Isobel Asks The Internet

I - The Pool Party

My friend was killed in an accident at a pool party last night! Could I have done more to save her?

Hey everyone!

So, last night my friend Brindie was having a pool party and EVERYONE was invited. I had quite a busy schedule for the evening (I am the deputy manager of a grocery store while studying for a degree in physics) but I was able to move some tasks around so I could let my hair down and wear heels! 

I met up with my friends Heini and Katie before we headed to the pool party. We were walking to Brindie's house and talking at the same time, particularly about how we hoped that there would be food at this party. Katie mentioned that Brindie was on the keto diet and I started to wonder if going was such a good idea, but said to myself that I could leave at any time. 

We strode in and everyone was there! Brindie came up to us, said "welcome" and handed us some cold(ish) beers. We looked around and saw lots of people we knew standing around mingling, and we decided to go and talk to our friend Nigella (who is SO kind and sweet but also really aggressive and dangerous). 

Nigella was talking about how she had just got back from a saltwater fishing trip with her uncle's neighbour when Heini interrupted and said "OMG did you see Mavis is here?"

I turned around and looked at the gate where Mavis was walking in, holding what looked like a clumsily arranged salad of fruits. I was incensed that Brindie would invite Mavis after what had happened. Brindie and I are members of the university gardening society, along with Heini, Katie, Nigella, Mavis and many other people who were at the party. Last week, while I was planting a memorial garden to a professor that had died in a skiing accident, she came over to "help".

While we were putting the finishing touches on some of the flower beds, Mavis was all like "I'm not feeling well". I turned to her and she looked like she was about to lose her balance; I would have gone over to help but I was wearing heels so I just said "ooh Mavis hun maybe you should sit down and get some liquids" before turning back to the hydrangeas. Suddenly, I heard retching noises coming from behind me. I turned around to see Mavis stumbling, and putting her feet into the flowers (she was wearing heels). She started running out of the garden, but she began to vomit as she ran so it went EVERYWHERE. Every flower had vomit on it.

I told the Head of Landscaping that I didn't produce the vomit but he told me that I should have thought of that before I got Mavis to help me and that it was my responsibility to clear it up. Naturally I told everyone in the gardening society what had happened and everyone was PISSED at Mavis for defiling what was meant to be a beautiful and peaceful memorial garden, including Brindie! 

I strode up to Brindie to ask her what Mavis was doing at the party, and she told me that she had already invited her before she had ruined the memorial garden and didn't want to revoke the invitation because Mavis has quite a spicy temperament. This was understandable, so I just thought that I might as well try to have a good time and ignore the fact that Mavis was here. 

A bit later in the night, it had gotten SO cold and everyone had gone inside. While we were sitting inside, Katie asked where her phone was. I said that I thought I saw it outside and that I'd go and get it for her. As I strode back out into the garden, I saw that Mavis was standing by the pool on her own. I thought "whatever" and tried to ignore her, but as I bent to pick up Katie's phone she came up to me.

Mavis asked me if I was happy now for getting everyone to hate her, and I said "yes". She got SO mad so I told her that she "can vomit on as many memorial gardens as she wants but her lettuce patch will always be lacklustre". This ENRAGED her and she started to get all up in my face. At this point I panicked because she was getting SO angry even though I was only trying to give her constructive criticism. I took one of my heels off and I hit her on the forehead with it and she fell into the pool. I thought that this would shut her up, but then I remembered that she can't swim and Brindie's pool is SO deep (it's like 12 metres deep).

At this moment, Heini came out into the garden and asked what was going on before seeing Mavis struggling. I yelled at her to help except quietly so no one inside would hear and she grabbed a loop of rope for Mavis to hold onto. We threw the rope into the pool but the loop fell around Mavis's neck! Heini didn't seem to notice so she was tugging on the rope and it was tightening! I told her that we should maybe re-evaluate the situation but she yelled that there was no time! and that we had to pull Mavis out of the pool. 

By the time we had dragged Mavis on to the ledge of the pool she wasn't breathing (omfg) and we didn't know what to do. We decided to go inside where we were going to tell Brindie what had happened but she was knitting and therefore had a potential weapon. We didn't know what to do at this point so we made our excuses to leave with Katie (I had an early shift at work the next day anyway) and called the police after we were out of earshot of the house.

I can't believe that Mavis is dead. Could I have done more to help her? Has anyone else been in this same boat?