Two Broken Pieces ; L.H

Chpt. 5 || Swimming

• 7:04 am, Thursday - Alex

"Mindy, can I get dropped off early today?" I asked settling onto the seat of the dining table.

"Well, why do you want to?" Mindy asked.

"Because I want to try out for swimming." I answered.

I had been swimming ever since I could remember. Sometimes instead of leaving me at Mindy's, Lucy or Adam would drop me off at swim practice. I started when I was around 4. I absolutely loved it. After Lucy and Adam passed away I haven't been in a pool or even thought about swimming. But when I heard that there were try outs for swimming I decided I wanted to again.

"So?" Mindy retorted.

"So, I wanna practice a little. It's been a while you know." I persuaded.

Mindy let out a long sigh, "Alright fine kiddo. What time do you wanna leave?" She asked.

"Uhm .. Around 7:30?" I asked.

"You'll be ready by then?" She wondered.

"Yep." I said before I ran up the stairs to find my swimming gear. I decided to tie my hair back and put my bathing suit on underneath my comfortable clothes. I put an extra set of clothes into my bag then ran back down the stairs.

"Alright, Mindy! I'm ready!" I called putting on my shoes.

"Okay!" I heard her call back.

In the car, I felt quite queasy. I was anxious to get back into the water but I was also afraid of drowning.

"Okay, Al. We're here." She said entering the school parking lot. Once the car was at a full stop I said bye to Mindy and started heading to the front school.

There I saw Mr. Jefferson unlocking the front doors.

"Good morning sir." I greeted.

"Oh, hello. You must be Alexandria, the new arrival." He acknowledged.

I smiled and nodded. I hated being called 'Alexandria'. It didn't sound right to me. However, I thought it would be rude if I corrected him, when really he wasn't wrong. I mean it was my name after all.

"How come you're so early?" He questioned.

"Thought I'd go for a quick swim before school." I told him.

"Well the door is locked," He said. But then he reached into his pocket and handed me a ring of keys, "But here. The pool is all yours."

I hesitantly grabbed the keys then headed for the pool. The smell of chlorine hit me the second I walked in.

I placed my stuff on a nearby table and began removing my clothes revealing me, in my bathing suit. I made sure no one was around then dived into the pool.

After swimming a few rounds I realized I didn't take off the necklace I had put on in the morning. So, I swam to the wall of the pool and unhooked the latch. As I brought it in front of me, the two ends slipped from my finger tips.

A list a profanities slipped out of mouth as I tried to look for it. I took a deep breath then headed towards the bottom of the pool. I wasn't too far in the pool so it wasn't too deep. After several seconds I popped my head out of the water gasping for air.

I haven't held my breath like that in a while and my lungs felt like they were on fire. I still hadn't found the necklace so I started treading towards the deeper area of the pool.

I inhaled and exhaled multiple times before swimming to the bottom of the pool again. As I was getting closer to the bottom, I noticed a silver heart laying on the ground of the pool. But as I was getting closer, my lungs were practically screaming for air. After getting my necklace I kicked off the ground and swam upwards needing air.