Beneath a sweltering summer sun, chlorinated water glistened aqua like a clear gem. Gushing waves formed as I kicked my tiny legs like a propellor, grinning as I sipped the sweet tartness of my icy lemonade. With anticipation, I constantly turned to pester my lounging mother as she thumbed through an old magazine, it's cover tainted with water stains.
"When's Liz getting here?", I bothered. The sunshine illuminated my mom's beautiful face as she smiled and replied with a sighed "Soon, sweetheart". Defeated, I turned back around to stare longingly at the pool water. How it glistened, shimmered, moved in the summer breeze taunted me to come closer, though I knew better due to my lack of swimming ability. It whispered my name like a ghost in the night, it's looming shadows drawing me close.
With a slam, the glass doors to the backyard swung open and standing there on the threshold was a lanky girl of eleven with a graphic towel slung over her arm, trendy sunglasses sitting atop her head. With a toothy grin, she called my name, shaking me from my illusions, and joy dispersed itself like a bursting water balloon. With great enthusiasm, I jumped from my spot at the edge of the pool and ran for her, but fate had other plans.
With a slip of the slick deck, my small frame went flying through the air, landing with a splash into the deep center of the above-ground pool. My eyes stung with chlorine as my heart rate increased, panic ensuing. Everything was blurry and blue and blank. Sense of direction was suddenly fading from my mind and my lungs, having not sucked enough air before penetrating the water's surface, burned with desire for sweet oxygen. The shadows near the pool's wall began looming closer as I sunk deeper and deeper down, fingers licking at my wrinkled toes. My attempts at paddling upwards were to no avail, an invisible anchor weighing me down. The sunlight seemed but a distant memory.
Black spots appeared before my eyes as I began allowing water to seep through my nose, quickly making peace with the idea of death. From the sea of ebony orbs, though, came a great pair of electric blue eyes suddenly flashing in front of me, full of hope and safety. Surely it must have been an angel coming to escort me to heaven. The warm water grew cool in the eyes presence, wrapping me in a refreshing blanket. "You're gonna be alright, I promise. You're gonna be fine", a comforting voice echoed towards me as the eyes suddenly zoomed out. Then I realized they weren't just eyes but a face, then a head, then a body, a boy suspended there in the deep azure. He was tall and thin, his skin and hair pale as freshly fallen snow. Though his presence ought to have frightened me, it did quite the opposite. His kind eyes eagerly assured me that I'd be alright and, magnetized towards him, I began reaching out for his grasp. My fingers were just in reach when...
"Amanda!"
A strong grasp tore me from my underwater realm, sunlight exploding as I hacked on water. Bright, blurry shapes moved above me as I felt my head prop against someone's lap. A few bouts of pressure upon my chest prompted me to cough up what little liquid flooded my lungs and teary eyes began to center as my vision came to.
"Oh, thank God you're alright!", my mother shouted between sobs as she leant down to hug my loosely. Liz giggled lightly behind a tear-stained mask. With wide eyes, I looked around at the world, suddenly unfamiliar and strange compared to the pool's water. Lifting me up from my place, Liz helped to wrap me in her towel, a mother's embrace carrying me into the harsh light of our home and straight into my bed. As I was transported back into my crafty childhood house, though, I couldn't help but look back longingly at the pool, curious to see once more the boy from under the water...