Olivia felt the powerful smack of the water hitting her body, crushing her rib cage.
The impact made all of the air collapse out of her lungs. She realized that she was
still screaming even under water. Not only was the force of the hit to the water
shocking, but the water temperature was freezing, causing her blood flow to constrict.
She briefly lost her vision. Her flailing arms and kicking legs were no help as she
desperately tried to swim to the surface. She sank further and further below the raging
water, fighting against the strong, cold, current of the river. Her eyes were wide open
now in terror, searching for any kind of light so she could distinguish up from down.
But the waves and the undercurrent kept on with their unyielding forces against her body.
Her lungs were burning for oxygen. She could not stop the inevitable fight for air and
impulsively breathed through her nose and then opened her mouth, only to experience the
horrifying onslaught of water rushing into her chest cavity. She was being swept away
through the rip-tide. She was losing consciousness, and the last thing she felt was her
body being slammed into a large rock.
The Observer knew he didn't have much time. He saw Olivia hit the water but she had yet
to resurface. So he walked to the edge of the riverbank and laid his briefcase down on
the ground. He pried open the case and took out two telescopic aluminum poles and extended
them to the appropriate lengths. He then grabbed one of the two rectangular-shaped metal
boxes and fit that into place on one of the poles. Walking about fifty yards to his right, he plunged
the pole with the metal box attached to it down into the ground, driving it in like a stake.
Then he walked back to his briefcase and set up the other pole and metal box in the same manner.
He planted this pole in the ground fifty yards to his left. He reached in his pocket and took out
the detonator. Pushing the red button, the metal boxes were activated, creating a vortex that
surrounded the river where Olivia had fallen in.
The vortex began acting like a giant magnet, its forces pulling apart the water and searching to grab
hold of Olivia. When it found her, it latched on to her and heaved her up out of the water. Her body
hung in mid-air just above the surface of the river, levitating in the vortex. She was lifeless and water-
logged. The Observer pushed the button one last time on the detonator. Immediately the vortex snapped
back into the metal boxes on the poles and Olivia disappeared in a flash of light. Knowing that he had
succeeded in saving her by sending her to the alternate world, the Observer packed up his things and
left as quickly as he came. He heard the sirens and knew that any minute there would be a search team
coming and he did not want to be seen. In his haste, he did not have time to pick up his black derby hat
that had blown away in the wind.