Unforgettable (OLD COPY DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 6

When I was little, I would sometimes be afraid of going swimming when my parents would take myself and my siblings to the public pool near our house. My main fear was drowning, but now, all I want to do is swim because the silence gives me time to feel nothing at all.

I kick off the wall and surface briefly, whistling and shouting filling the air as I duck back under the waves. The only sound I hear is the other swimmers splashing, the noise muffled to the point that it sounds like distant cannon booms. I can faintly see my competitors swimming from my peripheral vision, only one of them managing to stay ahead of me as I glide through the water after them.

One more lap, I tell myself.

The wall is fast approaching as I dive down and kick off, my body rocketing off as I point my hands together in front of me to slice through the water like a knife-blade. I go to bring my head up, but can't seem to as the water almost appears to keep me trapped underneath.

You can make it, I urge, though my heart is starting to beat harder in my chest, each beat threatening to make my head explode.

I try to surface again, but find that I can't as my head feels like I'm bumping against glass. Movement flickers in the corner of my eye and I look to the side just long enough to see that another swimmer is catching up to me.

Focus, I bite down on my lip as I let a few precious air bubbles slip past my lips.

I lunge for the wall and kick off as I keep swimming, my lungs cramping and aching with each stroke as I claw my way through the water. Even though I'm able to bring my arms up, I just can't seem to bring my head up for a breath of air.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

I try to surface again as I nearly curl in on myself from the spazming in my lungs, the urge to take a breath making my chest ache. I clamp my eyes shut against the pain as I blindly cut through the water. 

Seven, eight, nine, ten.

I kick off the wall when I reach it, my vision already blackening around the edges as my heart thuds in my chest. The other wall seems so far away as I stare through my goggles in envy at the thought of breathing.

You can do this.

ElevenTwelveThirteenFourteenFifteen.

The water finally gives under the pressure and I surface as I reach out and grab the wall. Cheers and shouts fill my ears as I gasp in a couple of breaths of air, my head feeling abruptly light as I realize that the race is over.

I look around to see that I'm the only one who's finished as one of my competitors surfaces in the next lane over. I search for the scoreboard and can't help but feel a rush of adrenaline when I see the time.

4:18.

I climb out of the pool, my arms shaking as they bear my weight before I stand and lift my goggles off my face. Mrs. Litt jogs over to me, a grin splitting her face as she drapes a towel over my shoulders.

"You did good," she assures me over the cheering and I can't help but smile.

"Better than good," one of my fellow teammates, Clarissa says as she walks over and passes me a water bottle. "She beat her time and it's one of the best ones in Boston for the four-hundred freestyle," she glances up toward the bleachers before she looks back at me, "you've probably sealed a deal with that recruiter, congrats."

"Thanks," I murmur as I take a gulp of the cool, refreshing water while my competitors climb out of the pool behind me.

I follow Clarissa and Mrs. Litt back over to the bench where the team is camped out, several of them congratulating me as they stand, some of them giving me a hug while others exchange fist bumps.

"We're going to get first, I just know it," one of the sophomores, Paige, whispers conspiratorially as another sophomore shoves her playfully.

"You're going to jinx us, we still have three more events," the fellow sophomore scolds and Paige ducks her head.

"You can draw a sigil for that if you're nervous," she teases.

I look away then, searching the crowd for my parents. I spot them, along with Astrid, Indigo, and Tessa as Connor is sitting not too far away with a couple of his friends. They wave when I notice them and I smile back as I continue to search the crowd for the recruiter. I don't know what I'm expecting them to wear or even look like, but a hooded figure catches my eye as I freeze.

It's not Luke, it can't be Luke.

The hooded person looks up after a second like they can sense my eyes on them as I stop breathing altogether, the cheers and shouts fading as I recognize Luke's hazel eyes. There's a sudden bang as a starter gun fires and my gaze is torn away from him as I follow the noise. I can see that a few of my teammates are already in the pool, having begun the next event as I look back to the bleachers.

Luke is on his feet as he's weaving through the crowd now, his head turned away from me as he descends them and takes the back way behind the bleachers toward the locker rooms. I put my water bottle down on one of the benches and set off to follow him, Paige and Clarissa looking up in surprise as I may have unwittingly been a part of their conversation.

"Kara?" Paige calls after me, but I ignore her as I pick up the pace and duck into the space behind the bleachers.

The walkway is empty, a lone, half drunk bottle of water lying on its side as I jog past it, my wet feet slapping against the cold concrete. My breath is coming out in ragged gasps as I head for the entrance to the locker rooms and stop inside the doorway.

I look both ways, wondering which one he may have gone into as there's a sudden yelp, like someone has been surprised as it comes from the other side of the visiting locker room door. I sprint for the door and fling it open to duck inside, my heart beating uncomfortably fast in my chest as my hands start to shake.

I've rarely been in here since I use the home one here at Greenwood, though the layout is the same as blue lockers gleam dully under the fluorescent light fixtures overhead. The locker room is empty save a couple of hoodies that are laid out on the wooden benches in the center of the tiled room.

I scan the locker room before I step over toward the hall for the bathrooms and tiptoe on quiet feet. The only sound is the water dripping from my swim cap onto the floor as I ease forward to the sharp turn that will take me back to the shower stalls as I come to an abrupt stop.

I don't see the blood at first.

What I do see are the feet poking out from one of the shower stalls, the toes too pale and the nails a dark shade of purple.

I know in seconds that they are too limp, too still as they lie sprawled, like the person connected to them is lying on their side.

I know that something is wrong.

I turn and take a step backwards, my spine slamming against the cinderblock wall as I bring my hand up and clamp it over my mouth. My legs are numb and clumsy as I turn back around and take a step forward and then another so I am in front of the shower stall, my knee jerking as it shudders and buckles before I steady myself.

I recognize the face as it belongs to one of my competitors, but it's not so much the face that I focus on.

It's the pool of blood that she's lying in that finally makes all of the pieces click together as I find the strength to scream.