Lost Souls

Part 3

At the end of the day, Skye walked into the large gym and headed straight for the door leading to the changing rooms. Five minutes later she stepped through a glass door and surveyed the Olympic sized swimming pool. One of the main reasons for choosing this school. 

There weren't many people using it at the moment. She headed for the diving board, bounced up and down a few times before jack-knifing neatly into the deep end. As she hit the water it was as if all her worries disappeared. She swam to the bottom and looked up into the beautiful blue void. It wasn't as good a view as in the ocean but it would have to do. The try outs were tomorrow, she had to start practicing. She stood on the swimming pool floor and pushed up, letting her body float up, kicking lazily to give her some momentum. Oblivious to her surroundings she started swimming to the other end and then back again. It was the same routine she used every time. After ten laps she was ready to practice her diving.

It was getting dark by the time she left the gym. She jogged to the bus stop, catching the bus just as it was about to close its doors. Sliding into a seat she pulled out her text book and started reading. If she wanted that scholarship she had to keep her grades up. That's what they had agreed and she was going to everything to keep to the agreement. She wasn't the smartest in the class but she was persistent. When she finally got off at her stop, most of her homework was done.

The streetlights were bright as she crossed the road. She hiked her bag higher and smiled when she saw the familiar figure ahead of her.

'Hey!'

The figure turned and waited until she caught up.

'How was the first day?' the petite blonde asked as they started walking side by side.

Skye shrugged. 'You know, typical first day.'

'Typical? And you?' her friend laughed and shook her head, 'no such thing.'

Skye pursed her lips. 'OK fine, I had barely got into the gates and my bag fell off my shoulder, this tall scary girl helped me, I got slammed by a door and humiliated in front of the whole class by a crazy guy.' She took a breath and listened sheepishly to Abby's laughter as it rang out in the silence.

'See,' she crowed delightedly, 'never typical!'

Skye had to admit, her life rarely followed a normal path. Even meeting Abby hadn't exactly been normal.

They had both been on a school trip to Hawaai. Although they went to different schools, the head teachers had thought it best to pool their resources and combine the two groups. Neither had really paid attention to each other even when they had been put into the same group for a scuba diving trip. Skye still remembered it like it was yesterday. The sea had been slightly choppy as they had headed out on the boat.

'Right, put on your masks,' the instructor had said as he walked up and down the line of students.

Sitting near the bow, Skye had adjusted her mask, and checked her regulator like they had been taught. She loved the sea. She laughed as the spray hit her. She glanced behind her to see another girl looking nervous as she pulled the zip of her wet suit. Why come on this trip if you're scared? Skye wondered. But just then the instructor started going over the safety rules and she forgot about the girl.

'Drop in backwards,' the instructor said.

Skye obediently sat at the edge of the boat and let herself roll over the edge and into the waves. The world changed instantly. She was surrounded by clear water that seemed much calmer than the choppy surface above her. Beside her several more divers sent up bubbles as they fell in. The instructor was the last one to enter. He signalled to the students to follow him and led them slowly towards the reef.

Skye stayed near the back of the group, keeping the fins of the diver in front of her in view, but enjoying the solitude of not being surrounded by other bodies. As she kicked her legs she noticed a diver veer to the side of the group. One of the students, she thought, wanting to see a shoal of fish or something. She went back to her daydreaming. By now the group had reached the reef where shoals of fish swept past their masks, unafraid. Skye flipped over onto her back to watch a silver shoal swim above her, darting rapidly between each other. She righted herself and looked round. Several of the group had split up and were swimming amongst the rocks. A stream of bubbles to her left caught her attention. They were coming from an outcrop of rocks that seemed barren of coral. Frowning, she swam towards them, kicking strongly against the current. She was hoping for a ship wreck.

She caught hold ofthe edge of the outcrop and peered over the edge. The bubbles were rising more slowly now. Odd. She pushed herself off the rock. She wasnow surrounded by the rocks. Shemanoeuvred herself carefully around them to stop her equipment snagging onthem. The bubbles were coming from acrevice between two of the rocks. Sheswam over it and peered into the dark depths, her breath catching as sherealised what she was seeing.

Please vote if you are enjoying this story so far and do let me know what you think by commenting below, would love to hear from you!! Story updated every Saturday!