Author's Notes: Yes, here it is, another story. This is going to be very, very dark and angsty, so if you don't like that, I'd suggest the 'back' button. My handy-dandy beta reader is at work right now, so all mistakes are certainly mine. I love reviews!
Jenny
Lullaby:
Sara adjusted the arm floaties on a two and a half year old Sadie's arms, leaning back to take in the appearance of her daughter, "You look beautiful."
"Go swimming?" Sadie asked, looking wistfully towards the adult wavepool, "With Daddy?"
Shaking her head with a soft chuckle, Sara replied, "No, sweetie, we're going to go play on the pirate ship. Let me put some more sunscreen on your face, though."
"Lotion!" Sadie replied giddily, leaning towards to smell the distinct smell of the white cream, "I like!"
Sara glanced at the clock, then back down at her daughter. It was getting close to lunchtime for the girls, but since arriving at the water park, she hadn't been able to get her husband or their oldest daughter away from the water long enough to mention it.
She squinted her eyes, barely able to see Greg and a six year old Chrissy in the deep end of the wave pool. Shaking her head worriedly, she turned to their younger daughter and held out her hand, "Ready?"
"Ready!" Sadie squealed, dragging Sara by the hand to the kid's section, which featured a large plastic pirate ship with squirt gun cannons, "Race you?"
"No!" Sara exclaimed quickly, "What have I told you about running?"
"No running!" Sadie mimicked, waving her finger in the air, "Water!" the toddler screeched, jumping up and down in the shallow wading pool.
Laughing, Sara followed Sadie towards the pirate ship, lifting her up so she could go down on of the slides, "Okay, Sadie, we have to be very careful."
"Careful!" Sadie replied, before quickly changing positions to go headfirst into the water.
Rolling her eyes, Sara stepped back a few steps to watch her daughter play.
She had never pictured herself with a child, let alone two. Chrissy had been a surprise, she and Greg had been engaged for nearly 6 months when a routine checkup revealed the presence of their first child. She had been in shocked, and Greg, well, Greg had nearly passed out. Sadie, on the other hand, had been planned after a brief period with depression that their first baby girl was growing up.
It had been no surprise that Greg would make a good father. He loved to play with the kids, he was a great negotiation, and Chrissy's self-proclaimed best friend. He had just the right mix of maturity to be a parent, as well as inner child to be fun. Sara, on the other hand, had a rough start adjusting to parenthood. The first year of Chrissy's life was spent with both girls in tears. By the second year, however, Sara had become and old pro at parenthood.
She looked up at Sadie, who was squealing with delight as she climbed the steps to slide down the slide again, face first into the water, giggling with delight as she looked up to Sara for approval.
"Please, be careful Sadie." Sara said quietly, turning away for a brief second to see if Greg and Chrissy had made it back to their table yet. Seeing only their bags and towels, Sara sighed and turned back to Sadie, who was now pulling on the cannon, trying to squirt her mother with the cold water.
Laughing, Sara pretended to duck from the water, which was still a good distance away from her, and maneuvered her way to Sadie, planting a kiss on the top of her head, "Want to go get something to drink?"
"Root beer?"
"If you want." Sara replied, leading Sadie away from the water.
Coming to the water park had been Greg's idea of a way to beat the summer heat while they were on vacation fro work. The whole idea of her young children in areas filled with water, and bacteria, had sent up red flags in her mind, but she had been unable to resist the pleas of not only her girls, but her husband as well.
Sara pulled the arm floaties off of Sadie's arms, placing them on the table. Helping Sadie climb into a plastic beach lounger, she handed her a cup filled a quarter of the way with root beer, "When you're finished, we'll go find Chrissy and Daddy for lunch."
"Slides?"
"After lunch, sweetie, I promise." Sara replied distractedly, studying the wave pool and frowning when she was unable to spot Chrissy's lime green bathing suit or Greg's familiar face. "I guess they went to one of the slides."
"Go on a slide?" Sadie asked, hopefully from the top of her cup, "Big slide?"
Sara smiled, brushing her daughter's brown hair away from her face, "Chrissy and Daddy can go on a big slide, because they're older. When you're older, you can go on one too. Right now, though, you need to play in the pirate ship."
"Watch Daddy and Chrissy?" Sadie asked hopefully, catching a glimpse of her sister and father and pointing excitedly, "Watch?"
Sara followed Sadie's finger to her husband and daughter's location. Grabbing Sadie's hand, she stood up, helping Sadie jump off the chair. "We can watch them, but we can't go on the slide."
"Okay!" Sadie squealed, starting to run. Sara lunged for her rambunctious two year old, grabbing her by the arm, "No running!"
As Sadie pouted, they wove through the people, stopping once Sadie found another wading pool, this one with a large mushroom that sprayed water into the air. "Water!"
Sara laughed, letting Sadie splash for a bit, relieved that she had forgotten about going to watch Greg and Chrissy. Watching usually led to wanting, which inevitably ended with a temper tantrum.
Before Sara realized what was going on, Sadie had turned away from the water, yelling out her sister's name before running in the direction of the "Lazy River", where Greg and Chrissy had been standing in line. Hearing Sadie's shriek, Sara took off running after her, finding a lot harder to navigate the people as an adult, as Sadie did in her small body.
Sara spotted Chrissy and Greg lounging in blue inner tubes while the slow current of the water led them through the "river". Furthermore, she spotted Sadie already nearing the fence surrounding the ride. Yelling for her daughter to stop did no good, and as Sara picked up her pace, so did Sadie.
"Daddy! Chris!" Sadie shrieked, leaning through the metal rails, "Daddy!"
The world seemed to move in slow motion as Sadie lost her balance, tumbling face forward into the water, just as Sara reached out to grab her. As the water splashed with Sadie's entry, Sara yelled for Greg, finally gaining the attention of both father and daughter.
Greg scrambled out of his tube, reaching Sadie's side quickly and pulling his precious daughter's face out of the water, her eyes closed. His eyes were wide with panic as chaos erupted around him.
Sara stood next to the rail, frozen with shock, until the notion to jump in and help finally dawned on her. She numbly hopped over the fence, landing on the water with a splash and waded towards her husband and daughter.
"Is she breathing?" Sara shouted, hysteria starting to sink in, "Greg! Do something!"
"I'm trying!" Greg snapped, his heart feeling as if it would burst from his chest. He was vaguely aware of the lifeguard who took Sadie from his arms, laying her on his platform as he tried to resuscitate her.
Sara started to tremble, barely aware as Chrissy clung to her waist, burying her head into her mother's warm skin, tears mixing with water. Her heart raced as she stared wide eyed at the lifeguard, not thinking clearly enough to do anything but watch with baited breath.
Greg had knelt down beside the lifeguard, following instructions that the lifeguard was rapidly shouting out, briefly looking at his wife and oldest daughter with sheer terror in his eyes.
Neither was sure how much time passed between the moment she fell in and the time the paramedics arrived, but both clearly heard the reading as the paramedic declared their baby girl deceased at 12:13 p.m.
TBC