by Candy Crum
Cass looked up to see that Darius still had the ball in his outstretched arm. The referee made it over just in time to blow his whistle.
“TOUCHDOWN!” he shouted.
The crowd went wild, cheering for the Cougars and chanting Darius’ name. Cass stood back up, disappointed that he hadn’t made the decision to dive after him even a second earlier. It would have been enough to stop him and win the game.
Darius jumped up, ecstatic that he’d just scored a touchdown for his team. He slammed the ball down on the ground. With his excitement, his entire body felt like it tingled. It was electric almost. He’d never felt so much energy, and it added to his excitement.
Darius threw his hands into the air with a loud, “YES,” but his excitement came to an abrupt end as he felt the energy explode from him. Terror filled him as he watched the night sky illuminate. Lightning scattered amongst the storm clouds, a stray bolt striking one of the large pole lights above them. The light exploded in succession with the following thunder, the ground vibrating with the loud sound as the sparks and flashes littered the air around the pole.
Darius and Cass both ducked down, instinctively covering their heads as they did so. The referee standing several feet away ran over to the boys.
“We need to get off the field now,” he said. “With the lightning, and now glass everywhere, it’s very dangerous for you guys to be out here.”
Both boys turned to follow the ref off the field. Darius stopped for a moment, turning to look at the light post once again. He’d felt a strange electric current pass through him, but he ignored it, thinking it had just been the excitement.
“There hadn’t been lightning all night,” he said quietly, looking down at his hands.
“What?” Cass asked.
Darius snapped back around. “Nothing,” he said. “Just glad the game’s over, man.”
“Yeah. You, and me both,” Cass said before following the ref off the field.
Κεφάλαιο III
SATURDAY
Texas
Cass hung around and waited for Jess as she’d asked him to. He stood by his car, letting the light drizzle of rain fall on him. Though he had developed a recent fear of water, the rain felt nice to him. It was the cold wind that he didn’t much care for. He watched in silence as everyone left. The cars were all lined up, several attempting to cut their way through to leave faster. A police car always showed up to the games to help direct traffic afterwards, which allowed the process to move at an acceptable pace. Once the parking lot was empty, Jess made her way over.
“That was a pretty exciting game,” she said.
He laughed. “Yeah, for the other guys.”
“You guys almost won,” Jess said. “You would have if Darius hadn’t come out of nowhere with that play. One of my friends from their school said that her boyfriend told her that he completely changed the last play. The coach wanted him to just gain ground. Instead, he decided to be a showoff.”
“Sounds about right, from what I’ve been told. He’s ruthless. I’d like to say he was wrong to do so, but it proved to be a good call. It won him the game. That coach would have lost it for them more than likely,” Cass said. “I still sacked him though.” Cass laughed.
Jess smiled. “So… are you ready for my little experiment?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “What are we doing?”
Jess grabbed his hand. “Just come with me. I’ll show you.”
They made their way through the parking lot, Jess leading the way. She half-dragged him to the side of the gym. When they reached the door, she pulled a set of keys from her gym bag and opened it, once again grabbing his hand and pulling him through.
“What are we doing in here?” he asked. “I doubt they gave you a key for things like this. Aren’t you only supposed to use it for early practices?”
“Oh, hush. You’ll see,” she said.
Once she led him through the locker rooms, he knew exactly where she was taking him. He saw the doors on the opposite side of the locker room labeled POOL and his suspicions were confirmed. The smell of chlorine overwhelmed him and his anxiety spiked. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the pool. Instead of freaking out and protesting, he decided to wait until she explained herself.
“Being here makes me pretty nervous,” he said. “I’m trying to be patient here, but I’d love to know what your plan is.”
“You used to love the water,” Jess said. “But you’ve been petrified of swimming, or being anywhere near water since you lost your father. These dreams are really taking hold of you, and I want to help. Please just trust me,” she said. “Please.”
He sighed, his eyes closing as he tried to gather himself.
“I don’t know about this,” he said.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” she said. “You know how to swim. You know this. It’s an irrational fear. I promise. It’ll be okay.”
It took him a moment, but he finally relented, deciding that it was time he confronted his fear. She was right; it was irrational. His father had died in a car accident, the car flipping several times on the highway before breaking through the bridge barrier and falling into the water. His father was gone long before he hit the water, but Cass dreamed of drowning ever since.
“I think I still have some trunks in my gym bag,” Cass said. “I’ll go change.”
He went to change, trying to hurry. He wasn’t in a rush to get in the pool, but more so in a rush to get back out. Taking a deep breath, he made his way back out to the pool when he finished.
“Ready?” she asked from poolside.
He nodded. “About as much as I can be, I suppose.”
Still in her cheerleading uniform, Jess started to make her way down the steps into the pool.
“Wait. Don’t you have a suit? You’re going to bleach that out,” Cass said.
“I’m not worried about it,” she said. “Just don’t let me down, and we will call it even.”
He smiled, crossing the room to the pool. Jess was already in the water, waiting for Cass to get in. He took a deep breath and descended the steps that Jess had just moments before. Part of him remembered how much he loved the feel of being submerged in water, and part of him was absolutely terrified for the water to get over his hips.
“How far in are you planning to drag me?” he asked.
“Eventually, I’d like to see us treading water in the deep end,” she said.
“Well, that’s comforting,” he said, wading further out.
“First, I just want you to get used to the water,” she said. “Just remember how good it feels. How much you used to love it. Once you get used to it again, we’ll move down some more.”
Cass didn’t reply, deciding instead to just get used to the water and how it felt. After about ten minutes, the two slowly began making their way down the length of the pool further toward the deep side. The water was up to Cass’ chest at that point in the five-feet area. He’d been doing well, but was growing ever more anxious about moving any further.
“Before we go any further,” Jess said. “I’d like for you to try going under the water. Just duck under. You don’t have to swim or anything. Just duck down under the surface.”
Cass took a deep breath. “I don’t know about that. I’ve done pretty well up to this point, but my heart is starting to speed up. I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”
“I’ll go under with you,” she said. “We will go under together and come back up together. Sound like a plan? I promise… If you don’t do well with this, we can stop. We will pick it up another day.”
Cass thought for a moment, finally deciding to agree. He knew that she was only trying to help him, and didn’t want to let her down. Even if he didn’t stay under long, he knew that it would be a good idea to try.
“Ready?” she asked.
Cass nodded, then nodded again.
“Okay,” she said, smiling. “On three. One. Two. Three.”<
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The two dropped down, both sitting on the floor of the pool. Cass was nervous, his heart pounding in his chest, but Jess being right there helped him stay. Within seconds he felt some of his worry melt away. He fluttered his arms, using them to keep pushing himself down in the water, fighting his body’s natural instinct to float. After remembering that he had all that control, and that he did know how to swim relaxed him.
He began to see exactly how foolish his fear was. At about twenty seconds under, Jess signed to him that she was going up. Instead of following, Cass stayed under, still not feeling the burning need to breathe.
As Jess rose to the top, she closed her eyes as she wiped her hair back and squeezed the water from it, then wiped her eyes. Cass watched her from below, happy that he was able to come so far. Her plan had worked.
Cass felt something brush his ankle. He looked down, but saw nothing. Then he felt a full grip, something wrapping hard around it, though he could not see anything there at all. He flexed his body, preparing to shoot out of the water, but he wasn’t fast enough. Whatever had him pulled hard, yanking him completely under the water and dragging him toward the deep end.
Jess finished clearing the water from her vision, smiling at how well everything had been going. She opened her eyes, looking straight forward and expecting to see Cass, but he was gone. She looked down and saw nothing.
“Cass,” she said.
No response.
“CASS!” she shouted, panic growing.
Jess saw a large splash in the deep end. She ducked back down into the water, looking everywhere, but not seeing him. Looking closer, she saw wild churning of the water in the deep end, but there was nothing else. No shadows. No limbs. No person. There was only nothing except the clear, churning water.
Her stomach leapt into her throat, knowing his worst nightmare was coming true, but not understanding how it was possible. How had he gotten down there so quickly? She’d only looked away for a moment. She jumped up, swimming to the edge of the pool and climbing out. She ran to the opposite end, careful to watch her step.
“CASS!” she called out again.
Still nothing.
She stared down into the pool, still seeing only the churning water. It did not make sense to her. From what her eyes could tell her, nothing was there. It was impossible for him to be there because nothing could be seen. But he was. She knew it. He was there. Fighting something. The area of agitated water was far too large to be caused by a human alone. It stretched the entire width of the pool, though that didn’t make sense to her either. There was not a single thing that did make sense at that moment. Without a doubt, she knew his dreams had been telling him something. Every night for weeks he had been fighting the water and failing. He drowned every time.
What if he gave in? What if he kept fighting?
She stared into the depths of the pool, knowing that something had to be done. Jess was always so fast to save the day, but something was holding her back.
“CASS!” she called out. “Don’t fight against the water! Swim out!”
Cass struggled under the water. He couldn’t see anything anywhere. Only the churning water around him. He could hear Jess’ voice, but he couldn’t see her in the water, or out of it alongside the pool. Cass had no idea how long he had been under, but with as much energy as he had exuded he would soon lose his fight. He knew it wouldn’t be long before his burning lungs forced him to breathe.
Cass could hear Jess yell again. “Stop fighting and swim!”
If I keep fighting, I’ll drown, he thought to himself. Just like in my dreams.
Jess had seen all she could take. Her nerves were shot. A very large part of her screamed at herself not to jump in, but more than anything she wanted to save Cass no matter what. Jess was oblivious to the events that were unfolding below the surface of the water. Her gut told her to stay because something wasn’t right, but her conscience and her need to help told her to jump in and risk it for the very same reason.
Jess stepped forward, preparing to jump in, but she was overwhelmed with dread. It washed over her like heavy rain. Her breath caught in her throat as she became overwhelmed. Fighting hard, she did her best to step forward as tears began to run down her cheeks and she became even more inexplicably afraid. She bent her knees, ready to dive in.
“No!” A light, feathery voice flowed through her mind. There was an accent present that she could not identify, even in the short single-word demand that she was given. “Listen to your gut. Do not jump in. He will survive. You will not.”
A whimper escaped her throat, her breath catching again as the woman’s words replayed through her mind.
“What’s happening?” Jess asked, her voice barely a whisper as more tears fell.
Her entire body was like stone, unable to move. The woman’s words stopped her, but she knew words would never be enough to stop her from saving the life of a friend. It was something else. Even though those thoughts went through her mind, she fought the possibility. Everything in her body was telling her that something beyond the control of either of them was happening, but she refused to believe it could be true.
Cass tossed and turned, kicking at whatever invisible thing had hold of him. Something sharp pierced his leg, blood immediately turning the water around him red. He screamed, water filling his mouth. He was careful not to inhale, but the pain in his lungs was reaching unbearable. Cass kicked as hard as he could and landed hard contact with whatever held him.
A loud growl echoed through the water, enough that Jess could hear it as well. She completely froze, unable to move after hearing such a terrifying sound.
The pull in his chest warned him; he knew that it was coming. His lungs were about to involuntarily inflate, taking in water and killing him in the process. He remembered back to his dreams. The one thing he had refused to do was breathe. Why would he? To breathe under the water would result in obvious death, but he was about to have no option. Another huge gash raked across his leg, more blood pouring out into the water. There, at last, as the blood poured out, dying the chlorinated water red, he saw it. The thing that had hold of him.
It was something made from nightmares. Seven dark, dragon-like heads, each one equipped with long jagged teeth and shiny metallic-black scales that flared out on its powerful jaws. Each long neck was armored with slick scales that curved out at the tips creating jagged barbs from the crowns of the heads reaching down to the powerful, full-plated body that came just shy of filling the entire bottom of the twelve-feet-deep end of the pool.
The mighty Hydra. A beast returned from thousands of years past. Though Cass did not remember the name or origin of the monster that had hold of him, he certainly remembered the images he’d seen in books.
Cass soon realized the Hydra didn’t want to rip him apart, or eat him, as it could have with great ease. It would have been so easy for it to rip him into pieces, or to simply swallow him, but it did not. Instead, the beast held him under, using its claws to cause injury and force its victim to breathe underwater.
“Breathe.” The voice was weak as it fluttered through Cass’ mind. Weak, but urgent.
Cass tugged and pulled, trying to free himself of the beast as he did his best to ignore the voice in his head. He believed himself to be going mad under the water, having no reason to otherwise explain why he would be hearing the voice of a man he had never heard before.
“Breathe,” it said again.
The hydra grabbed hold of Cass’ entire torso in one of its large, clawed hands, shocking Cass’ body into taking a deep breath. His chest burned as his lungs filled with chlorinated water. His head throbbed and his muscles ached as they craved oxygen. Without a doubt, Cass knew the next few very short moments would be his last.
But then…
They weren’t.
They weren’t his last moments at all.
His body began to spasm again, forcing him to take another breath, only it hurt much less. Curious, he took another breath.
And another. Soon, his muscles quit aching. His lungs stopped burning. In fact, he began feeling quite normal, though there was a strange sensation creeping its way across his entire body.
Staring ahead, he saw the eyes on each of the heads widen. Cass stopped moving. He stopped fighting, lying there suspended in the water in the beast’s grip. The weakness he’d felt washed away and was replaced with something else. Relief. Confidence. Confusion as he wondered how his lungs could possibly filter water, especially with there being so many chemicals present.
The Hydra seemed furious. It squeezed hard, but nothing happened. Cass felt something happening around him, though he couldn’t explain what or how. The water surrounding him was hardening, turning to ice. As the ice grew, it widened the Hydra’s grip. It was hard for him to move at all, but he was relieved to feel the grip of ice around him over the clawed grip of a monster. He took another deep breath, the only burn he felt coming from the chlorine and other chemicals in the water.
As the Hydra gave up trying to incapacitate him with water, one of the heads lunged forward, ready to bite Cass in two. The strange sensation prickling through him grew in bounds. He threw his hands out in front of him, instinct taking over as he tried to shield himself. A jet of water moved forward with such force that it took the attacking head and spun it, snapping the neck. It slumped over, hanging next to the rest of the upright portion of the long neck like a spaghetti noodle that had been cooked on only one half.
The Hydra howled in pain, immediately dropping Cass and moving back. Livid, the beast tried to attack again. Two of the heads striking forward. Again, Cass threw his arms out in front of him, closing his eyes and hoping for the best. The water once again burst forward, but with such great force that the monster was pushed back all the way to the edge of the pool.
