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Flash Fiction Flood

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The car had landed with a huge splash, but felt like crashing onto solid ground. It sank and took on water, cold, frigid water that shocked her out of the daze smacking her forehead on the steering wheel earned her. The driver side door was caved in, pinning her left arm and ruining her chance of escape via window. The motor was jammed and she couldn't get a crack in before the car took a nose dive into the murky depths for good.

Her gasps and splashing water filled the car and she had managed to wriggle out of her seatbelt by the time the water reached her neck.

No one saw the crash, no one would get to her in time.

She was going to drown and no one was going to know, which she supposed was just how they wanted it.

Her car lights flickered, shining into no where as fish darted by and bubbles flumed up in the wake. There was only a couple inches of air left and she craned her neck to breathe as long as she could before settling back down. She saw a Mythbuster's episode once that proved that once the car had the same amount of outward pressure as it did inward, the door should open easily. She just had to wait, keep calm.

Her hair floated above her and she kept pushing on the door.

Something flickered through her headlights, something big. The river couldn't have any big fish, nothing bigger than a pike, but it had been significantly larger than that. Gritting her teeth, she twisted her trapped arm to get her leg around, pushing. Her ears began to pop from the pressure.

Maybe it had been hasty of her to chase after the suspects like that, maybe she should have waited for back up or not startle them so bad. She should have done a lot of things differently and she was furious her driving, of all things, got her stuck at the bottom of the Hudson while NYPD's Most Wanted raced freely away.

Just as her lungs started to twinge, a face popped up in the windshield.

A good amount of air bubbled from her lips before she got a fucking grip, gesturing to the door. The boy nodded and before she could blink, he was refracted in her shattered window. He was wearing basketball shorts and a hoodie, which was strange enough, and a trail of bubbles streamed from his nose as he fumbled with the handle. His hair wavered in a silky smooth motion as he yanked, bracing his feet on either side of the frame.

Annabeth's lungs were even tighter, screaming for air. There was intense pressure behind her eyes and she didn't care if the strange boy was impervious to the rough currents around him, she needed to get to the surface immediately.

A dull boom rippled around them and shattered glass floated haphazardly around her head. She swatted the shards away and glared at him best she could, but he was beckoning her forward. She wanted to tell him she was still stuck, that a punched in window wasn't going to help, but black spots began to clog her vision and she couldn't hold any longer-

He reached in, cupping her face in his unnervingly warm hands. He forced her to look him in the eye, earnestly waiting until she did so.

Breathe, he mouthed before pressing his lips to hers.

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Wailing sirens seeped through the walls and no one spoke, huddled together in the dark storage room. The building breathed in and out around them, the groan of glass yawning under the door, and she shivered as she peeled her back from the wall. Flip flops squeaked on the tile as her classmates shifted and water splashed as they moved in puddles around them, the smell of sunscreen and salt thick.