I Am Cameron

Something In the Water

"Look at that one," Tom bounds from one glass to the next, staring at the exotic fish as they swam overhead. Ellie follows after him shortly, with just as much excitement. I smile at them as they run around the atrium of the aquarium, happy to see them out of the house for once. Aside from school, they never really get out because of Tom's condition. Trinity was here too, silently watching a school of emperor tetra swim carelessly by.

Instead of having her hair in a ponytail puff, it was down by her side, perfectly coiled and fluffed. It made me notice that instead of wearing a regular long-sleeved T-shirt, she wore a white tank top with a green unbuttoned plaid shirt and her normal blue jeans. Right now her plaid shirt was wrapped around her waist, neatly tied in front of her belt buckle. I know she's not exactly comfortable with what she's wearing, but it makes me happy to see that she's trying new things.

Oliver got a job after the new year so he couldn't join us, and Mrs. Anastasia ran off somewhere. I was sitting on the edge of the koi fish exhibit, watching them slowly but surely make their way around the oval tank. I had already sketched two of them with their unique scale designs and there was one that seemed to be hiding from me at the moment. It's fine with me. I'm patient.

"Hey."

My train of thought shifts as I turn to the voice that spoke. A girl about my age was standing in front of me. She pushed a few strands of her long brown hair behind her ear before looking back at me.

"I'm Hannah," she says.

There's a slight pause before I realize that she wasn't going to say anything else.

"Uh... Hi?"

"What's your name," she asks, her oval face cheerful and too bubbly for such a small inkling of a conversation.

"Um, why," I ask. The girl grins and shuffles a bit closer before sitting next to me.

"Oh that's really good," she exclaims, looking over my shoulder at my sketch. "Are you an artist?"

"Well, not really. I just sketch every now and then. Since I'm here with--"

"Your girlfriend," she asks, dejected. Why is that the first thing she assumes and why does she seem unhappy even though she's the one who said it? I'm so confused and it shows.

"She's not my girlfriend," I say. At this, the girl perks up. "But she is important."

Hannah frowns and I get the feeling that I should stop talking.

"Are you looking for a girlfriend," she asks. I stare at her blankly, not knowing what to say. I scratch my head and stare at my sketch. Do I have to answer this?

"Cameron?"

I look up and notice trinity standing in front of me, looking oddly uncomfortable.

"We're moving to the next exhibit," she says softly. I smile in relief. I stand up, only glancing at Hannah slightly as I walked away with Trinity at my side. Once we're far away enough, I sigh in relief.

"I thought that would never end," I admit. Trinity smiles as we continue walking through the glass archway. "So which exhibit are we heading to?"

"Um, we're not. Not that I know of at least," she states.

"Then--"

"You seemed uncomfortable with Hannah hovering over you so I kinda lied to help out. It was a 'me help you' moment which is a nice change of pace for once, I guess," she confesses. I stare at her and she stares right back before Breaking eye contact. "It's going to be awkward seeing her at school tomorrow though since we don't really get along."

"You go to the same school?"

"Uhm... Yeah. Yeah, Hannah is a senior and so am I. We're both in the same statistics class and student government, but we never talk exclusively. So technically I know of her and not exactly her in general. She's actively popular, kind of, so pretty much everyone knows her. I'm not sure if she knows me though, but if she did that would be kind of surprising. I mean, she seems nice and all, but I'm not sure if she would really talk to me unless she had to and I'm rambling. I'll stop now," she finishes, allowing me to catch up and fully register what she had been saying. Even though I understood what she was saying, I still didn't know how to respond.

"Well, why don't we just look around anyway," I suggest. "Aside from a trip in first grade, this is my first time really being at an aquarium".

Trinity gazed at me with surprise before returning to her shy, almost closed state.

"Okay".

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Thirty minutes later, after ample wandering around, we catch sight of Gran and the twins. Gran was sitting on a little bench watching Tom dip his hands in the fish pond and giggle as the fish swam away. He went around the little pond poking his fingers at the fish, thoroughly entertained.

Trinity and I walk over to Gran, Trinity sitting down next to her and leaning her head on Gran's shoulder. I look away immediately, not wanting to feel the emotions associated with my thoughts at the moment. All I can say is that they looked like a real family, their race a minute factor. Within the next three minutes, Gran had everyone congregate in the cafeteria for lunch. After telling everyone to go wash their hands, she turns to me. Once we were the only two left, she began to speak.

"I'm sure you've heard of this before, but a woman's intuition is rarely wrong," she says. When I stare at her blankly, she smiles and continues speaking.

"What's wrong Cameron"?

I stare at her puzzled. How could she have possibly known anything was off about me? I made sure I didn't act too out of the ordinary today. After talking with Trinity a few days ago, I made sure that I wouldn't worry anyone else with my problems.

Why should I?

Gran stared at me earnestly, awaiting my response. I hesitate long enough for Ellie to return. Gran sighs before turning to the twelve-year-old girl. Once everyone was back, Gran ordered us some food. The first one to finish their plate was Thomas. I'm guessing he was hungry after all of that running around in the aquarium. He looked full and tired. He was a bit pale, but that was kind of normal for him.

Once we had paid for our meal, we headed back to the aquarium.

"Tom! Let's look at the jellyfish," Ellie urged her brother. Tom smiled, not as brightly as before, before nodding. While the twins escaped, Trinity walked ahead of me, once again entranced by the aquaculture around her.

A wheezing cough escapes the person next to me. I turn to see Gran breathing deeply and leaning on the cold glass wall.

"Are you ok--"

Before I could get the rest of the sentence out, a scream breaks out, echoing down the corridors and bouncing off the walls.

Everyone's head shifts towards the source but I know this voice. Too well. My heart speeds up as I race to Elizabeth. It took absolutely no time to find her. As usual, she was with Tom. She was fine.

Tom...

He wasn't breathing.