Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~One~

I sat down on the edge of the dock; the cool ocean waves lapping at my toes. The wind caught my hair, twirling it around me in a wave of blonde. I breathed in the salty air and sighed. This is where I had spent the last two weeks, down by the water, but I never got in. I let myself relax and listen to the water crash upon the shore. It was like a melody, calming me.

"Audrey!" my mom called from the beach house. I let out an exasperated sigh. Only my mom knew the worst time to interrupt me. I gathered up my flip flops and walked back across the dock. I ran up the sand, the heat burned my feet.

"Yeah?" I yelled to my mom as I made my way across the back porch. The wood was worn and light, just like the outside of the blue bungalow. I opened the sliding glass door and stepped into the cool air conditioned house.

My eyes flickered over to the kitchen as my mom spoke again, "Why don't you stay inside for a while? You've been out there all day. You're going to get burnt."

"I don't burn, mom." I told her for the millionth time since we had moved from Northern Michigan to Florida.

"I still don't understand how you can sit out there and only put your feet in the water," she nagged while handing me a water bottle. "It's so hot."

"Not really," I sat down on one of the two bar stools at the counter and took a drink. "The breeze off the water keeps me cool."

"You still don't have to just sit out there. The ocean was something you had always wanted swim in," she said as she put her cold hand over mine. "Are you still afraid from the accident?"

"That's not it-"

"Don't tell me that's not it!" she yelled before taking a deep breath to relax. She took my hand and said, "Audrey, you were the number one girl on your school's swim team. Since the accident the closest you have been to getting in is putting your toes into water-"

"Don't worry about it," I snatched my hand away. I held my water bottle tightly to my chest and took off down the hallway to my room. I held back the tears until after I slammed my door hard enough to rattle the things on my dresser. Sitting down on my bed, I let it all out, the tears trailed freely down my cheeks. No one in my family ever mentioned the accident. It wasn't even really an accident in the first place.

I struggled under the water as someone pressed down on my head.

It felt like yesterday...

Chlorinated water rushed into my lungs as I inhaled, desperate for oxygen.

It had been the first and last time I had ever experienced the sensation of drowning. It was the closest I had ever come to death.

I shuddered at the memory. I didn't want to think about it. To get my mind off water in general I picked up my sketch book, a charcoal pencil, and began to draw. I only stopped when I heard a knock at my door. Setting down my art supplies I flexed my hand. While I had been fixated on my drawing I hadn't notice the sun setting. My rooms purple walls now looked dark, nearly black, in the small amount of light.

"Come in," I called to whoever silently waited outside. The door opened, the light flipped on, and in stepped my little brother Connor. He wasn't exactly little at the age of fourteen, but he was still younger than my seventeen. "Hey, what do you need?"

"Mom wants to know if you want dinner."

'"What did she make?" I asked curiously

Connor shrugged, "I don't know, some weird noodle things that look like they're going to crawl off the plate."