When The Water Watches You

[Harmonious_Echos]

In my everyday life, I'm a fairly everyday girl. I live at home with my family, go to school, and since I'm 'old enough now' I have a job. My job: I'm a lifeguard for the local indoor pool. It's not the greatest pay, but guys like a girl with authority--especially an immodest, attractive blonde one, in a cute red tankini & little black shorts.

That would be me, except for the immodest part.

I usually work the early morning shift, so I'm the one who nobody sees, rubbing her eyes & trying to look awake as she unlocks the heavy pool-room doors in the dark at 5:30 AM.

But on the last morning I came to the pool, something was different.

I wasn't different; I'd had my cup of coffee & brushed my hair, and was fumbling the doors open in the dim red light of the exit sign. The pool water lay straight in front of me, close, only a few feet ahead. It was smooth as glass, reflecting the sign & the emergency lights clearly on its surface.

And then it happened; as I watched, a long line appeared in the surface; the water bulged slightly, then folded smoothly downward, as if it were a giant fold of skin, turning, repositioning itself. The line stretched the length of the pool, shifted, swirled, drew the reflected light into the shape of a single living eye.

Then it rippled apart, became a line again, and rapidly faded away.

Can you say, instant hyperventillation?!

My mind, jolted fully awake by the shock, raced to find an explaination; but I knew there weren't any jets that could make a line in the water like that. Not even a broken drain cover could make the water use the light to make an eye.

A breath of cool air caught the back of my neck. My whole SKIN stood on end, as I stood in the doorway, keys in hand, frozen. Only the soft ticking of the clock on the wall broke the silence.

I tried desperately to convince myself that I hadn't seen what I'd just seen, but failed; the light from the door behind me seemed to fade into the air, as if the darkness were thickening around me.

It couldn't be real, I thought. I

t's not real. There's nothing in the water.

The water isn't really watching me.

I could pretend that the water was fine, it was all just a figment of my over-tired mind. Hey, maybe it was.

I'm only 17, and it was 5:30 in the morning. Blame it on the teenage hormones.

I had nearly convinced myself that it was just a dream, when, shaking my head, I took a step towards the office. The pool area office is located inconveniently opposite the entrance door, around the other side of the pool. I stepped forward, intending to go around the end of the pool to the office, but my feet and legs suddenly had a mind of their own. They carried me straight forward, directly towards that dark water.

My eyes snapped open wide again and I stumbled, leaned back, dug my heels in, and swayed to a stop a milisecond from tumbling in.

I felt a giant hand in the darkness behind me, pressed on my back, trying to shove me in.

Instinctively I knew what I feared; the water wanted me. And that single hideous look had told me all I needed to know; it wansn't some mischevious friendly thing. It wanted me, because I was its prey.

"Oh, God, help me!" I whispered aloud.

I closed my eyes for minute and thought of everything I knew about evil. My fear bubbled violently in my mind, making it hard to think clearly.

It's dark, I thought.

Darkness.

What is the opposite of darkness.

The lights! If I could just turn them on, it would be gone; it would have to go, whatever it was, because it can't exist in the light.

 

My sandals squeaked as I shoved my feet backwards from the water's edge, lifting my feet up & stepping down & back, hard into whatever was pushing me. I turned, and dragged my eyes away from the water, and found that when I didn't look, the pull lessened; looking at the floor, the wall, the lights above the door, whatever I could, I made my way around the pool deck to the office door.

I threw open the door, flew inside and jumped at the light switch panel like a wild thing, flipping on every switch, even the underwater lights. Then I just stood there for a few minutes, leaning against the wall, shivering. Many thankful prayers were whispered.

After calming down, I put on my whistle & rescue gear, and stepped cautiously outside the office to look around. The water of the pool shone blue & innocent, sparkling like some kind of liquid aquamarine jewel; nothing unusual there.

I sat down in my lifeguard chair with a sigh of relief; it was over. Whatever it had been, it was gone now.

Except, as I looked across the glittering blue ripples, a tiny echo came floating to the surface of my mind...

 

"I'm still watching you".

Edited October 22, 2012 by Harmony

[Snypiuer]

Great . . . juuUUSSsttt GREAT! First frikin' Jaws spoiled the ocean for me, NOW I'm not going to be able to swim in a pool at night! AND baths! I LIKE a nice relaxing hot bath at night with the lights all low . . . THANKS! Thanks a LOT!

 

You know, sometimes, just SOMETIMES, I wish some of you WEREN'T so good in your writing!

 

And yet, I can't wait for more!

[eyeoneblack]

Talent!

 

I would have thought it was a dream. Dreaming that we are awake. Awaking that we are dream. Awake, a dream, is there really any difference?

 

(But you'll never know in the hands of a gifted writer).

Edited October 18, 2012 by eyeoneblack

[James Crow]

I am with Snypiuer on this one. No more baths for me....ever!

But that just goes to show how good a job you did.

[Harmonious_Echos]

Hey, you think that's bad, maybe I should write out the story of the pack of Demon Dogs that visited me when I was little...you'll never want to sleep again...or the time Muse thought it would be funny to put me in a packing-case full of candy & then drop it, and me, directly into the middle of an American Revolutionary battleground just AFTER the battle(yes, she time-travels too)...you'll think twice about riding a horse anywhere (especially when there are people carrying bayonets around)...

[Harmonious_Echos]

Just re-posting a note on here...anyone else want to read this feel free...