The Secret of the Water

Chapter 8: Facing My Fears

May 28th, 11:14am.

Dear Diary,

Last night mom told me everything. She told me about the house boat we used to live in (yes, a house boat), about my Aunt Laura, and what happened here when I was three. I now know why I am afraid of the water. Maybe I can somehow overcome my fear of the water, since mom has faced coming back to Seattle. Well, I may not be able to overcome it, but can at least face my fears.

Chloe

That afternoon, me, Leah, our moms and Lynn met George and Liam at the new fishing spot that Liam was talking about.

It had a bigger dock, and the lake was huge. There were people boating, people fishing, and some people even swimming. And there was a couple of people that were water skiing behind a speed boat. That would be fun, I thought. Until I fall in the water!

I looked across the lake and couldn't help noticing a gigantic house. It was HUGE! From the distance I could see that there were many guards around the house, all wearing the stereotypical guard outfit- a black suit and black sunglasses. They stood there like statues as the hot sun beat down on them.

"Hey, you know who's house that is?" said a voice from behind me. It was Liam. I smiled up at him and moved my long hair out of my face, carefully tucking it behind my right ear.

"No, who's house is it?" I asked.

"That's Bill Gate's house."

"Woah, really?" I looked back at the house. No surprise that he'd have such an amazing house, but I never thought that this trip would include being across the lake from one of the richest men in the world!

"Thats amazing!" I said. "His house is so big!"

We moved to the very end of the dock and started getting out the fishing gear, and our moms said they were going on a walk along the side if the lake. I saw my mom, Monica and Lynn all laughing together as they started their walk. It was good to see my mom happy again, and it looked like my mom and Monica really hit it off with Lynn, which is a good sign.

I turned towards Liam as he was putting more fishing thread into his pole. "Hey, Liam?" I said.

"Yep?"

"If you don't mind me asking, where are your parents? I mean why didn't you invite them here with us today? You know, since all of our moms are meeting each other."

"They wanted to come, but they work a lot. I have seven siblings and it's hard for them to support all of us without each of them working extra hours. It can get crazy at my house, so I usually get out when I can."

"Wow, you have seven siblings?"

"Yep, seven. I'm the second oldest."

"Wow. And I thought two siblings was a lot!"

We both laughed and Liam flashed the cutest smile at me.

Then Liam got up and seemed to be searching for something.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I seem to have left the bait in the car."

"You mean the gooey, gross worms?"

Liam laughed. "Yes, the gooey, gross worms."

He got up and walked to his truck. I looked around and saw George and Leah on the opposite end of the dock, near the shore of the lake. Since me and Liam were at the end, we had more room to ourselves. No one was near us or even close to the end of the dock- except for a little boy about the age of three, who was sitting on the edge, dangling his feet off above the water. He was looking down at the water and said "fishy!" about every two minutes. He was adorable! But his parents were no where to be seen. I looked down the dock to see if there were any adults around that might be his parents, but there was no one close to this end of the dock. Before I could look back at the boy, I heard a loud splash. I looked back to where the boy was sitting but he was gone. He must have fell into the water!

I panicked and ran to the edge of the dock where he was. I saw him struggling there in the water, and I tried to reach him but he was too far out. I stared down at the murky water and didn't think twice before I jumped in and grabbed the little boy. "You're okay, you're okay," I reassured him. He was crying, which is a good sign of breathing. I pulled him up onto the dock, then pulled myself back up, too. He stood up and gave me a hug.

"Fishy!" he said, still sobbing.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

He paused for a minute, then said "yeah." He stopped crying but was sniffling.

"My name is Chloe. Where is your mommy and daddy? Lets go find them, okay?"

"Okay."

I took his hand and walked down the dock, both if us drenched in water.

Suddenly a young woman came running up to us and picked up the little boy in her arms.

"There you are, James! What kind of trouble have you gotten into?"

"Fishy!" he said.

"Don't run off like that ever again! You scared me to death, sweetie." The women kissed him on the forehead and turned to me.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, your son fell in the water and I kinda just jumped in and grabbed him. I thought he might drown!"

"Thank god you were there to help him! How can I ever thank you?"

"Don't worry about it," I said. She reached out and gave me a hug.

"Thank you. Really." She had tears in her eyes as she spoke.

A few minutes later, after the woman and boy left, Liam came back to the dock. As he neared closer to me, I could see his eyes widen.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well a little boy was sitting all by himself at the end of the dock and he fell in the water, so I jumped in and helped him."

"You mean you faced your fears of the water and saved a little boy's life?" he asked. "You're amazing!"

What happened next was like slow motion. He stepped closer to me and gently grabbed the back of head and pulled it closer to his. He tilted his head to the left and pressed his warm lips onto mine, and I closed my eyes, enjoying all five seconds of it.

"Oooo," said a voice from behind us. It was Leah, and George was standing right beside her. "Looks like you two are having fun." she said. "And what happened to you, Chloe? Did you go swimming?"

"Something like that," I replied, still holding onto Liam's arms.

"Well maybe you should've put on your swim suit first."

I giggled.

"Well me and George are gonna grab some ice cream from the ice cream stand over there, wanna join us?" Leah asked.

I smiled at Liam. "I hope you like ice cream!"