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Dredigan

Dredigan

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HYDROPHOBIA
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Sarah's head lay upon the passenger side window of her parent's SUV. Her eyes were fixed intently on the dark clouds gathering above the car. Her mother was behind the wheel tuning the radio, trying to find her favorite oldies station but to no avail.

"Static. I forgot that the stations are different up here." She said in an annoyed voice. Sarah made no response, she simply stared hatefully at the gathering puffs of grey and black.

When the first raindrops began to smack the outside of her window she pulled her head away as fast as she could. Not until she was absolutely sure the rain couldn't get inside did she put her head back in place. Her mother looked at her awkwardly as if she was unsure what to say.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked politely.

"I doubt it." Sarah said back. Her mother sighed as she looked forward at the green road sign reading: Exit forty seven. She turned the wheel to the right and drove off the highway down into the exit. When they finally reached their hotel her mother found the closest parking spot she could to the front door. The sprinkling rain had turned to a drenching downpour.

Her mother opened the driver side door and stepped out into the rain, her red umbrella bloomed open to keep the water off her head.

"You coming?" her mother asked, looking inside at her daughter. Sarah took a few deep breaths and opened the door, shying away from the rain water. She opened her umbrella before she got out and held it high in the air to keep safe. Sarah reluctantly slid one leg out of the car and onto the paved parking lot, so far so good. Then came the second leg. When it touched the ground she was fine, only after did she realize what she had done.

12-Aug-2012 19:07:12 - Last edited on 12-Aug-2012 19:12:45 by Dredigan

Dredigan

Dredigan

Posts: 1,549 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
She felt the cold fangs of the water seeping into the sides of her shoes to touch the soles of her feet. She threw down her umbrella and kicked off her shoe, fleeing back into the safety of the car. She reached forward and slammed the door shut, tears were streaming down her face as she looked at her mother and shook her head slowly.

Her mother sat back down in the car and turned it on, then started tuning the radio again. They sat in the car for a good hour before the rain came to a halt and they hurried to the hotel lobby before it started back up.

That night as she lay in her bed she remembered the water. She felt tears welling up again. Not due to fear of the water, but hatred and impatience in herself. She'd been going to classes with other hydrophobic people to help her get over her fear but it wasn't something very easily done. Whenever she came in contact with water her brain shut down and it felt like someone was hitting her heart with a hammer, be it in the rain, a pool, or even a tub which made showering difficult for her.

She had been trying to do subtle things to get over her fear, like holding a glass of water for a minute or turning the sink on. Today she would be going to the beach to watch fireworks. She figured that looking at the water for an extended period of time may help her a bit and make small amounts of water not seem so bad.

The day itself was uneventful until it came time to leave the hotel and head to the beach. It took all the courage she had just to get in the car, knowing where she was going. It took about fifteen minutes for the blue abyss of lake Eerie to come into view, the brown sand was strewn with families and picnic tables. And even more people were in the water, the prospect made her sick at her stomach.

12-Aug-2012 19:12:58 - Last edited on 13-Aug-2012 19:57:31 by Dredigan

Dredigan

Dredigan

Posts: 1,549 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Her mother parked on the side of the street between a Cadillac and a ford focus, then got out of the car. Sarah did the same and walked around next to her.

"Looks like their about to start, we'd better hurry." Her mother said, pointing at two men on a speed boat going on to the dock where the fireworks would be fired from.

"Kay." Sarah said as they began down the street, her eyes constantly trained on cold blue hell. The beach was a lot of sand and above it was a large concrete wall that looked out over the lake. The concrete was about fifteen feet above a hill that rolled down into the water, she decided to stay on the concrete and fool herself into believing she'd gotten as close to the lake as she could.

Just as she and her mother sat down the fireworks began. At first it sounded like a whistle, then she looked up and heard a loud BOOM as the red white and blue flowers bloomed in the sky. Men and women alike were dancing to the loud country music playing on the docks, and children were running around playing but Sarah couldn't avert her eyes from the huge expanse of water.

The more she looked at it the less frightening it seemed, and the more relaxed she became. She was eventually able to listen to the music and watch the lights reflect on the ocean, making it seem even less dangerous.

"Do you want something from the concession stand?" Her mother asked loudly over the fireworks.

"I'll go get it. Do you want anything?" She asked back, standing up. Her mother shook her head and offered her up a ten dollar bill. Sarah took it and put it in her back pocket, then began to walk to the concession stands that were sprawled out across the big wooden dock.

The concession stand she was going to was half way out toward the lake, and surrounded by people. Despite realizing that the lake posed her no threat, her anxiety was beating its way to her heart and making the trip a bit more rigorous than it should be.

12-Aug-2012 19:13:08 - Last edited on 14-Aug-2012 17:43:42 by Dredigan

Dredigan

Dredigan

Posts: 1,549 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
She waded through the crowd of people moving in all directions, and short as she was she could barely see where her concession stand was at. The only indicator was the glow above the crowd but the glow was everywhere, just like the crowd. She was pushing and squeezing in between people trying to find where she was going but when she finally broke free of the crowd she was mere inches from the edge of the dock.

She broke out crying, trying to turn and get back into the crowd to safety, trying to slide in and push and eventually even shove to get away from the cold expanse of death below. Eventually she pushed one woman who didn't like it very much and shoved her back. Sarah screamed as she flew from the dock and down into the glowing red and green water.

She cried and screamed and flailed as the water took her over, filling her mouth and her ears and stinging her eyes. Her cries echoed out into the night, half masked by the booming fireworks. Every move she made to keep herself above water just pulled her farther down under. Her mind was gone, she was losing her wits and her cares and her life.

The seaweed was tickling her, grabbing her and pulling her down. The rocks were laughing at her and the water was killing her. She inhaled water, coughing under the water and taking more aquatic poison into her body constantly until her vision faded and her heart gave out.

END
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This will be subject to change in the next few days.

12-Aug-2012 19:13:22 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2012 20:43:06 by Dredigan

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