Drowning

Chapter Fifty-Four

I'm suddenly surrounded by water, wait water? How did I get here? I try to swim up but I feel a weight on my feet. I look down and see cuffs on my ankles dragging me down. I start to get frantic. Shaking my head, looking around me. I can't be in the ocean. There are no fish, no seaweed, no nothing. Is not salt water my eyes don't sting. Where else can I be? I think, looking around me. That's when it dawns me. I'm in a lake. The lake. I need to get out of here. Like now.

I look down and notice the simple shirt that I'm wearing. I'm still in my pajamas. How in the actual hell did I get here? I don't care that I'm still tied down, I try to swim up. I need to get out of here.

I paddle in the water, trying to get to the surface. I need oxygen, air. I need to get out of here. I feel like I've been swimming for ages, my ankles wearing me down, and my arms feeling like bricks. But I finally see light, I see the surface, I see reflections.

When I finally get up I can't fully get my head out of the water, the cuffs stopping me. I angle my head towards the sky to see if I can get a breath of fresh air. I don't think I can keep my head up here for long. I need to see how the hell I will free myself, if not I'm going to drown.

After I get a mouthful of air, my eyes barely above water, I go to see if there's anyone around. Turning desperately. I don't want to be here. I want to go. I want to go home.

It's daytime, but it's foggy everywhere, and cloudy. I can barely see anything, but I can make out a body in the dock. I can't quite figure out if they're looking at me or not, but I don't care. I start screaming.

"Hey!!!" I motion my arms up. Which drags me down a little since they are the only thing keeping me floating. "Help me, please!!"

"Tina?" I hear the person say, and I instantly know who it is. Only one person has ever called me Tina. Ever.

"Aubrey!!" I scream back. "Help me!!" I need to get out of here. Tears start to prick on my eyes, I want to get out of here. I can't hold on any longer. My arms are heavy, and my ankles are dragging me down.

The fog slowly starts to move away, and I can see Aubrey more clearly in the dock. She's facing me, her prominent blue eyes on me. We always had the most gorgeous eyes, just like the sky. That reminds me of someone. I just don't know who.

"You're finally getting what you deserve, little sister," Aubrey says, looking down at me. Somehow the dock moved closer. I don't know what's happening right now. I'm so confused. I don't even know how I got here.

I look up at Aubrey, she's crouching down on the wood. I'm still struggling to keep a float, my mouth and nose barely over water. "Aubrey, please," I say, holding out an arm.

"You left me. You forgot about me, now it's your turn. You're going to die, drown and everyone is going to forget about you, because that's what you are meaningless." She crouches down and pushes my head under water, I struggle under her palm, until she fists my hair and pushes me all the way up, until my retrainsts pull against my skin, "worthless," Aubrey says, shoving me back in. "Insignificant," And she lets go.

"That's not true," I scream, my tears becoming the new water of the lake. "I have Mariana, she loves me. She cares for me," I need to believe there is someone rooting for me out there. I just need someone other than myself to be a reason to keep going, I can't be that unlovable. I refuse to believe that.

Aubrey laughs darkly and rises to her feet. "She's getting married, my dear Tina," she says bitterly. "She'll have a husband, maybe kids one day. Mariana will even have a company all to herself if you die. You're more of an obstacle, an annoyance than anything else in her life," I feel my heart drop to the bottom of the lake already. Why am I even trying anymore, I should just go. The only reason I woke up in the mornings was the company, I really don't have another reason to wake up. I have no life, no family, no true friends besides Mariana. I know the company will be taken care of, Mariana will take control and I know she'll do amazingly. It's true what Aubrey's saying she doesn't need me. We're not kids anymore, she is going to have a family. I'm only going to be on the way. But I need to keep floating, I need to keep myself from sinking. If not for someone else then for me. I need to believe that I'm worth living for, trying for, I got myself this far I can keep going.