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Description
Dead in the Water

It was the usual hot, oppressively humid night in the little city of Hatton. It was a week before our senior year of college started and my friend, Barbra, and I were sitting in her upstairs bedroom fanning ourselves with the latest copies of ‘Animerica’ due to unfortunate fact that her air conditioner had just bit the dust. My mind had started going fuzzy as I stared at bubbly magical girl that graced the cover. I was on the edge of becoming delusional if I didn’t get a proper breeze soon. “Barbra, this is crazy. I can’t take it anymore. We have got to get out of this house before I rip my clothes off.”

Barbra looked over at me and stuck her tongue out in disgust at the thought of us having to do that and I saw the gears in her mind quickly beginning to work out a plan to ease our suffering. “You brought you swimsuit since we’re going over to Charlie’s house tomorrow for the pool party right?”

“Yeah. What’s your point?” I asked, knowing that there wasn’t a public or private pool opened at this hour. I secretly prayed that she wasn’t planning some spur of the moment Wal-Mart trip to pick up a kiddy pool or something. I hated going to that place no matter what the reason was.

“Well, you know I just moved out of River Walk right?” Barbra stopped fanning herself and beckoned me to come and follow her downstairs. River Walk was a fenced in housing development where most of the big-wigs of Hatton lived. Barbra and her mom had moved from there to a smaller house recently and I had kind of missed the perks of the place. I had tennis courts, a golf course, a club house, and even two private swimming pools.

“So, what about it?”

Barbra led me outside to the garage and pointed at a decal on the left side of the window to her car. “I still have the little decal that says I live there and it’s still good. It doesn’t expire for another month. So how about we go and take a little dip?”

A wide smile started forming on my face and I reached out and shook Barbra’s hand. “You’re a genius, I knew there was a reason I had you around.” I laughed and charged back inside grabbing up my swimsuit from my bag and changing in the guest bathroom as Barbra changed in her room.

In no time I was in my swimsuit with a t-shirt and shorts on over it for good measure and out to the car. Barbra followed and quickly hopped in the driver’s seat and cranked the car, flying out of the driveway like a maniac. Crazy smiles were plastered on our faces. A free pool! Possibly all to ourselves! What more could we ask for at this point?

It was only a fifteen minute drive to the River Walk and we blasted some German techno all the way. As we approached the gate though we noticed that no one was in the guardhouse. Barbra waited for a moment just to be safe though then gunned it passed the gates and down a series of loops and turns.

We made our way to the first pool and noticed that there were some people around. From the looks of things they seemed to be a group of snotty teenagers and neither of us were in the mood to have to share the pool with a bunch of loud mouthed brats. Tonight was about relaxation.

“Let’s check out the other pool, it’s a little farther down the road, but at least it’s secluded,” Barbra said as she pulled the car around and continued down the road.

After a few twists and turns we pulled into the parking lot in front of the pool and got out of the car. The pool wasn’t visible from the parking lot due to a large stone doorway with an iron gate. We tiptoed up the stairs to gate and breathed a sigh of relief when we noticed that it was still unlocked and we were even more overjoyed when we saw that the place was empty.

“Good thinking Barbra.”

“I try. You can go on; I’ll go get the towels.” Barbra waved me on and ran back to the car.

I didn’t waste a second and quickly did a cannonball into the deep end. The cold water rushing over me made me loose my breath and I quickly rose to the surface, taking in a gulp of sticky night air. I quickly got sprayed by Barbra’s own cannonball and I floated there in total bliss. I took a moment to look at the sky and noticed that it was a clear night. Things really couldn’t get any better.

“Oh geez, I thought we were alone,” Barbra spoke up as she floated beside me.

I groaned and moved so I was swimming upright. I looked to the other end of the pool. I almost couldn’t even see the person since they were in the shadow, away from the pool lighting. “Crap,” I muttered, “what do you think we should do? Do you want to get out?” I turned to Barbra and saw the disappointed look on her face which I was quite sure mirrored my own.

“They don’t seem to be paying us any attention. Maybe they’re waiting for someone anyways.” She shrugged and began to float on her back once more, kicking around the deep end lazily.

I eyed the other person in the pool once more before doing the same. Maybe it was just some random person. They didn’t seem to be making any trouble and probably just wanted to chill out like Barbra and me. We weren’t the type to start talking to strangers and if someone wanted to keep their distance from us, then all the better. It’s not like we weren’t friendly, we just weren’t people persons. I closed my eyes for a moment and let the cool water lap over my body. The cicadas were just starting to hum and I felt like I was going to fall asleep any minute. As I started to drift off I was startled when Barbra spoke up suddenly.

“Dora, I don’t think that guy has moved since we’ve been here.”

I quickly turned upright once more and looked over at the shadowy figure. After counting to sixty in my mind I, too, realized that the guy was just sitting there. He didn’t even seem to be bobbing in the right way. The right way being if he was breathing and alive. I felt like a bucket of ice was dumped on me in that second and I couldn’t stop my voice from sounding disturbed when I yelled. “We need to get out of the pool!”

I quickly moved to the ladder in the deep in and made record speed at pulling myself up out of the water. Barbra was close behind me, practically shoving me onto the wet concrete. I couldn’t blame her. I was pretty freaked out as ‘freaked out’ gets. I grabbed her by the arm though and stopped her. “We’ve gotta see who it is.”

“Are you crazy?” Barbra wheeled around to face me and stared at me like I had just suggested she jump off a bridge.

“I just think we should look, call it a gut feeling. But don’t touch anything!” I wagged my finger at her. I had watched way too many true crime shows and knew that it would be really stupid of us to do anything to the body.

“I’m not stupid Dora,” Barbra’s voice screeched with fear.

We slowly began to make our way over to the shallow end of the pool. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my throat any second. This couldn’t be happening. Even though the humidity and the heat of the night felt like it was pushing against my skin, I couldn’t feel any colder. As we neared where the body lay, I halted and grabbed Barbra’s shoulder. The figure had begun to bob into the light and its face was one Barbra and I knew well.

I screamed, turning away and I heard Barbra wretch into the pool. “Oh god, I had swallowed some of the water! I swallowed the water!” She croaked between harsh breaths.

Our friend Jeffery lay there in the pool on his back, eyes staring upward at the starry sky. I quickly pulled Barbra back from the edge and looked around the pool. “The killer,” I gasped, not knowing whether the person who had killed our friend was still here or not. We both stared at each other before racing towards the car at break-neck speed, not caring about the towels we left behind.

Barbra halted at the stairs and looked back where she laid the towels. “Shit! My keys!” She began to run back to the pool as I continued towards the car. I made sure to listen for her wet footsteps slapping behind me.

As I reached the passenger side of the car I turned to see Barbra making it to the driver’s side and fumbling with the lock. As she unlocked the car we both jumped in at the same speed and relocked the doors. She quickly threw the engine on and we pulled out of the parking lot.

We both sat there in stunned silence for a moment. I cleared my throat and looked to Barbra. “Jeffery. But why? He doesn’t even live in this area! Why would he be here? He lives across town!” I could feel hot tears start to roll down my cheeks. This just couldn’t be happening.

I started to talk again when Barbra’s car began to come to a halt suddenly. The gas tank light blinking on and off. “Oh for the love of,” Barbra slapped the wheel and screamed to herself in frustration. “We’re out of gas,” she chocked out.

“Damnit,” I rubbed my forehead. We were a short walk from the other pool. We had to worn those kids. “Barbra, we have to get out of the car and warn those other people.”

“Screw them! I’m staying in the car! At least it’s locked!” She looked over at me, wiping water, tears, and vomit from her face.

I knew she was being logical, but it just didn’t seem right to leave those kids out there. “I’m going. Besides there may be a phone at the pool we can use. It was dumb of us to leave our phones at the house.”

“Tell me about it. I think it’s really stupid for you to want to do this. I’m staying in the car.” Barbra folded her arms and shook her head at me.

I nodded. “I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll run up there and get back as fast as I can.”

Barbra stared at me and let out a breath. “Damnit. I can’t let you do this on your own. As much as I am against this I can’t let you walk to your death.” She unlocked the doors and we both got out of the car.

“All right, let’s go,” I said and started to jog swiftly towards the other pool. Barbra who was in better shape than me was farther ahead by a few good feet in a matter of moments. We could see the lights to the other pool after a few minutes and noticed there were still several cars in the parking lot.

“Oh thank God,” I wheezed. My chest felt tighter than a drum. Barbra began shouting for help. I could see movement and soon several teenagers came out and stared at us as though two lunatics had come out of nowhere.

“Are you guys okay?” A tall, tan boy approached us.

“We just found our friend dead at the second pool!” Barbra grabbed a hold of his arm and pointed back from where we came. “We need to call the police now and get everyone out of here!”

The boy nodded and turned to his friends and asked them to bring a cell phone. “Come inside the pool house with us, we’ll call the cops.”

He led us up the wooden stairs and into the nearby pool house. Barbra and I both breathed deeply and slumped down onto a bench. The tan boy brought over the phone and looked at us for a moment. “Where do you guys live around here? I can get Courtney to call your moms and let them know you are okay.”

Barbra and I looked at each other for a moment and then up at the boy. “We broke in here, we’re really sorry. We didn’t know that this was going to happen. Could you just call the police?” I continued to breathe heavily. I didn’t mind taking a little punishment for breaking into the pool.

“Oh. Well now that is going to be the problem,” the boy said as he slipped the phone back into his pocket. “You should have taken a lesson from your friend. We don’t like strangers coming around here.”

Barbra and I sat there and stared at the boy for a moment. “Is this a joke?” Barbra began to stand up.

“Far from it,” a grin spread across his features and four other teenagers entered the pool house. “Seems like we’ve got some strays here guys. You know what we have to do. We’re really getting sick of you people coming in here like you actually belong. I guess we just have to take out the trash.” The boy snickered and pulled a pocket knife from his swim trunks.

Before I could do anything, Barbra had already grabbed a pole from behind her which had the pool cleaning net attached on the end. She quickly slammed it down on the boy’s head before he could blink. As he dropped to the floor I wrenched the knife out of his hands and ran towards a blonde girl who was fumbling with a can of mace that had gotten stuck in the pocket of her designer jeans. I grinned grabbing her wrist and being much heavier than her, was able to throw her against the wall which she bounced off of and landed with a hard thud to the floor.

I turned around to see Barbra fighting off two guys with her pole, slamming one in the ribs, causing him to double over in pain. The other boy dove towards her which she shoved him back into a window which shattered and I saw the glass piercing along his perfectly tanned flesh.

I shook my head away from the sight just in time to see the last boy come at me with another knife. I ducked and shoved him down, though I didn’t realize where his knife was and I felt it enter my upper arm. I screamed and tumbled down with him, rolling away as quickly as I could. I looked over at my arm and saw the knife handle sticking out the blood flowing quickly from it.

I shot up as quickly as I could only to notice that Barbra had beat the boy senseless in the head with the metal pole already. She then ran over and grabbed me by the hand and pulled me out of the pool room. Before we left I knelt and grabbed the cell phone out of the first boy’s swim trunks. As we fled the scene I looked back to see them groaning and writhing about on the floor.

We ran to one of the cars and noticed that luckily the driver had left the keys in the cup holder. “That’s a stupid teenager for you,” Barbra muttered and threw open the door as I ran over to the passenger side and got in as she started the engine. As we pulled out of the parking lot and zoomed out of the gate towards the highway I slumped down in the seat, finally feeling relief.

“I always knew there was a reason I hated kids,” I laughed bitterly, looking over at Barbra who smiled back at me. That would be the last time the both of us would ever trust a group of teenagers and the last time we would ever go to a public pool.

Description
Dead in the Water

It was the usual hot, oppressively humid night in the little city of Hatton. It was a week before our senior year of college started and my friend, Barbra, and I were sitting in her upstairs bedroom fanning ourselves with the latest copies of ‘Animerica’ due to unfortunate fact that her air conditioner had just bit the dust. My mind had started going fuzzy as I stared at bubbly magical girl that graced the cover. I was on the edge of becoming delusional if I didn’t get a proper breeze soon. “Barbra, this is crazy. I can’t take it anymore. We have got to get out of this house before I rip my clothes off.”

Barbra looked over at me and stuck her tongue out in disgust at the thought of us having to do that and I saw the gears in her mind quickly beginning to work out a plan to ease our suffering. “You brought you swimsuit since we’re going over to Charlie’s house tomorrow for the pool party right?”

“Yeah. What’s your point?” I asked, knowing that there wasn’t a public or private pool opened at this hour. I secretly prayed that she wasn’t planning some spur of the moment Wal-Mart trip to pick up a kiddy pool or something. I hated going to that place no matter what the reason was.

“Well, you know I just moved out of River Walk right?” Barbra stopped fanning herself and beckoned me to come and follow her downstairs. River Walk was a fenced in housing development where most of the big-wigs of Hatton lived. Barbra and her mom had moved from there to a smaller house recently and I had kind of missed the perks of the place. I had tennis courts, a golf course, a club house, and even two private swimming pools.

“So, what about it?”

Barbra led me outside to the garage and pointed at a decal on the left side of the window to her car. “I still have the little decal that says I live there and it’s still good. It doesn’t expire for another month. So how about we go and take a little dip?”

A wide smile started forming on my face and I reached out and shook Barbra’s hand. “You’re a genius, I knew there was a reason I had you around.” I laughed and charged back inside grabbing up my swimsuit from my bag and changing in the guest bathroom as Barbra changed in her room.

In no time I was in my swimsuit with a t-shirt and shorts on over it for good measure and out to the car. Barbra followed and quickly hopped in the driver’s seat and cranked the car, flying out of the driveway like a maniac. Crazy smiles were plastered on our faces. A free pool! Possibly all to ourselves! What more could we ask for at this point?

It was only a fifteen minute drive to the River Walk and we blasted some German techno all the way. As we approached the gate though we noticed that no one was in the guardhouse. Barbra waited for a moment just to be safe though then gunned it passed the gates and down a series of loops and turns.

We made our way to the first pool and noticed that there were some people around. From the looks of things they seemed to be a group of snotty teenagers and neither of us were in the mood to have to share the pool with a bunch of loud mouthed brats. Tonight was about relaxation.

“Let’s check out the other pool, it’s a little farther down the road, but at least it’s secluded,” Barbra said as she pulled the car around and continued down the road.

After a few twists and turns we pulled into the parking lot in front of the pool and got out of the car. The pool wasn’t visible from the parking lot due to a large stone doorway with an iron gate. We tiptoed up the stairs to gate and breathed a sigh of relief when we noticed that it was still unlocked and we were even more overjoyed when we saw that the place was empty.

“Good thinking Barbra.”

“I try. You can go on; I’ll go get the towels.” Barbra waved me on and ran back to the car.

I didn’t waste a second and quickly did a cannonball into the deep end. The cold water rushing over me made me loose my breath and I quickly rose to the surface, taking in a gulp of sticky night air. I quickly got sprayed by Barbra’s own cannonball and I floated there in total bliss. I took a moment to look at the sky and noticed that it was a clear night. Things really couldn’t get any better.

“Oh geez, I thought we were alone,” Barbra spoke up as she floated beside me.

I groaned and moved so I was swimming upright. I looked to the other end of the pool. I almost couldn’t even see the person since they were in the shadow, away from the pool lighting. “Crap,” I muttered, “what do you think we should do? Do you want to get out?” I turned to Barbra and saw the disappointed look on her face which I was quite sure mirrored my own.

“They don’t seem to be paying us any attention. Maybe they’re waiting for someone anyways.” She shrugged and began to float on her back once more, kicking around the deep end lazily.

I eyed the other person in the pool once more before doing the same. Maybe it was just some random person. They didn’t seem to be making any trouble and probably just wanted to chill out like Barbra and me. We weren’t the type to start talking to strangers and if someone wanted to keep their distance from us, then all the better. It’s not like we weren’t friendly, we just weren’t people persons. I closed my eyes for a moment and let the cool water lap over my body. The cicadas were just starting to hum and I felt like I was going to fall asleep any minute. As I started to drift off I was startled when Barbra spoke up suddenly.

“Dora, I don’t think that guy has moved since we’ve been here.”

I quickly turned upright once more and looked over at the shadowy figure. After counting to sixty in my mind I, too, realized that the guy was just sitting there. He didn’t even seem to be bobbing in the right way. The right way being if he was breathing and alive. I felt like a bucket of ice was dumped on me in that second and I couldn’t stop my voice from sounding disturbed when I yelled. “We need to get out of the pool!”

I quickly moved to the ladder in the deep in and made record speed at pulling myself up out of the water. Barbra was close behind me, practically shoving me onto the wet concrete. I couldn’t blame her. I was pretty freaked out as ‘freaked out’ gets. I grabbed her by the arm though and stopped her. “We’ve gotta see who it is.”

“Are you crazy?” Barbra wheeled around to face me and stared at me like I had just suggested she jump off a bridge.

“I just think we should look, call it a gut feeling. But don’t touch anything!” I wagged my finger at her. I had watched way too many true crime shows and knew that it would be really stupid of us to do anything to the body.

“I’m not stupid Dora,” Barbra’s voice screeched with fear.

We slowly began to make our way over to the shallow end of the pool. I thought my heart was going to leap out of my throat any second. This couldn’t be happening. Even though the humidity and the heat of the night felt like it was pushing against my skin, I couldn’t feel any colder. As we neared where the body lay, I halted and grabbed Barbra’s shoulder. The figure had begun to bob into the light and its face was one Barbra and I knew well.

I screamed, turning away and I heard Barbra wretch into the pool. “Oh god, I had swallowed some of the water! I swallowed the water!” She croaked between harsh breaths.

Our friend Jeffery lay there in the pool on his back, eyes staring upward at the starry sky. I quickly pulled Barbra back from the edge and looked around the pool. “The killer,” I gasped, not knowing whether the person who had killed our friend was still here or not. We both stared at each other before racing towards the car at break-neck speed, not caring about the towels we left behind.

Barbra halted at the stairs and looked back where she laid the towels. “Shit! My keys!” She began to run back to the pool as I continued towards the car. I made sure to listen for her wet footsteps slapping behind me.

As I reached the passenger side of the car I turned to see Barbra making it to the driver’s side and fumbling with the lock. As she unlocked the car we both jumped in at the same speed and relocked the doors. She quickly threw the engine on and we pulled out of the parking lot.

We both sat there in stunned silence for a moment. I cleared my throat and looked to Barbra. “Jeffery. But why? He doesn’t even live in this area! Why would he be here? He lives across town!” I could feel hot tears start to roll down my cheeks. This just couldn’t be happening.

I started to talk again when Barbra’s car began to come to a halt suddenly. The gas tank light blinking on and off. “Oh for the love of,” Barbra slapped the wheel and screamed to herself in frustration. “We’re out of gas,” she chocked out.

“Damnit,” I rubbed my forehead. We were a short walk from the other pool. We had to worn those kids. “Barbra, we have to get out of the car and warn those other people.”

“Screw them! I’m staying in the car! At least it’s locked!” She looked over at me, wiping water, tears, and vomit from her face.

I knew she was being logical, but it just didn’t seem right to leave those kids out there. “I’m going. Besides there may be a phone at the pool we can use. It was dumb of us to leave our phones at the house.”

“Tell me about it. I think it’s really stupid for you to want to do this. I’m staying in the car.” Barbra folded her arms and shook her head at me.

I nodded. “I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll run up there and get back as fast as I can.”

Barbra stared at me and let out a breath. “Damnit. I can’t let you do this on your own. As much as I am against this I can’t let you walk to your death.” She unlocked the doors and we both got out of the car.

“All right, let’s go,” I said and started to jog swiftly towards the other pool. Barbra who was in better shape than me was farther ahead by a few good feet in a matter of moments. We could see the lights to the other pool after a few minutes and noticed there were still several cars in the parking lot.

“Oh thank God,” I wheezed. My chest felt tighter than a drum. Barbra began shouting for help. I could see movement and soon several teenagers came out and stared at us as though two lunatics had come out of nowhere.

“Are you guys okay?” A tall, tan boy approached us.

“We just found our friend dead at the second pool!” Barbra grabbed a hold of his arm and pointed back from where we came. “We need to call the police now and get everyone out of here!”

The boy nodded and turned to his friends and asked them to bring a cell phone. “Come inside the pool house with us, we’ll call the cops.”

He led us up the wooden stairs and into the nearby pool house. Barbra and I both breathed deeply and slumped down onto a bench. The tan boy brought over the phone and looked at us for a moment. “Where do you guys live around here? I can get Courtney to call your moms and let them know you are okay.”

Barbra and I looked at each other for a moment and then up at the boy. “We broke in here, we’re really sorry. We didn’t know that this was going to happen. Could you just call the police?” I continued to breathe heavily. I didn’t mind taking a little punishment for breaking into the pool.

“Oh. Well now that is going to be the problem,” the boy said as he slipped the phone back into his pocket. “You should have taken a lesson from your friend. We don’t like strangers coming around here.”

Barbra and I sat there and stared at the boy for a moment. “Is this a joke?” Barbra began to stand up.

“Far from it,” a grin spread across his features and four other teenagers entered the pool house. “Seems like we’ve got some strays here guys. You know what we have to do. We’re really getting sick of you people coming in here like you actually belong. I guess we just have to take out the trash.” The boy snickered and pulled a pocket knife from his swim trunks.

Before I could do anything, Barbra had already grabbed a pole from behind her which had the pool cleaning net attached on the end. She quickly slammed it down on the boy’s head before he could blink. As he dropped to the floor I wrenched the knife out of his hands and ran towards a blonde girl who was fumbling with a can of mace that had gotten stuck in the pocket of her designer jeans. I grinned grabbing her wrist and being much heavier than her, was able to throw her against the wall which she bounced off of and landed with a hard thud to the floor.

I turned around to see Barbra fighting off two guys with her pole, slamming one in the ribs, causing him to double over in pain. The other boy dove towards her which she shoved him back into a window which shattered and I saw the glass piercing along his perfectly tanned flesh.

I shook my head away from the sight just in time to see the last boy come at me with another knife. I ducked and shoved him down, though I didn’t realize where his knife was and I felt it enter my upper arm. I screamed and tumbled down with him, rolling away as quickly as I could. I looked over at my arm and saw the knife handle sticking out the blood flowing quickly from it.

I shot up as quickly as I could only to notice that Barbra had beat the boy senseless in the head with the metal pole already. She then ran over and grabbed me by the hand and pulled me out of the pool room. Before we left I knelt and grabbed the cell phone out of the first boy’s swim trunks. As we fled the scene I looked back to see them groaning and writhing about on the floor.

We ran to one of the cars and noticed that luckily the driver had left the keys in the cup holder. “That’s a stupid teenager for you,” Barbra muttered and threw open the door as I ran over to the passenger side and got in as she started the engine. As we pulled out of the parking lot and zoomed out of the gate towards the highway I slumped down in the seat, finally feeling relief.

“I always knew there was a reason I hated kids,” I laughed bitterly, looking over at Barbra who smiled back at me. That would be the last time the both of us would ever trust a group of teenagers and the last time we would ever go to a public pool.