That Summer

Chapter 2

The last thing I saw was his stupid smiling face as I sunk deep into the water. But the creek was shallow, I always could see the bottom of it from the trail. It felt like I was sinking to the bottom of the ocean where everything was black. I was so shocked by his actions that I couldn't move on my own. I didn't know if I should have felt betrayed or foolish. I couldn't tell if I was tricked and was about to meet my end. But, for some reason, this feeling felt familiar like deja vu. Even though I continued to sink, I felt like I was floating just like that time in my room. I kinda enjoyed this feeling. I reached out my hand to touch a bubble and suddenly my hand felt warm. Maybe I was dying.

"You are not dying. Why is that one of the first things you assume? Are you stupid? Do you not know how to swim?" A voice yelled at me while trying to catch its breath.

My eyes adjusted to the sunlight and I realized that I was on the surface again. I looked to my left and he was holding me up. Like me, he was completely drenched with water but I still couldn't see his eyes. I looked underneath me and the creek was shallow. I put my hand in the water and I could touch the bottom. The water calmly moved through his legs and my body. Maybe I panicked and hit my head on something and what I saw was a delusion. But I touched my head and there was no pain or blood. I looked at him again and touched his face trying to understand what just happened.

"So you must be the angel of death." His cheeks were cold and dripping beads of water.

"Is your brain waterlogged? I just said that you're not dead." He dropped me in the creek and the pain brought me back to reality.

"Wait a second. You pushed me into the water." I stood up and kicked him in the back of his leg and he fell into the creek.

"Ow, that hurt." He slowly stood up and looked at me.

'Were you trying to kill me? Are you a serial killer? How many did you kill here before me? I need to get the hell outta here." I tried to climb back up to the trail.

"If anything, I saved you. You should feel grateful that I was able to save you. I usually don't interfere with other people's lives." He followed behind me.

"Maybe your brain is waterlogged because you pushed into the water, remember?" The dirt quickly turned to mud as I tried to climb up the slope.

"You foolish girl. You didn't even swim. You were drowning and you didn't even ask for help. Do you accept dying that easily?" Even though he was soaked more than me, he was able to reach the top of the trail before me and pulled me back up.

"Well, I didn't ask to get pushed into the water." I couldn't let that go.

"Let it go." He dusted the mud off of my legs.

"I'm mad right now. I'm going home. We'll get sick if we stay in these clothes." My clothes felt two times heavier.

"For someone who says they're mad, you're actually very forgiving." He laughed as he followed behind me.

"Shut up. I'm freezing." It felt so much colder than before even with wet clothes.

I was walking towards the exit of the trail and noticed something wasn't right. I looked around the trail and everything looked different. There was no trash and the weeds were gone. The tree branches were shorter and there was a row of flowers that were just about to bloom. The dirt road became a cement road instead that blended in perfectly with the trees. There was noise in the distance. I looked behind me and saw someone on their bike ringing their bell to alert a lady and her dog that he was behind them. But I looked back at the creek and it still looked the same as before. A cool breeze blew as I was looking down and I started to shiver. Something was definitely wrong.