Johnny (Aquaphobia)

Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it, he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger - Francis Quarles (1592 - 1644)

Johnny shot through the air over the water, a small flicker of fear trying to override the excitement he felt at being able to fly. Every persons dream, and he was accomplishing it, maybe covered in flame and being chased by a heat-seeking missile that was definitely gaining ground, but flying all the same.

He focussed his attentions on a garbage barge ahead of him, and turned towards it, creating a ball of flame at his hand and swooping low over the surface of the barge, hurling the flame ball into the centre of the barge as he passed, the huge mass of rubbish quickly igniting fully. He stopped as he moved away from the barge, and turned to face it, tearing his eyes from the fascinating fire to the heat-seeker beyond it, praying that it would go for the new target instead…

A smile flickered across his face as the missile dove into the centre of the garbage, and then the smile disappeared as the entire thing exploded, the blast knocking into him, causing his concentration on keeping himself alight to fail, and as he fell, and plunged beneath the water's surface, he wondered if that had been such a good idea…

It took him several moments to get over the shock of the fall, by which time he had gone some distance under the water, and the only way he could tell which way was up and down was from the flickering orange that must be the burning barge.

The panic hit him only a moment after this realisation, causing his chest to constrict and the cold hit him like a wall. The cold is imaginary, he thought to himself, struggling against his thrashing limbs to gain control and pull himself up to the surface, it's all in your head, you haven't felt cold since the cloud, it's all in your head…

"Johnny!" the shout made the eighteen year old turn, and he grinned at his friends standing by the cars behind him, all looking expectantly at him. He turned his eyes back to the lake in front of them, in some ways happy to see it completely deserted, but annoyed that their weren't any girls there for him to talk to.

'Tonight,' he reminded himself with a smirk 'You're in a hotel, hotel's have girls' He turned back towards the cars, stepping forwards and tugging off his shirt and jeans, throwing both into the back seat of his car.

"Come on!" he shouted, and turned and fled to the water, jumping into it and rising back up to hear his friends shouting as they too leapt in.

"This is boring," Dean said eventually, pulling himself from the water and pulling a beer from the cooler they had brought to the water's edge

"Then let's liven it up a bit," Johnny replied with a grin, dropping beside his childhood friend and cracking open a beer himself. Dean raised an eyebrow, but Johnny merely grinned, taking a swig from the bottle as his eyes roamed the area surrounding the lake.

"Hold this," he said eventually, pushing a half empty bottle into his friend's hand and leaping to his feet. He strode around the edge of the lake, and then grabbed the low branch of a nearby tree.

"Johnny!" Dean called, and his voice was followed by the coaxing of his other friends as he pulled himself further up into the tree, and then eventually scooted out across a limb that reached across the lake, and grinned at his friends as he stood up, balancing out his weight on the now creaking limb, threw his arms out over his head, and dived.

It had not occurred to him how stupid this stunt was. It never did occur to him how stupid any of his stunts were until it was too late. And he had never thought in any way what the lake bed could hide. He only realised as he felt a sharp pain in one foot as he kicked off from the lake bed that diving in may have been a bad idea, and as he kicked his feet, to break the surface of the lake above and examine his aching foot, that he felt something around his other foot, and his movements restricted.

Panicked, he kicked his feet again, finding his foot definitely trapped, and brushed his other foot against his trapped ankle, feeling the vegetation that was wrapped around his foot for a moment, understanding why he could not move.

He tried to shout out then, forgetting he was underwater, and the air in his lungs shot past his eyes in a stream of bubbles, and water filled his mouth. A gut-reaction forced his mouth closed, though his struggles increased, and he tried to fight back the urge to cough, yet eventually he mouth opened again, and more water shot in, filling his lungs.

A touch on his hand made his eyes shoot open, though he couldn't remember closing them, and he stared mutely at the pale, oddly distorted face of Dean, who mouthed something at him as his vision darkened, and his friend moved forwards as he lost consciousness.

Shouting around him, and fingers at his neck brought him around, and he immediately began to cough and choke. Hands twisted him onto his side and allowed him to regurgitate the water that filled his lungs and airways, and for a moment he lay on his side, curled in around himself, gasping for breath and coughing.

"Johnny?" a hoarse voice called hesitantly "Are you alright man?" he didn't try to speak, for his chest and head hurt, and his head felt light, and he thought he might pass out, but he eventually managed a shaky nod, and forced his eyes to open.

Dean was knelt beside him, he forced his eyes to leave his friends midriff to rise to his face, and he examined the face that was so pale that his friends tan seemed to be gone, and his freckles were extremely prominent around wide green eyes.

"Johnny?" Dean asked again, his fingers again went to his neck, and he tried vainly to brush his friend's hand away. His friend smirked, and as Johnny tried to sit up, aided the younger man, and a towel was immediately draped around the shivering boy's shoulders

"Sit still," Dean commanded, he wanted to be a doctor, and was taking this into his commanding stride "You've given us a frickin' scare doing that, and I am not going to try and get you breathing again." He tried to make it look like he would throw up at even the mere idea, but his worry ruined the whole effect "We've found an ambulance, there should be one here soon. Want me to phone your sister?"

"No!" Johnny yelped, and coughed harshly afterwards, fighting back his groan as he head span again "Sue doesn't need to know. Don't tell her. Please." Dean's eyes widened at the words, for Johnny never begged, but he nodded. Johnny however, didn't see the reaction, for he was staring with terrified fascination at the still lake, and he knew it would be some time before he found the courage to face the water again…