Facing the Water
The girl went under the waves, her black hair stuck to her pale white scared face as she came up spluttering for breath.
I could save this girl’s life or choose not to.
Would I overcome my fear of the water and rescue her or would I just watch her take her last breaths and die in front of me?
I made my choice.
I watched as the girl was dunked underneath the water and never came back up.
I woke up screaming, sweat clung to my forehead and it felt as if it had suddenly gotten hot, it had been the same dream every single night. It haunted me.
It had always ended the same way too, me just watching this girl drown, doing nothing to save her.
I brushed my long strands of blonde hair off of where it stuck on my face and felt myself shiver even though I was safe and warm in my nice comforting bed.
I could see my frightened figure in the mirror now, pale face, green frightened eyes, messy blonde hair all over the place.
‘Go back to sleep Jess,’ a voice in my head soothed.
And because that voice told me, I could.
By the time my head hit the pillow again, I was fast asleep.
“I’m going for a swim, last choice, are you in or out?” Addison asked, brushing her beautiful auburn hair from her shoulder. Her pale blue eyes glistened with fun.
My eyes drifted, cautiously to behind her, to the sea.
“I’m out,” I said, almost instantly.
I could tell by the expression on her face, that hadn’t been the answer she had wanted.
“You know, I remember when you used to win the swimming trophy for us, for the school and then suddenly you stopped, not only did we lose the swimming trophy but we lost our best swimmer,” her voice had turned sad.
“I had bad dreams,” I replied, hoping it didn’t sound too similar to an excuse.
“Yeah what is it exactly about these so called dreams you keep telling me about,” she demanded, collapsing onto the sand.
I sat down on the empty space next to her. My eyes fixed on the water, the way it shone in the sunlight, the way it rippled so gracefully beneath the surface. The way it was so beautiful, yet dangerous.
Then my eye caught a small dot, somewhere far away in the water, which reminded me of a person.
My eyes adjusted and this time I could make out the features.
It was a girl, about 5 years old, 10 years younger than me, short black hair, pale scared face.
Her face was familiar and I knew why. I would know her from anywhere. The girl, she was in my dreams.
“Is that a girl?” I asked, my face creasing up from trying to see her more clearly.
“Nope,” Addison replied “Probably just one of those old buoy things,”
This time when I looked away, she seemed more vivid, clearer, it was like one of my dreams replaying itself, over and over again but this was real life.
I wasn’t going to let this happen. I wasn’t going to stand by and watch.
Not again.
I hesitated before pulling off my shoes and socks. Addison just stared at me as if I had gone completely crazy.
I didn’t care, a girl was dying. A girl who I could save.
I flew towards the water. I didn’t know how to swim, I had forgotten many years ago but still my arms knew what they were doing, my arms worked like propellers, splashing madly and disrupting the peaceful water.
Soon I was beside her, she was slipping away though, her eyes losing its life, her body relaxing like she was losing the control and life over it.
I looked back to the beach, now that I did, it suddenly seemed like so far away, my feet were kicking like crazy, trying to keep me above the surface. The sand at the bottom seemed like a long way down.
All my happiness melted away into fear. The girl’s lips parted and she was trying to speak to me, all she managed was to choke out water and blood.
Then she did speak.
“Please…” she whispered, tears stained her cheeks.
Then the water sucked her underneath, her fingers clawed through the water, trying to get back up to the water, trying to fight against it for her life.
But I just watched, frozen in place by fear. Her eyes were pleading with mine.
I had gotten this far.
For what? For nothing?
“No!” I shouted.
Her hand was drifting down, away below me. I grasped it in mine and pulled her up through the surface, into my arms.
“You’re alright,” I said, my voice muffled by her hair “I’ve got you, you’re safe now,”
“Thank you,” she said, burying her face into my chest.
Her eyes shut close but her heart beat was normal, matching the beat of mine.
She was safe in my arms.
I had conquered my fears. I had proved my dreams wrong.
I wasn’t frightened anymore.
Still holding her wet body in my arms, I made my way back to the beach.
1 week later
“You still planning on going to the beach today?” Addison asked, turning to look at me as we walked down the hill, from school.
I juggled my backpack on one arm, then switched to holding it with both.
“Yeah, that’s my plan,” I said.
“I still can’t believe you saved that girl’s life, that was so brave,” she said, admiration glowing in her eyes.
“More like stupid, I couldn’t swim then,”
“Then?” she echoed, clearly confused and then her face brightened and she clapped her hands over her mouth “Oh, your back in the team, congratulations,”
I grinned “They were happy enough to let me, Coach says there might be a champion in me, after all,”
“Of course, you are a hero,”
I shrugged before answering “No big deal,”
She twisted her hair around one finger, her face showed that she was lost in thought. She caught me looking at her and smiled.
“You want to go to the beach now?” she asked.
“Sure, I’ll race you,” I challenged.
“I’ll win,” she teased.
“Wouldn’t count on it,”
We chased each other down and into the water, laughing and teasing.
And to think just a week ago I had been afraid of all of this.
All I had been missing out on was a whole different life, full of fun and adventures.
The beauty of this beach was so clear now to me. Why everyone loved it. Why I loved it.
It was their lives. It was mine.
And I would never give it up.
By Natasha ~(^_^)~
