress. Today was the exception. “When did you join the track team?” Rebecca asked. “What are you talking about?”

“The sweats? What’s the deal? You wouldn’t be caught dead in that Wal-Mart starter pack.” Anna looked uneasy and made some crack about having run straight to the hospital upon hearing the news about her best friend.

 

            “Rebecca, Carl is here to ask you some questions!” Her mother said as the sheriff pushed softly through the door. “I’ve got to get going anyway Becca!” exclaimed Anna who almost knocked over the porcelain vase as she turned and shoved her way past Carl. She didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye before Anna was out the door and now she would be forced to deal with the townie cop on her own. Look at him she thought to herself as she took in his marshmallow shaped body leaning against the doorframe that looked to be fighting for its life against the strain. “Rebecca, I know you have already told your mother and Dr. Smith what happened, but I am going to need you to tell me now.” He said as he set a tape recorder down on the tray that held her still untouched breakfast. It was at this moment that he stomach chose to eat away at her intestines letting her know that the food was there and that it wanted it even if she didn’t.

 

            She told the story now for the fourth time as if it were a school play and she had the unwanted part of the leading lady. “You said the laughter came from behind you Rebecca?” asked the Sheriff as he brushed a crumb off of his sweat stained ten dollar twelve button short sleeve top and continued jotting down notes into his pad. She rolled her eyes about to correct him once again. “Yes! At first, but then it seemed that it was all around me.” And truth be told that cackling laughter was still trapped inside her head.

 

            “What time did you say you got the text from Kyle asking him to meet you?” He asked this time looking directly at her awaiting an answer. “I told you already that he text me yesterday around lunch time asking if I would meet him at gross point” His mind looked elsewhere, lost in thought as he dropped the black droid razor into a Ziploc bag marked evidence. There goes her lifeline she thought as he gave the standard SVU line of “I’ll call your mother if I have any more questions darling.” “When can I go home?” She asked her mother who was coming in as the Sheriff passed her on the way out. She could tell that she was not going to like the answer as her mom eyed the floor for a few minutes searching for the right words but settle on “The doctor says maybe two days from now.” Rebecca flipped on the TV and did not even bother to respond to the less than stellar response she had hope for. She pushed the food around on her tray raising the bed long enough to sip from the juice box before drifting back off to sleep.

 

            She was running again in her dreams, but not from a faceless laughter this time. Through the woods she could see a figure cloaked in shadows laughing as she glanced back to see who was chasing her out of the water. She tripped pulling herself to her feet, the laughter sounded familiar this time, definitely that of a woman. She awoke just as she heard the horn and the lights blinded her

 

            Drenched in sweat, she bolted upright in her bed. The pain shooting through her was beyond comprehension. She laid back down realizing where she was at looking at the green flashing clock 2:00am. There was no light to illuminate the room her mother had made sure to turn everything out before leaving earlier it had seemed.

“I wonder why you…”

She jumped again this time looking to her left at the one chair that occupied the room for visitors. “Anna, Jesus Christ…What are you doing here?” Anna simply stared at Rebecca as if she wasn’t even there. “Why you? What was so special about you? Its your fault he couldn’t see me!” Rebecca could sense the Anger in her friends voice but still had no clue what she was talking about. The bed creaked as the little motor raised it up so that she could see Anna and that’s when she saw it. The smooth barrel of her fathers 9mm Berretta. “Jesus Anna who are you talking about and why do you have your dads Gun?”

 

            Anna now standing at the foot of Rebecca’s bed, the pistol still at her side as she continued to stare through Rebecca. “You know good and f*****g well who I’m talking about. Kyle he was suppose to be mine, you never even liked him until I introduced you to him.” It hit Rebecca like a ton of bricks. The jogging pants, the dirty shoes, the mistake hatred for Kyle. “Oh my God Anna, what did you do?” Anna screamed tears coming down her cheeks. Her hand sliding for the call button stopping as the barrel rises to meet her face for the first time. “Don’t do it Rebecca!” frozen by fear her hand remained where it was, inches away from saving her. “I did it because you did not leave me any choice little miss perfect. My whole life you been taking things from me Rebecca, take! Take! Take!” 

            “I’ve never taken anything from you Anna.”

            “Your so self absorbed that you don’t even notice aren’t you? Her words more screams now than coherent speech. “Even my own family has to include your name in the dinner conversation now. Where’s Rebecca? How come you’re not with Rebecca tonight? Maybe if you studied more like Rebecca your grades would be better!” The words poured out of Anna like a venomous snake lashing out and biting everything near by. “Not this time though, I finally meet a guy that likes me and what do you do? You go and flash that two face b***h smile of yours” Anna scathed as her fingers turned white from the grip she held on the Berretta. “Well if you like him so much, I hope you meet him wherever you end up!” Rebecca braced herself closing her eyes for the show she knew was coming.

 

            There seemed to be a loud scream muffled by one shot. The silence following the gunshot was deafening and Rebecca wondered if this was what death felt like…. silence. She saw Anna’s body slumped over blood splatter all over her hospital sheets as Carl rushed toward Anna. He was yelling at the nurses who now rushed to Rebecca’s side checking her over as if a truck had hit her again.

 

            In the days that followed and her talks with Sheriff Carl, she learned that it was Anna who had sent the text from Kyle’s phone asking that Rebecca meet him at gross point. She had also told Kyle the Rebecca wanted to meet him and that tonight would be “The Night”. “How did you know it was Anna, Sheriff?”

            “Well honestly, I’d had a suspicion from the moment she shoved past me in such a hurry the day I interviewed you.” He sipped on a coke her mom had offered him. “Her demeanor and her shoes, I mean those things were caked with so much mud that she could have only been at gross point.” Rebecca felt embarrassed for having misjudged Carl so early on. It seems that he had in fact a keener eye than her own. “So I had a few of the officers down at Gross Point dealing with the body retrace the path until they came upon Kyle’s Car.” It was a gruesome scene she would later find out from the gossip around town because Carl would not discuss such details with a little girl as he called Rebecca. Anna had waited in the back seat of Kyle’s car until they were far enough away from the point but not quite on the interstate before she drug the blade across his throat. The car was never shown to the family it was hauled off to impound where it would be scheduled to be taken over to the junkyard for crushing.

            The laughter…the cackle that would haunt her for months later belonged to the girl that she had shared so much of her life with. She still could not believe how much hatred Anna had held inside against her. She often wondered if she wasn’t to blame. A thought her parents and the town grief counselor told her was preposterous.

 

            Rebecca still gets the occasional “Its her” looks around town. Although she doesn’t visit the point anymore, as it was closed off shorty after Kyle’s murder she still places flowers on his grave. She chooses to spend her time now as a phone counselor helping young girls struggling with every day issues…hoping to prevent some one from ever experiencing what she did.

 

Author's Note

I have one of those writing books that gives you different topics to write about. That is where I got the topic that I listed in the description. I welcome any and all feedback as long as it is constructive. Thank you in advance.