Chapter 10

***Chapter 10 ~ Water***

***River Bay***

***~***

***Seattle, Washington, United States of America***

We rode in complete silence, with the only sound being the tires over freshly fallen snow. No one in the family talks much anymore, it's mainly our Grandpa Charlie doing most of the talking we just listen, my brother and I. Sleep deprived and grief stricken, that's what they say I am. They just don't understand: barely an hour after we hung up, our older brother drowns and there wasn't even a body for us to bury, and whenever I close my eyes, that's all I see.

“Are you sure you're ready for this, Ally?” My brother, Oliver asked from the driver's seat.
“It's been four months now, Ollie, I need to get over my fear already,” I said softly, still looking out of my window.
“I get it, I don't mind water, it's just the open water.”
“It's just...we told him not to, he should've listened to us.” My voice was already starting to weaver.
“I'm going to sound heartless, so don't hit me, but...what's done is done, we tried and he didn't listen to us, and it cost him. There's nothing we can do to fix it.”
I sighed and kept staring out the window as the snow covered trees whizzed by. The car began to slow down as Oliver turned us into an empty gravel parking lot by a snow covered lake. I took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping outside. Oliver didn't pause, just walked back to the trunk of the car. Pulling out two duffel bags, he handed  me the smaller one. Inside were my white ice skates with navy laces, all packed away safely.

“Thanks…” I mumbled as I took the bag back to the passenger's seat to lace them up.
Oliver took his bag to the driver's seat, laced up his black and gold hockey skates, and pulled out his hockey stick and pucks, which somehow all fit in his bag. We each took our time going from the car to the lake's edge, although Oliver was faster than me. I stopped right on the edge and stared down at the ice, the snow like powdered sugar sprinkled over. Hesitantly, I took my first step and moved my right foot forward onto the ice. It held my weight, which gave me enough confidence to put my left foot on as well. So I stood there, arms outstretched for balance like it was my first time skating. My brother, on the other hand, was much more graceful than I and skated circles around me.

“Aren't you a little scared??” I asked, astonished by him.
“In every bone in my body, but I just have to remember the good times I had on the water and it helps the hurt go away,” He said calmly.
I thought on his words for a moment. He was right, and it really did help; my confidence was lifted a little and I started to skate. To be honest, I missed skating, the feeling of gliding across the ice, the grace; I missed all of that.

“There you go!” Oliver shouted.
Nothing could dampened my spirits now, and the more memories I thought of, the faster I skated and the braver I got. Soon enough, I was skating circles around the edge. I made a quick turn into the middle, but accidently planted the tip of my skate in and tripped, falling face first onto the ice. Oliver tried to skate over to me but stopped dead in his tracks with a face of horror. The ice under me, where my knee cap hit, was starting to crack.

“Alice...I need you to slide away. Don't stand up and no sudden movements.” He warned slowly.
I tried to slide over, only to be followed by the sickening sound of the ice cracking even more as the cracks inched their way from the center. I immediately stopped and looked up to my brother slowly.

“Ollie?...."
“It-it'll be okay, just stay calm-” He stammered, just as afraid as I was.
The crack continued to grow despite  lack of movement. Suddenly, it snapped, and all of the ice that was cracked caved in, sending me down. I let out a scream that was cut short when I was engulfed by the black. It was dark as night and so cold; I tried to swim but with my skates on and the frigid temperatures, it was nearly impossible to make any distance. I could hear Oliver call my name through the water, but I continued to sink. My body was beginning to freeze up and I was starting to lose breath fast, Both of these factors at the same time prevented me from trying to struggle any more until my body went limp and the only sense I could use down in the waters, my hearing, started to go until there was no more.

“My, my, River, such grace, it's a shame it has to end like this.” A deep voice echoed in my ear.
I began to stir and my eyes slowly fluttered open. There was no was no water, only darkness; I could still breathe, which was a miracle.

“Who are you?? What's going on?? Where am I?? Where's Ollie??”  I shouted in various directions.
“All good questions, but so many questions, so little time,” The voice said.
“Show yourself!” I demanded.
“And so I shall.” Right in front of me, out walked a man in a long dark trench coat and a black brimmed hat that covered his eyes and only showed the lower half of his face.
“What do you want from me?” I  struggled to find the words, my voice was still dry and hoarse from the water.
"All I want is to make a deal with you, simple as signing," he said slowly as he opened part of his jacket enough to to flash a navy gem around his neck and to pull out a light brown piece of paper.
“What's that?”
“This will officiate your rule, sign this world away.”
From the hilt on his belt, he pulled out a long silver blade and held it out to me. “It's not an average deal. It needs proof that it is in fact you.”

I took the blade from his hand and held it for a few seconds before digging the tip into my finger until it bled, which is something I did not want to do; it just happened! Both of us watched the droplet fall onto the paper.

“Perfect…” He cooed softly.
Without saying another word, he quickly rolled up the paper, took the knife back from me and turned to leave just as the navy gem was pooling into a light icey kind of blue. He left me alone in the darkness, but it wasn't silent. My heart began to race as I struggled to breathe; it felt like my throat was closing up and filling with water once again and my whole body was being burned from the inside. I gasped and attempted to scream from the pain and collapsed onto the ground in a tight ball, my arms around my legs, until I couldn't feel or see anything anymore.

I shivered a little and paused before opening my eyes. No more darkness, just a strange forest with rain dripping from the leaves onto the bushes below.

“Hello?...Anyone there?” I asked, trying my best to sound brave.
There was a loud crack of thunder, sending shivers down my spine as something moved in one of the bushes, and I pushed myself away. Out stepped a man, a few years older than me with sea green eyes and short dirty blonde hair. I just had that feeling about him, like I knew him somehow. He looked back at me curiously, as if he was thinking the same thing.

“Twister.” He said.
“Hi….I um...my name is River.” I muttered after much thought.
“Well River, welcome to the Island, our home away from home. There are seven others; most are about your age so try to make friends, will yah?” He said in a playful tone.
“Being a big brother, are we?” I joked.
“That's my job, isn't it?” He smiled and we both knew exactly why we looked to similar. “C’mon, I’ll show you around. It’s just down the way.”
I scrambled up off the ground and got up along side him as he led the way. I couldn’t help but notice, along with everything around me, his tattoos that just barely showed under the edge of his shirt at the wrist.

“Hey...uh Twister? I’m not bashing, but what’s with the tattoos?”
“Oh these? I’ve had them ever since I got here, one’s a storm while the other is a clear day,” He shrugged it off casually.
“Woah...that’s really cool.”
“Check your own, it’s almost a known fact for everyone here to have something when they get here. Wish I could explain it but no one really understands it all.”
“I..uh...sure, no problem. I mean, what could go wrong, right?” I laughed nervously. As he told me to, I rolled up my sleeves to find a large droplet permanently cascading down my wrist, with a few smaller ones following in suit.
“You’ve got some nice ones too. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them around, it shouldn't be too far.” He motioned for me to follow again and we continued down the trail until it lead us to what looked almost like a little town in the middle of nowhere.
I nodded along with him but couldn’t help but keep my eyes out for any signs of the others I’ve heard so little about. There were flashes of color and snippets of conversations as everyone went about their daily lives.

“Just keep in mind their bark is worse than their bite. We’ve got good people here, you just need to really see it.” He advised.
“Hello there stranger! Welcome home!” A red haired boy shouted, waving happily at me as he made sure to push up his glasses with the other hand.
I smiled and waved back, sneaking a confused look to Twister for help.

“That’s Nerve, good kid, smart too.” Twister nodded, still leading me down the rows of cabins.
“Huh.”
“Like I said, good kid, he’d be a good friend.” He slowed down as he came to an opened cabin. “Here you go, just make yourself at home and we’ll see you when we see you.”
“A’ight. Thanks though.” I waved quickly before slipping off towards a cabin that had a design that matched the ones on my wrist.
Two down from where I left Twister was home, or the closest thing to the name. My first instinct was to make sure there was no one inside, I mean, a girl can have her privacy, right, considering the door was still open a bit. After making myself perfectly known to the inside and finding no response, I took the sign to make my way fully beyond the doorway.

My first impression had to be the amount of blues that scattered the small interior. The deep navy curtains really accentuated the whole idea, I did think the smaller, anchor/fishing line curtains were cute too. But the cutest thing would have to be the smiling cartoon whale pillow resting on the white couch on the other end of the wall. Not looking too bad in here, if I had to say. With more exploring I came to find a simple ladder leading up towards a second floor. A white bed waited for me at the top with a stunning watercolor comforter of fading shades of blue. I couldn’t help but collapse down on my back into the waves of blue with a smile on my face of everything around me.

While looking around some more, I noticed off by the edge of bed was a thin dish filled with water running the length of the wall. I let my attention turn from the bed to dish.The water inside looked so calm and tranquil. To avoid interfering with the peace, I ran my fingertips just over back and forth, but to my surprise, the water followed my motion, even when I tried to move my hand away, the water followed as if it had a mind of its own. Now that was definitely a new concept to me, couldn't quite complain but I knew it wasn't normal. Couldn't be too bad, hopefully.