Work in progress

She took small steps into the waters, feeling every sway of the rushing tranquil waves as they gently collided against her. It was icy. She then stood in place where the waters reached just above her waist, contemplating on whether or not to turn back and go home.  

“It’s late. I’m sure they’re starting to get worried,” she thought to herself.

The sun was just about to set, leaving fusions of red, pink and orange in the sky. By then, she would already be at home, setting the table for dinner.

At that moment, she found herself staring at her own reflection in the waters.

Not perfect...

 

As those words echoed inside her head, she continued to stare at herself in the liquid mirror, and as she did so, the tears that she managed to choke back came streaming down her face again. Without thinking, her feet began to drag her further from the safe shores of the lake.

She kept telling herself that she was better off dead as she went deeper and deeper into the waters but there was something inside her that wanted her to turn back.

Just when the waters reached her chest, a voice from the shore called out.

“Hey! Isn’t it a bit too late to go for a swim?”

A rush of fear and panic came over her and she quickly spun around to see who the voice belonged to. There sitting so comfortably at the shore, was a boy. She could tell he was laughing by looking at the expression on his face. She began to feel embarrassed at herself.

“Now’s a good time to drown...” she thought.

“You should really get out of the lake. It’s freezing this time of the month. You might catch a very bad cold,” said the boy.

Still feeling so very embarrassed, she stood very still then reluctantly waddled out of the lake in her drenched clothes, eyes downcast with shame. When she finally got to shore, a gust of cold wind blew through the air and she began trembling from head to toe.

“Tell me, what exactly were you trying to pull-off just now?” the boy asked with an eyebrow raised at her.

She was silent.

“Right, it’s okay. It’s none of my business anyway,” he said.

She turned up to look at him and found him smirking. He looked about her age and sort of familiar. She thought she’d seen him somewhere before but just couldn’t pinpoint where or when.  

-To be continued....