hurting her, god damn it!”
The lifeguard’s smile vanished, replaced by a flash of anger and then, perhaps, uncertainty. His eyes flicked to the door again.
“Well, I can’t leave my post,” he said stubbornly, but his eyes now lingered on the door, the concern more apparent.
“Please!” Gary wailed, beside himself with terror, his feet dancing up and down in frustration. Other people were watching him now, a few kids holding frozen drinks had stopped to check out the kid making a scene. “He was hitting her!”
At those words the lifeguard’s amusement disappeared completely. He looked from the locker room to Gary. His eyes brewed like the storm clouds that were filling the sky above him. He shook his finger at Gary, angry now.
“Are you shitting me? No lies now, kid,” he said. Gary shook his head, crying in relief and frustration and guilt. He had no more words, he just whimpered and pointed and prayed it wasn’t too late.
The lifeguard nodded and stood up decisively. He put the whistle hanging around his neck to his lips and blew, loudly, twice. A signal, Gary realized through the haze of his distress.
He was so relieved he didn’t notice that the lifeguard hadn’t leapt down, hadn’t run to the locker room to save his sister.
He had also not heard the lifeguard speak, so great was the distraction of his sister’s danger. He never heard the words “Sweet Jesus” come out of the lifeguard’s mouth, right before the world opened and hell broke free.
Under the water, young Tyler saw something his brain simply could not process.
There was a hole. A hole in the bottom of the pool. And now, now that he saw it, he noticed a long, jagged black cracks running from each side of the hole, like thin tentacles, racing to the far-off pool edges.
As he stared at the hole, currently no bigger than a softball, it fell inward upon itself, widening its mouth to over a foot across. Tyler could actually feel the suction of the water as it raced downward... downward to where? he thought.
With his arms and legs he pushed back from the ever-widening darkness, but not so far that he couldn’t see, and not so far that he would miss whatever was going to happen next.
Martha sat upright when she heard the whistle blow. Once. Twice. Quick, staccato bursts. She took off her sunglasses, looked toward the sound.
My god , she thought, when did it get so dark ? She looked up and saw the gray, ominous storm clouds above, resurfacing the sky. A cumulonimbus cloud city, as if seen from the bow of an approaching ship, she thought, a fragment from a story she read long ago, in a different life. She shook when she heard a low, deep rumbling coming from the clouds... thunder?
She rose to her feet, suddenly anxious, suddenly wary. She searched and spotted the young lifeguard who had blown his whistle. She waited to see if he was going to dive into the pool, save someone.
Gary , she thought with a stabbing panic. She took two steps but then saw Gary standing under a different lifeguard stand — a small frail boy looking up at the blond lifeguard who wasn’t looking back at him. Gary was crying, she saw that. Had he fallen? No, he was scared. Terrified. A mother knows.
Abby. She tensed again. What the hell was going on? The lifeguard was staring at the pool, his eyes wide in shock. She looked at the water, expecting to see a floating body, a cloud of blood, something horrible, something to give her nightmares.
“Gary,” she said out loud to no one. “Abby,” she said as weakly, as inconsequentially.
She saw that a few of the children were screaming, splashing away from... something. Something in the middle of the pool, she couldn’t see. Other parents were yelling now, waving for their kids. Another lifeguard, this one much closer to her, blew her whistle and yelled something, the panic obvious.
Martha watched with wonder, stupefied, senseless. The children in the water were flowing in a circle,
The lifeguard’s smile vanished, replaced by a flash of anger and then, perhaps, uncertainty. His eyes flicked to the door again.
“Well, I can’t leave my post,” he said stubbornly, but his eyes now lingered on the door, the concern more apparent.
“Please!” Gary wailed, beside himself with terror, his feet dancing up and down in frustration. Other people were watching him now, a few kids holding frozen drinks had stopped to check out the kid making a scene. “He was hitting her!”
At those words the lifeguard’s amusement disappeared completely. He looked from the locker room to Gary. His eyes brewed like the storm clouds that were filling the sky above him. He shook his finger at Gary, angry now.
“Are you shitting me? No lies now, kid,” he said. Gary shook his head, crying in relief and frustration and guilt. He had no more words, he just whimpered and pointed and prayed it wasn’t too late.
The lifeguard nodded and stood up decisively. He put the whistle hanging around his neck to his lips and blew, loudly, twice. A signal, Gary realized through the haze of his distress.
He was so relieved he didn’t notice that the lifeguard hadn’t leapt down, hadn’t run to the locker room to save his sister.
He had also not heard the lifeguard speak, so great was the distraction of his sister’s danger. He never heard the words “Sweet Jesus” come out of the lifeguard’s mouth, right before the world opened and hell broke free.
Under the water, young Tyler saw something his brain simply could not process.
There was a hole. A hole in the bottom of the pool. And now, now that he saw it, he noticed a long, jagged black cracks running from each side of the hole, like thin tentacles, racing to the far-off pool edges.
As he stared at the hole, currently no bigger than a softball, it fell inward upon itself, widening its mouth to over a foot across. Tyler could actually feel the suction of the water as it raced downward... downward to where? he thought.
With his arms and legs he pushed back from the ever-widening darkness, but not so far that he couldn’t see, and not so far that he would miss whatever was going to happen next.
Martha sat upright when she heard the whistle blow. Once. Twice. Quick, staccato bursts. She took off her sunglasses, looked toward the sound.
My god , she thought, when did it get so dark ? She looked up and saw the gray, ominous storm clouds above, resurfacing the sky. A cumulonimbus cloud city, as if seen from the bow of an approaching ship, she thought, a fragment from a story she read long ago, in a different life. She shook when she heard a low, deep rumbling coming from the clouds... thunder?
She rose to her feet, suddenly anxious, suddenly wary. She searched and spotted the young lifeguard who had blown his whistle. She waited to see if he was going to dive into the pool, save someone.
Gary , she thought with a stabbing panic. She took two steps but then saw Gary standing under a different lifeguard stand — a small frail boy looking up at the blond lifeguard who wasn’t looking back at him. Gary was crying, she saw that. Had he fallen? No, he was scared. Terrified. A mother knows.
Abby. She tensed again. What the hell was going on? The lifeguard was staring at the pool, his eyes wide in shock. She looked at the water, expecting to see a floating body, a cloud of blood, something horrible, something to give her nightmares.
“Gary,” she said out loud to no one. “Abby,” she said as weakly, as inconsequentially.
She saw that a few of the children were screaming, splashing away from... something. Something in the middle of the pool, she couldn’t see. Other parents were yelling now, waving for their kids. Another lifeguard, this one much closer to her, blew her whistle and yelled something, the panic obvious.
Martha watched with wonder, stupefied, senseless. The children in the water were flowing in a circle,
Similar Books
Within the Flames
Marjorie M. Liu
Prey of Desire
J. C. Gatlin
Diary of a Dork - Articles of Sarcasm and Irreverence
Michael Cargill
What Would Kinky Do?: How to Unscrew a Screwed-Up World
Kinky Friedman
The Delta Chain
Iain Edward Henn
RecruitZ (Afterworld Series)
Karice Bolton
What We Are
Peter Nathaniel Malae
Werewolf versus Dragon
David Sinden
Sweet Tea at Sunrise
Sherryl Woods