(DISCONTINUED) The Realm Chapter || Snufkin X Reader

Chapter One || Rip Tide

I dread the water so much.

Just staring at it makes me scared, that I could get lost in the waves, to never return and to never be seen again. I don't want to meet that fate, not like Allison did.

Not now, not ever... as long as I stay dry.

"Come on, (Y/N)!" My brother Richie calls. "The water's great!" Richie and our other brothers splash merrily in the shallow waters, the tides lapping at their legs.

"I'll pass."

"Get in here!" My brother Ellsworth shouts. "Scaredy-cat!" Lee hollers, laughing like a maniac.

"I'm not scared..." I mutter.

I'm lying to myself and to my brothers. I am scared. I'm scared of ending up like our dear sister, who was lost to a rip tide and was never seen since.

It's been two years since that day...

That day when everything was good and jolly, and then the current took Allison away, out and under. Her body was never found. No trace of her was ever found. She just... disappeared.

Richie knows my sorrow and my pain, but he's only trying to help me face my fears. He knows I won't end up like Allison. Right?

I open up a Moomins comic book that I brought with me, letting my world disappear and allowing me to imagine myself in this wonderful world. The world of Moomin Valley, and the young Moomin as he and his friends and family go on adventures in their happy Finnish paradise. I wish I could be there. I wish I could meet them.

I turn to the next page to see probably my favorite character in this entire franchise: Snufkin. His wise words and honest wit speak to me; plus, he's a cute bean in the Tanoshii Muumin Ikka adaptation, which is a huge bonus. 

Damn, I wish I could meet him.

My youngest brother Elias runs to me, tugging at my finger. "Y/N," he begs in his little three-year-old voice. "Come play in the water." 

I sigh in defeat, rising from the towel I lay on and closing the comic. "Alright, I'll be in the water lickety-split." This would be my first time actually going into the ocean water since Allison's disappearance. I was so nervous, but hey. Richie might be right. Maybe the water is great.

I strip my shorts and my (favorite band) tee shirt, leaving me in my swim suit. 

Here goes nothing.

I charge into the shallows, jumping into the water in a fantastic splash.

I hear my brothers cheer as I realize what I've actually done. I'm waist deep in water. Water. 

I re-learn to swim and fail at floating for the most part. I splash my brothers and get splashed in sweet revenge. I'm having fun. Richie was right after all.

I feel free. 

Richie tugs at my arm. "(Y/N), if you can swim past that buoy, I'll pay you twenty-five bucks when we get back home." I look to the buoy in question, gulping at the distance. The buoy seemed like a tiny speck in the distance, floating like a dead fish in the rhythmic ocean waters. A red flag protruded from it, God knows what the hell it means.

"Make it twenty-five hundred."

"Twenty-five hundred? No way Jose, I don't got that dough. Two hundred."

"Two hundred fifty."

Richie huffs. "Deal. Just get to that buoy and swim back."

I start to swim towards the buoy, propelling myself through the waters and waves with diligence and elegance. I seem to go through each passing wave like a needle through lace, and through the water like a dragonfly zipping straight ahead.

It takes five minutes to get to the buoy. Now, the waves were getting stronger, and lifeguards were calling things out on shore.

I couldn't tell what, but it couldn't be good.

I swim to shore.

But alas... a massive current pulls me in and away from the shore.

Oh shit. Oh shit. OH SHIT!

I just got caught in a rip current.

I struggle against the waves, failing and failing.

I find myself sinking too.

I can't float.

I can't breathe.

This is it.

Sorry, Richie.

Bring that two hundred fifty to my funeral.

I let my eyes close as I let the current take me away. I have to accept my fate.

Now, I can see Allison again.