Saltwater

Introduction - Bonfire Beach

The car had  finally come to a stop after 15 minutes of searching for parking, and Aria was  literally screaing in delight. "THANK YOU SWEET BABY JESUS!!!" my best friend hollered at the top her lungs, jumping out of the car, her waist long brown hair flying wildly in different directions. 

I laughed nervously, I was starting to regret coming. Aria stopped and looked at me, a knowing look in her sky blue eyes, "Hey. You're gonna be fine Kir."

Though Aria's words had calmed me down significantly, I was still on edge. In my excitement for the end of highschool, I had agreed to finally come to the beach. I had hated the ocean with a passion ever since I almost drowned at the age of seven. But I gathered all my courage and nodded, grabbing my stuff and preparing myself for the next few hours next to mother nature's death trap. My best friend had noticed I was still quiet and said, "Come on Kir, you don't even have two get in the ocean remember? It's just gonna be food and drinks....and fire....but you'll be fine."

I nodded and began walking to the large bonfire surrounded by horny teens, ready to party to my hearts content.

2 hours later

I was beginning to feel a bit woozy after downing over 20 cups of punch, I had a pretty bad headache but other than that I was okay. Aria had disappeared pretty quickly after Adrian came to us. Though she was always respectful to him, she had never liked him saying he had "the look" and "a bad vibe". I loved my best friend to death but I knew she was wrong about him.

Adrian turned to me with a smile and said "Are you ready for some fun?"

Before I had a chance to ask him what he was planning he shouted "WHO WANTS TO PLAY TRUTH OR DARE?"

After everyone had settled down the game ensued, starting with small dares at first but soon it was all out crazy. People were making out everywhere, or doing things worse when Adrian turned to me, "Truth or dare Kir," he said with a twinkle in his hazel eyes.

I trusted Adrian so I confidently said "Dare."

Adrian leaned over to me, and I could feel his brown hair just barely touching my head. He slowly turned and whispered "I dare you to dive into the ocean. Right. Now."

Something in the back of my mind was telling me not to do it, but the alcohol clouded it out. I didn't say anything, I simply got up and started running towards the ocean. Adrian was surprised, and shouted "KIRA IS GOING INTO THE OCEAN EVERYONE!"

I didn't stop, I didn't care, I waded into the ocean waist deep, and then I dove head first into the ocean. The cold water washed over my body, waking me up, and filling me with energy. I stayed under the water until my lungs were screaming for air, and looked at all the people awaiting my reaction. With all the force I couldn't muster I yelled "WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE, GET IN!"

Seeing as we were all drunk everybody jumped in cheering and screaming, nobody realized what a bad idea this was. The icy cold water seeped into our bones, making us feel alive while the stars glowed above our heads. Even though everyone else was in the ocean I kept swimming out deeper, ignoring the fading laughter and voices of everyone else. But when I turned around and could barely see anyone or anything is when the panic began. I knew I had to shout for Adrian, but that's when the wave hit. I was submerged underwater twisting and turning, even choking on saltwater and saliva.

I went back up for fresh air, coughing and choking when another wave hit. I went down deeper as the water that once made me feel alive stung me. I went back up and took in a big breath of air, still spluttering from the 2 waves and dove under water to avoid another one. But with the alcohol in my system my  energy faded away, I only went up for breath once more before passing out from exhaustion.  I only remember waking up so far out and so far down that I couldn't fight as the life drained out of me. I couldn't fight for my future, or for my friends, or for my family.

Later that night Aria had noticed Kira was missing and asked everyone, but people just assumed she had gone home with Mick, who had left early.  Adrian never noticed a thing, and went home with his friends, sleeping peacefully in the back of their car. Aria stayed there as long as she could until she admitted defeat and went home, worried out of her mind.

The next morning it would be discovered that Kira in fact did not leave with Mick, nor did she make it home that night. A jogger had been on a morning run when they found her necklace and her clothes surrounded by seaweed and a few strand of her hair. They called the police and after investigating Kira Williams would be declared dead and a phone call would be made to her parents, Aria, and Adrian.

Upon finding out that the cause of death was drowning, Aria broke down sobbing and vowing never to go to the ocean again. Adrian began calling everyone, begging them to keep quiet about the dare in a desperate attempt to save himself. As for her parents, they could never look at the ocean without thinking of their dead daughter.

But the one things that had baffled them all, was that there was no body to be found. And so, a casket with only the clothes she was wearing that day, and a few strands of her hair would be buried.

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At the moment I'm still deciding if I want the rest of the book to be narrated by Kira, or if it should be 3rd person point of view. If you're reading this please comment and help me decide.

Remember, feel free to point out any spelling or grammatical errors, and send in covers.

(covers will earn you a shout out and a follow)