“It all started when I was swimming in my swimming pool at my backyard, it was just as usual but unexpectedly an eyeball float to the surface of the pool, I’m terrified, I instantly called 911” the witnesses told me. “Is that all?” I said to assure that he give out all his information, he nodded his head in response. I then concluded this interview, this case was a very strange one, a corpse hidden inside the drain outlet, compressed into a unidentifiable piece of flesh. It was difficult to determine the exact time or cause of the victim’s death too because of its shape, hence the murderer was hard to locate too.

We checked the nearest cameras to see what happened and who killed the victim, we took the video of the process, it appear that the victim was a male, he entered the pool sneakily, it seems like he wanted to swim without the permission to. He revealed his body from his clothes and jumped inside the pool, but he never came out. This whole process was during night, the darkness covered his face. We had searched the area’s missing population to decide whose the victim, but it was futile, there were too many missing populations lately for unknown reasons. His family was quite misfortune, they can’t receive his insurance.

Later investigations discovered that all the missing people had a common, they were last seen in or near a pool. We suspected that something is off inside the sewer, we deployed a few policemen to investigate it. They found blood, flesh on the floor, and all kinds of organs. It’s crystal clear that it’s definitely associated to something in the sewer. After deeper exploration, the policemen found a huge monsters in the center of the sewer, they killed it immediately before it starts to attack, and this case is finally resolved.

Red blooms in the water. Petals unfurling. If you just focus on the growing spirals of red in the water. Crimson curling and dancing around one another.

If you just focus on that. If you don’t look for the source. It’s beautiful.

I’m frozen. Trance like as I watch the red shift around me. I reach out a pale hand disrupting the vermilion. It breaks, making way for my hand.

This jolts me out of my stuper and I look up. I look to the source. I wish I hadn’t. I wish I had stayed in the quiet hum of my blissfully ignorant trance.

It’s Alice. Or what’s left of her. She’s been gutted. From her belly button to the base of her throat. A bright red smiling gash let’s her insides out.

I can’t help it. I scream, I thrash in the pool. Choking on bile and chlorinated water. I have to get out of here.

Tears run down my face as my brain flicks through all the memories of me and him. My headphones are on my ears playing I love the night, the rock song Georgie showed to me when we first became friends. I cry harder. I cry and cry until my eyes are red raw and then my mind finally picks a memory.

I stare across the pool. Georgie managed to steal the pool keys by some miracle and everyone else apart from us has left. The lights are turned off and it’s around 11ish at night. The only light is coming from the windows around the room. I feel exposed and safe at the same time.

Georgie’s already in the pool. It was his idea in the first place. My towel is wrapped tightly around my body.

“It’s getting cold in here without you” he says with a smile. I return a smaller smile. “C’mon babe, don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do” the sixteen year old boy in front of me has been my best friend for years, and my boyfriend for 1 year. Of course I trust him.

I drop the towel, and clamber down into the cold water with him. This is the first time I’ve ever worn this very revealing bikini. I float over to him and he greets me with open arms. My arms rest on his bare chest.

“Why don’t you wear that bikini more often?” He whispers.

“Because I don’t really want over half of my cheeks on display” I answer simply.

“I do though” he says, grinning.

His cute, brown mullet isn’t wet yet. Yet.

I push myself out of his arms and dunk his head into the water before he knows what’s happening.

“You little” he says when his head is back above water.

“Language, Cooper” I laugh before swimming away.

Eventually he traps me in the corner of the pool. I turn around accepting defeat.

Our eyes meet and we both smile. I love this kid.

Georgie’s eyes meet with mine and he swings his arm around, grabbing both my hands with only one of his and lifts them up above my head. At first I think he’s going to tickle me, but he doesn’t. Instead he puts his other hand on my waist and kisses me hard against the wall of the pool. His body is pressed against mine. We stay like this for a few seconds before he pulls away.

“I love you Els, did you know that?”

“Of course I do Georgie, of course I do”

If only he could’ve stayed true to himself, I thought as I sink further down into tears.

I sit on the bottom under the water and I begin to wonder if I can last up to five minutes like Margo Robbie. I doubt it, it has only been twenty seconds and my lungs are already screaming for air another ten and I unbend my legs so I can push off of the bottom sending my self rocketing towards the surface. I suck in a sweet breath of air once I break the waters surface and my senses return to me. Under the water it was silent but now I can hear the splashing of the pool and the sounds of kids playing in the shallow end. I open my eyes and just sit there sculling water for a little while then I hear Hallie call to me from the side of the pool. “Hey Sare Bear we are all going to go get in the hot tub want to join us?” “Of course I do.” I said swimming over to the side of the pool and getting out fallowing Hallie.

The room with the hot tub was a bit dimmer than the pool was but it gave the area a calm and comfortable relaxed feeling and it was just me and my friends in there right now. I went over to the side of the hot tub and sunk in to the hot water. Hallie pushed the button on the wall and the bubbles came on and then she joined us. It was silent for a little while as we all let the water and bubbles relax us. “ So Sarah what was the reason you said that Draya couldn’t join us?” Kelsey asked “Oh right, Celeste had some kind of family emergency going on and she wanted Draya with her for moral support.” “It’s good for couples to spend time apart sometimes and honestly I was beginning to think you and Draya were becoming fussed together. I mean don’t get me wrong I like girlfriend we all do but I was starting to miss hanging out with just you, you know.” said Raquel. “I have been spending a lot of time with her lately but that’s because…well remember this is supposed to be a short term relationship, nothing permanent, so I might as well spend as much time as I can with her.” “Is it still just short term though? I mean it seems like it’s becoming more the way you two are together, it’s like it’s just meant to be.” Tracy said. None of my other friends knew about the conversation Tracy and had in the woods. It seems that Tracy clearly is willing to die on this hill. “I’ve been given no indication that anything has changed.“ I state “You do love her though right?” Hallie asked “Yes I do.” “And she loves you?” “I don’t know. She has never said that she does, I mean she says that I am special to her but that’s not the same thing. Hell Hallie you’re dog Freckles was special to me but that didn’t mean I wanted a relationship with him.” “Honestly I would be worried for your mental health if you did but that being said I think you should figure out where Draya stands on the relationship matter, because maybe she wants more now. I mean you do right?” “Of course I do but what if she doesn’t? What if telling her scares her away? I don’t want to screw things up. I mean this is the best thing that I have ever had and I want to enjoy it while I can and not mess things up causing it to end sooner.” “At least you would know Sare Bear.” “Hallie is right nothing ventured nothing gained.” said Kelsey “Fools rush in where others fear to tread.” I countered “Sarah you don’t tell her soon you never will and then she’ll be gone and it will be too late and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life, never knowing what could or might have been, so get your big girl panties on and tell her.” Tracy said “I’ll think about it, hasty climbers have sudden falls.” “Girl, problem is you all ready fallen, right off of lovers leap and you know what happened to Wah-Wah-Tee and her Apache brave.” said Raquel and I did indeed know what happened.

The Legend of Lovers’ Leap, Waco Indian maiden Wah-Wah-Tee secretly accepted a marriage proposal from a handsome Apache brave despite the enmity between their tribes. The two hoped to elope but were thwarted in their effort to run away quietly at night by Wah-Wah-Tee’s father and brothers who objected to the union. Cornered at the edge of a steep cliff above the Bosque, Wah-Wah-Tee and her brave chose to embrace one another and leap into the swollen river below rather than face a lifetime apart. The bodies of the two, still holding tightly onto one another, found a final resting place on the banks of the river close to the site of their first meeting. While stirring, no historical basis exists for the tale. It is most likely a byproduct of late-Victorian romanticism and efforts to promote one of Waco’s natural wonders to outsiders. Nevertheless I always loved the story of the star crossed lovers. I found it even more romantic than Romeo and Juliet I could only hope that my own story didn’t end in tragedy.

I feel Draya crawling in to my bed next to me. I open my eyes and peered at my clock the glowing green numbers read 1:12AM . “Your late.” I say. Draya usually shows up around 11:00 every night with out fail. “I am sorry Princess the council ran a little long this time.” The story I told my friends was of course not true, not entirely true anyway. David had asked Celeste to accompany him to the bi-monthly High coven meeting. He hated going but was obligated. All large coven leaders are and Celeste didn’t want to go either but that was mostly because she didn’t like most of the other coven leaders, but she would go for David’s sake and wanted Draya there for moral support; that part was true and since the coven is a vampires family what I told my friends wasn’t a lie it was at best a half truth. “Anything interesting happen?” I asked “Not really just lots of political stuff the only one I really paid any attention to was this case of a vampiress who thralled another vampiress’s consort, a very high offense by vampire law. She claims she didn’t know he was a consort but that doesn’t matter. Her thralls were taken from her and she is shunned; not forever but for the the next five centuries at which point they will review her case.” “Seems harsh.“ “Not by vampire standards, but it won’t be easy for her. The ones I feel bad for were the two thralls. A young man and a teen girl. They fought quite hard to stay with her but that was expected. The next few months won’t be easy for them.” “What is a thrall?” “Vampire Thralls are alive. Thralls are mortals whom the Vampires have fed their blood to a living human becomes addicted to it, as if it were strong drink, or some horrifyingly strong opiate. Vampire thralls are eternally obedient servants their only want is to serve and please their vampire masters. Their regular small doses of vampire blood keep thralls compliant utterly and fanatically loyal to their masters, it also prolongs their life. Most thralls are willing, but not all. It is not unheard of for Vampires to punish their living foes by attacking their loved ones, and in especially cruel cases, turning them into thralls.” “What’s going to happen to the man and girl?” “They are going to go through a sort of withdrawal but it won’t be easy on them. Withdrawal from vampire blood is extremely painful. We often have to restrain those who go through it other wise they are liable to injure or even kill them selves but they will recover and then they will belong to themselves again.” “Sounds horrifying.” “Don’t fret darling the soon to be former thralls will be fine and I would never allow anyone to even attempt to make you a thrall.” “Lighter subject matter please.” “Well there was a witches coven that wanted to form an alliance with us.” “That sounds interesting and you can never have too many allies.” “Lots of the coven leaders thought so but the queen or at least the vampire she sent to speak on her behalf over ruled all other votes. The he queen is very much against allying with anyone outside the vampire community and it is understandable there have been alliances in the past that had gone sour with betrayals and double crossings of both sides none of them happened in my lifetime but the queen is one of the first vampires ever created thousands of years old and she remembers all of it.” “Why do the witches want an alliance anyway? I thought they mostly kept to themselves.” “Usually they do but we also have a common enemy.” “Hunters?” I inquired “Hunters.” she confirmed I let out a yawn “I think someone is tired.” “Just a little.” “Sleep darling and I will hold you awhile.” “Okay.” Normally I would argue with her but I didn’t have the energy to tonight and I let my eyes slip closed and drifted off to sleep in her arms.

THE END to be continued in the story titled First Day Of School

There’s one memory I always go back to. One moment that I think I truly felt peaceful. It’s not a significant moment or anything that would sound as impactful as it was. It’s a short quiet moment. One that feels personal but is most likely universal in the actions though not in the feelings I experienced.

That moment I think of was one summer day when I was alone and submerged in the pool.

I was underwater looking up while letting myself sink in time with the slow release of air from my lungs. As I sunk lower and the bubbles rose to break the surface I was struck with the beauty of the moment.

The thing about water is that when you’re surrounded by it everything feels calmer. Noises are muted, movements are slower, light twinkles and seeps through the barrier but doesn’t feel blinding.

The world often feels like too much to me. Too much noise, too much light, too many people that frighten me or burn me out. It often leaves me feeling hollow and so tired. But in that moment nothing was too much and for once my mind was quiet.

I could stare up at the world above, distorted by the gentle turbulence of the water’s surface, and take it in without feeling overwhelmed.

The gentle sway of the water lightly rocked me back and forth and lulled me, soothing the anxiety right beneath my skin and making my issues fall to the back of my mind.

I wished I could stay there forever. My mind is never quiet and my fears never quelled. But something so calming can never last forever. Reality always has a way of crashing back into me.

I tried so hard to stay there as long as I could, taking a snapshot of time to hold onto, but soon enough the burning in my lungs became so urgent that my body tried to drag air into my lungs against my will and I was forced to kick off the bottom to break the surface.

It was immediate. Everything came rushing back.

The barrier between me and the world was gone and so was the peace.

Moments later, 911 arrived.

"We were just swimming! She...she..." Lara couldn't spit out the words. "She’s...gone! Oh, god! She's gone!" Lara stood in the pool, on a waist-high step, sobbing.

“Let’s get you out of there.” Tim, the policeman, gave Lara a towel and directed her to the table.

"Julia drowned, is that correct?" The police officer questioned.

"You don’t see any blood, do you?!" Lara nearly screamed.

“Well, ma’am, we have done a test of liquid in the pool. Since this is your house, I’m sure you would approve.” A lady officer with a blank face stared at Lara.

“Yes, of course.”

“You were the only one in the pool at the time Julia was killed, is this correct?” The lady officer questioned again.

“Yes… I was.” Lara paused. “WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?! THAT I KILLED JULIA?! SHE WAS MY SISTER! Why would I kill my own sister?!”

The officer scanned a folder. “It says here that Lara Johnson doesn’t have any siblings.”

Lara then pulled a knife out and cut her tongue.

“LARA!” The officers yelled.

Lara then passed out, and nothing else could be said.

Lara was sentenced to death after the officers found a net buried in the yard. Traces of DNA indicate that Julia was choked to death by Lara’s volleyball net.

Isabella still longed to be with Declan but was turning out to be a smart and capable girl on her own. She had developed a strong love of swimming, constantly begging Abigail and Brevyn to swim with her. One particular day of the last week before she started kindergarten, she was particularly insistent that she swim. Brevyn was at work, and Abigail was not in the mood to swim. So, she sat outside, watching her daughter play in the pool. She had left the sliding glass door open and heard someone ring the doorbell.

Abigail told Isabella that she would be right back, and to stay in the shallow end while she answered the door. When Abigail walked back outside with Babs in tow, she saw her four-year-old daughter floating in the deep end. Face down. Hysterical, Abigail jumped in the pool after her.

“No baby, no, please not you too.” She sobbed, trying to get her precious daughter to breathe. The ambulance soon arrived, and the driver had to restrain Abigail from holding onto her child as the EMTs loaded her in the ambulance. Babs, after calling 911, became mute, unable to tear her eyes away from her young cousin, and unable to speak any more. Abigail was hysterical, calling after her daughter, begging her to stay with her. All of a sudden, she remembered that Brevyn had no idea that anything had happened, so she called him and started screaming for him to come home. He arrived in record time, only to see his shell-shocked niece hugging his wailing wife.

“Where is Isabella?!” he asked, only making Abigail cry harder. “Abigail… WHERE IS SHE?” he shouted, voice raw with emotion, making the girls jump. He felt bad and opened his arms towards Abigail, which she fell into. He suddenly recognized her desperateness, and his face crumpled. He had gone through the same struggles when Declan died. “No no no no no no. This can’t be happening, nooooo.”

“It was all my fault Brevyn. It's my fault she’s dead.” Abigail choked out suddenly.

“No baby, it’s not your fault.”

“Yes, it issss, I answered the door and left her all alone.”

“Shhh, baby. Shhh.” He replied, stroking her hair, as she cried into him. His tears mixed with hers as they fell onto the pool deck. Babs had tucked her head between her knees and had started shaking, forgotten about by her aunt and uncle.

Brevyn pulled himself together long enough to call Josh and tell him to come to their house for his daughter. When he got there, he found Brevyn sitting on the ground and Abigail laying in his lap, crying. Babs was still in her fetal position, so he rushed to her and wrapped her in the best kind of hug, the hug of one who loves you dearly. Her tears finally started flowing, soaking his t-shirt. When he asked if something happened to Isabella, her heavier sobs gave him the answer he needed.

He sat there, soothing her for a while, before calling the rest of their family and telling them to meet the four of them at the hospital. He managed to gather his daughter, Abigail and Brevyn into the car to head to the hospital. When they got there, he was the only one in any sort of condition to go inside and ask the nurse where his niece, well, his niece’s body, was. He was told that she was not accessible, that she was in the autopsy room, waiting to be operated on. He nodded his thanks and went back outside to find the rest of his family gathered around his truck, comforting Abigail, Brevyn, and Babs. Alyssa was even there, leaning against Jocelyn.

When Nigella regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was the smell.

It was sharp, undeniably chemical, and so strong it made her head ache. But it was familiar. Something was knocking on the door of her memories, demanding entry.

Nigella groaned and rolled on to her back. Or tried to, at least. Her hands were tightly tied behind her back, rope chafing her wrists.

When she cracked open an eye it was met with tiles slick with water and tainted with the blackening of mould. Nigella immediately recoiled, sliding back was far as possible by bracing her boots against the floor and straining herself to a sitting position.

That’s when she saw the swimming pool.

Surrounded on all sides with colourful ceramic tiles, the water in the pool was motionless, long-stagnant, the cloying chemical smell she’d noticed was chlorine. A memory rose then, the last holiday they’d taken as a family. Nigella, Richard and their parents. That was the first and final time Nigella had been swimming.

She shook her head, dislodging a crimson curl from her bun. Now was not the time for memories.

Thankfully, whoever had left her here hadn’t thought to check her for weapons as she twisted her hips, bringing her hands as close to the penknife in her pocket as she could.

But it wasn’t close enough.

Nigella let out a frustrated scream, kicking the heels of her boots against the tiles.

A moment later came the scrape of a key in a lock.

Antonio released water, followed by a great white, into the deep of the pool from the semi truck’s tank.

The water from the valve crept into the shallows, about 8 feet down in the empty pool, wetting Tommy’s cheek and clothes. The cool feeling woke him, shocked. Getting to his feet, he glanced around until he noticed the deep side of the pool. The shark’s fin glided on top of the clear water.

He ran to the nearest edge of the pool, but before he could jump a shot fired and he flinched back.

Above the pool, Antonio smoked a jointed with one hand and held a revolver in the other. He was dressed for a funeral, black head to toe and hair that waved over his aviators.

“Jesus, Antonio! What? Why!?” said Tommy. The water rose to his ankles now.

“That’s my line, you piece of filth,” said Antonio. He dropped the joint bud and smashed under his shoe.

“I’m sorry. You want a cut of what I stole? You hear me? I’ll show you where I stashed it!” he said, water heading toward his knees.

“It’s a little too late for that, Tom.”

Tommy started thrashing through the water, yelling, crying, and making a commotion. Nearing the edge, he lifted his hands over the pool’s edge. Another shot from the revolver, this time through Tom’s right elbow. He jerked back and screamed in pain toward the sky as his blood dyed the water around him a clear red.

“Is this it?” Tommy stared at Antonio, tears streaming down his cheeks and holding his bleeding arm. The water was much higher now.

“Yes. I’m sorry about being you’re executioner, my old friend. We know how these things go.”

Antonio watched with dry eyes as the water rose and the shark swam to Tommy. Target number 12 eliminated.

She always loved the pool.

From the first moment we found this house in the Hollywood Hills. Hidden in a tiny cul-du-sac, sitting all alone in the corner, like a shining sex symbol just waiting to be touched. Our dream home.

Built in the late 1930s and renovated in 2005, it had a hip mix of art deco and mid century modern design. Cool, crisp lines and pre WWII extravagance that was pure luxury, and welcoming at the same time.

The hidden gem was the olympic size swimming pool. Walking through the huge glass doors off of the kitchen into an oasis of comfort. Shimmering blue water, sleek marble deck and black and white subway tiles exuded opulence.

Her private getaway. Her perfect vacation. Never without the most expensive swimsuits, she would spend hours in the tranquil water. Each time I called from some faraway place my business took me, she was enjoying the fluidity of the water against her skin, saying it made her feel reborn.

She was kind, loving and attentive. Never an evil thought or bad word. No one wakes up and decides to be adulterous. It’s a slow burn. A little step out that starts as flirting, and ends in a way no one saw coming.

There’s was only one way to fix it. To make it better. To start over.

The police sirens screaming and cars skidding into the driveway nearly tore me away from the scene. I watched the streams of blood spiral downward away from the floating bodies of the cheater and the pool boy, finally redeemed and cleansed in the water. Reborn.