The Down Under

Chapter Four

I never thought sneaking out would feel so unexciting. Yes I snuck out, I just needed to see if I was right about the girl at the dock. I slipped out my window, which wasn't too small nor was it too high. Perfect for sneaking out. I stepped into a huge pile of mud when I landed outside of my window. I'm just glad I'm wearing shoes that can get muddy. I jogged to the spot where I saw the girl last and walked quietly from there. It still rains from when I went to bed that night. The rain was at least warm so I didn't have to worry about getting sick. I was walking closer to the dock when I heard talking. I wasn't close enough to make out what they were saying but to know they were talking. A couple more steps and something jumped out of the water. From where I was I could only see that it wasn't human and that it was white. Not as in like skin tone white, I mean like sliver-ish white, like a pearl. I hid behind a tree so that this thing couldn't see me. Once the lake thing was sitting on the doc facing the lake, I took a few more steps. I made it to the last tree I could hide behind. This is probably all the closer I'm going to get without spooking them. I looked around the tree and got a closer look at it. It looked so human, yet it had white hair and what looked like fins on the side of its arms. It also looks male. I risked being seen and took a few more steps toward them. Each step I could hear more of their conversation. The white one has a deeper tone than the other one, which I came to find out that it's the red and blue girl from yesterday. I got to the edge of the doc before I could make out what they were talking about.
"I don't know why you want to be up here. It's so dry. You'll dry out before you even meet anyone."
"Oh come on Brit, live a little. You always tell me that." I took one step onto the doc, huge mistake, the doc creaked so loud I think Conner heard it back at the cabin. I shot my head at the people at the end of the doc, they looked just as frightening as me. I got a better look at them now, there was one male and one female. The white was male. he slowly turned his head to look at me. I stood there just staring at him, and the white one did the same. The blue and red one wasn't anywhere to be seen. A couple of minutes pass and I risk again to take another step.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING" I whipped my head around to find Conner running down the hill in just shorts, mind you it's still raining. I looked back to the end of the doc to see if he was still there, but all I saw was the splash.
"Wait no! I just wanted to talk to you guys!" I ran to the end of the doc and went to my knees to see if I could see them in the water. Nothing. No flashes, streaks, or strips of color anywhere. I stood up, just now realizing that my pajamas were soaked and my shoes were soaked. Next thing I know I get plowed by Conner.
"What do you think you're doing? You're going to get in trouble if you do that again."
"Woah, slow down, no need to continue the 'push Kathy in the lake' tradition." I took a few steps out of the way of the edge, to be safe. With being so close to the edge of the doc and Conner right here too, it just makes me uneasy.
"I won't do that, I promised you mother that I wouldn't." He starts. "And besides, you know that the lake 'freezes over' after the first night, right?"
There was a lot wrong with what he just said. I understood the lake 'freezing over'. It did that every year. The lake would freeze over and whoever was in it couldn't get out, nor could anyone get in it, you would just walk on top of it. It was crazy when I first came here, we had a couple of people not return home that year. After that, the camp got into a lot of trouble for not saying anything about it, and if they didn't at least warn us about it they would shut them down. Yeah, lots of trouble.
"Woah, what do you mean you promised my mother not to? Is that what you guys were talking about when I finished packing my suitcase?" I looked at Conner dumbfounded.
"Yes." He made a promise to my mother to be nice to me. I knew that this was too good to be true. I knew that Conner didn't want to be friends with me, he just made a deal with my mother to prove to her that he was innocent. What a joke.
"I knew it," I mumbled loud enough for him to hear," I knew you didn't want to be my friend, it was all just some sick joke. You can leave now, you can go laugh it up with your friends now. You don't need me. You don't want me..." I trailed off. I shook my head and started to cry.
"You're right, I don't want to be your friend, but I do want you." He lifted his hands and wiped my tears from my face, leaving them there when he was done. "I want to be a lot more than just a friend, I want to be the person that you come to when you're scared. I want to be the person beside you when you wake up. I want to be the person that can make you laugh even in the middle of a horror movie." I looked at Conner. The person that I thought was stone cold-hearted, was now confessing something to me that not even his own family knew. "I want to be yours, and you to be mine." He finished, waiting for a response. I just stared at him. He wants to be mine? What the heck, after all of this time picking on me he wants to do a one-eighty and say that he wants to be mine?
"Conner," I said taking his hands off my face," I'm not looking for a partner, I just want someone that will do everything with me-"
"I will do that! We'll do everything together! Just please give me a chance." He squeezed my hands. Besides being wet, they were surprisingly warm. I looked at our hands together and wondered if we could be a thing, that we could be more than friends.
"Conner, can we just be friends, for-" he let go of my hands and sort of stomped off, in a kid-ish manner.
"After all I did for you! I've been nice, I met your mother, I even agreed to one of your silly little deals, and I still get nothing out of you!" He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, then he turned to me. The look on his face said that he just wanted redemption. Redemption from the world he created, redemption from the lie. The lie that said he needed everyone else's attention and acceptance. "Kathrine, I thought we could be something. I thought we could..." he looked at his feet, the rain dripping from his hair. I couldn't just leave him like this, I needed to tell him what I thought.
"Conner, listen-"
"No, you listen." He looks at me intensely. "I'm done with the 'listen to Kathrine because she knows everything' stuff." What!? Where's this coming from! "I came here because of you, I left everything I knew for you. My friends, my family, and the attention and fame, and you're going to stand here and say that we're just friends!" With every word, his voice got louder, along with his gestures.
"Conner I don't think you understand-"
"No, Kathy, I don't think you understand! I could have been next in line for the latest pair of shoes, taking selfies with some celebrities, or maybe even at one of the biggest events in the world! No, Kathrine, I came to the same smelly camp, where I never got the slightest chance to be anything here. I didn't get all the attention here like I did anywhere else, but you did. You got all of everything here. Everyone knew who you were, and I was left in the dust."
"You think that's how people saw me?" I'm beyond trying to figure this out, he likes me, but then he just sat here and told me how much he envies me. Not only that, he just pisses me off too. "People saw me as that one girl that never had anyone with her. I was the most lonely in the camp, Conner." I said feeling the rain run down my back. Two can play this game. No one gets the right to cut me off and tell me I'm wrong when I haven't got a chance to speak. Conner was the last person on the list who should be doing this, my trust has grown with him but not enough that we'll still be friends after this. I don't know how much my heart can't take any more pain from anyone anymore. I stood my ground.
"I didn't need you to be here, I didn't need you to be nice to me, I didn't even need you to be my friend," he opened his mouth to speak, but this time I cut him off.
"But I do appreciate that you did it, Conner. I just think you did this thing for the wrong reason." Just because I was pissed didn't mean I can't thank him for something, I'm not that mean. Conner stared at me, not saying a word, but enough was said on his face. He wanted nothing to do with me, or at least for right now. Conner turned around to go back to the cabin, he stopped at the table near him. He leaned against it, the water from the rain dripping off his body. Next thing I know, he slams his fist into the water and I tumble into the water. I left the cabin at eleven, and I went into the water at eleven fifty-nine, right before the water 'froze over'.
From above the water, it looks fine. A normal day with no wind, that's what it looks like. I came to find out that under the water it looks like it has frozen over, there's a thick layer of what looks like ice overhead. I can't get out. I'm going to drown. I swam as high as I could, slamming my fist on the top of the lake to see if Conner could hear me. Immediately, I hear footsteps from the dock. Almost too late, I see Conner's face. I hit the glass like a layer harder to see if I could break it, but every second my lungs were screaming for air. Conner just stared at me in horror. Help me get out of here you idiot! My lungs were burning, until finally, I gave up. My eyes closed, and I fell to the bottom.