p class="p1"span class="s1"strongA/N: /strongI had completely forgotten about this story until I stumbled upon it. I edited it a bit (a lot) and here we are. This was originally meant to be a prologue but, as it is unlikely I will write anymore for this, I'm marking it complete. You never know though./span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" When I was 9, I had the pivotal moment of my life along the coast of Ireland. For me, it was start of something incredible. For my parents, it was just another day at the office. They were so distracted by whatever meetings they had to go to, they had yet to hire someone new after firing nanny number six. Instead of doing anything about it, they simply told me to stay in the apartment and left. Great parents, I know./span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" Well, I ended up leaving the apartment. Hey, I was a bored with too much curiosity for my own good. We lived near the coast- well not exactly emnear/em, but it was only a few hours' walk. I knew that people would get suspicious if they saw a child all alone, so I went to a less populated part of the shore. The area was mostly rocks creating cliffs and small caves, but I found a small section of sandy beach where I could play hidden from well-meaning strangers./span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" However, my private beach was only accessible by a precarious climb across wet rocks So, I slipped. I fell into a cave, right into an underground pool. It was beautiful. The cave was half water, half sand. The walls sloped up to a hole at the top. There seemed to be no way out, but I wasn't concerned. I had just found the perfect place to play. Don't judge me! I was 9!/span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" And then it got dark. Pause, I know what you're thinking. emHow could her parents not have noticed she was gone?/em We've been over this, I have fantastic parents. So, I was stuck./span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" I was sitting on the edge of the pool, contemplating my predicament, when the water started to bubble. I leaned forward to get a closer look and I fell in. It wasn't the most coordinated day of my life... Anyways, when I was under the water, I saw an opening. I figured that the pool lead to the ocean, or at least somewhere. It never occurred to me that going in an underwater tunnel of unknown conclusion was exceedingly stupid. I went back to the surface for air, ignorant of the danger in my plan. When my head broke the water, the first thing I noticed was that the bubbles had stopped. Miraculously, I made through the tunnel and into the open sea./span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" After a long swim and an even longer walk, I made it back to the apartment building. The guy at the desk gave me a strange look, but I just smiled at him and got in the elevator. When I exhaustedly entered the apartment, it was dark and quiet. The clock by the door showed it was after two. My parents weren't back yet. Typical./span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1"strongXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/strong/span/p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" When I was 9, I had the pivotal moment of my life along the coast of Ireland. For me, it was start of something incredible. For my parents, it was just another day at the office. They were so distracted by whatever meetings they had to go to, they had yet to hire someone new after firing nanny number six. Instead of doing anything about it, they simply told me to stay in the apartment and left. Great parents, I know./span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1" Well, I ended up leaving the apartment. Hey, I was a bored with too much curiosity for my own good. We lived near the coast- well not exactly emnear/em, but it was only a few hours' walk. I knew that people would get suspicious if they saw a child all alone, so I went to a less populated part of the shore. The area was mostly rocks creating cliffs and small caves, but I found a small section of sandy beach where I could play hidden from well-meaning strangers./span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1" However, my private beach was only accessible by a precarious climb across wet rocks So, I slipped. I fell into a cave, right into an underground pool. It was beautiful. The cave was half water, half sand. The walls sloped up to a hole at the top. There seemed to be no way out, but I wasn't concerned. I had just found the perfect place to play. Don't judge me! I was 9!/span/p
p class="p2" /p
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p class="p1"span class="s1" And then it got dark. Pause, I know what you're thinking. emHow could her parents not have noticed she was gone?/em We've been over this, I have fantastic parents. So, I was stuck./span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1" I was sitting on the edge of the pool, contemplating my predicament, when the water started to bubble. I leaned forward to get a closer look and I fell in. It wasn't the most coordinated day of my life... Anyways, when I was under the water, I saw an opening. I figured that the pool lead to the ocean, or at least somewhere. It never occurred to me that going in an underwater tunnel of unknown conclusion was exceedingly stupid. I went back to the surface for air, ignorant of the danger in my plan. When my head broke the water, the first thing I noticed was that the bubbles had stopped. Miraculously, I made through the tunnel and into the open sea./span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1" After a long swim and an even longer walk, I made it back to the apartment building. The guy at the desk gave me a strange look, but I just smiled at him and got in the elevator. When I exhaustedly entered the apartment, it was dark and quiet. The clock by the door showed it was after two. My parents weren't back yet. Typical./span/p