Upside Down

The little girl was holding on to the jagged remains of a door. She was doing the best she could to stay above water but the current was too strong for her small body. I close my eyes for a second.

What would Miss Vi do?

I jump out of the lifeboat and splash painfully into the debris filled water. The Red Cross volunteer in the boat yells after me but I don't pay attention. As I'm swimming over to the girl, I feel a piece of glass slice through my waterlogged hoodie and scrape across my arm. I keep swimming.

When I'm close enough to the girl, I yell over the sound of my water, "Jump into my arms! I'll catch you!"

"I don't want to let go!" the girl's high-pitched voice calls back.

"Look, do you want to die?!"

I feel a small weight plop into the water next to me. I quickly pick her up before she can sink or float away. Her pudgy arms wrap around my neck and her legs dig into my sides as I swim back to where I left the boat. It was nowhere to be found. I heave a big sigh.

"What's your name?" I ask the girl on my back.

I feel her mouth move on my neck, "Bree Winters. "

"Okay, Bree, we're going to play 'I Spy'. Look for a house-or anything, really, that goes higher than my head. Whoever finds one first, wins a cookie,"

She gasps, "I'm so winning that cookie."

*Extended Description Inside*