Work Text:
August 2003
I rushed across the sand to see what Sydney did this time. He kicked the sandcastle me and Toby were making right in his face. I mean... It was Toby’s idea of course. But I still feel the need to participate and take care of him. I see Flynn standing a bit behind him idly watching the commotion Sydney’s made while chuckling to himself. I drop the sticks I'm holding in between my paws and shove Sydney.
“ What is wrong with you?!” I shout pissed off at him.
Sydney just lays on his back with a stupid shit eating grin on his face. Chase watches us from somewhere up the bank. I hear Carl stand up clopping over to Flynn. They speak to each other. Something about going back to get some food from the cooler we left up the trail. We had left it a bit down the trail of the lake as it was too heavy for any of us to carry up the incline. I mean Flynn probably could have carried it but he didn’t want to…For some reason. I don’t stop to ponder that as I'm still Enraged and shouting at Sydney.. Eventually Leo walks over, I can hear his heavy footfalls behind me. He says a curse word in Spanish. I can’t quite make it out, Merida maybe? He tugs on my shoulder and I lay off from continuing to shout at Syd. I turn back to see Toby still sitting a few feet away, Chase is brushing some of the sand out of his eyes and whispering something to him. Leo eventually gets the idea that we should all skip stones. The others seem down so I tag along but before I go I ask Toby If he wants to come. He shakes his head, I think he wants to be a bit more put together before coming to join us. I'm still a little pissed at Sydney as he follows me, Chase, and Leo across the embankment towards a more shaded spot.
***********
I sit on the shore of the lake. I can feel small grains of sand starting to get in between the gaps of my clothing as I skip rocks next to Chase, Sydney and Leo. I'm not as good as I hoped I would be at it but I'm watching Leo’s throws out of the corner of my eye not only to see what he’s doing right as well as what he’s doing wrong. While I'm watching him I guess Sydney goes off somewhere else as he’s gone as I turn around again. As well as what he’s doing wrong. I'm only skipping 3 now, two off from Leo. Chase is struggling a bit, it’s clear to me that he’s getting frustrated and after Leo chuckles at one of his unfortunate attempts to skip. It earns Leo a glare from him before he stands up and makes his way farther down the beach towards the water.
“ Hey, not in the way of the rocks. You’re going to get hit!” Ever so diligently Leo warns.
I can see it in his eyes that Chase is more pissed with Leo after he told him to be careful rather than if he just said nothing at all. He disappears under the water and I can’t see him anymore. Leo makes a funny sort of sound out of annoyance and I remind him that he is still annoyed at Sydney. We got back to skipping stones and bantering for a few more minutes. At one point I get my next one to six skips which makes Leo so angry he practically flings his stone into the water like you would a shotput ball. It sinks pathetically in the water which makes Leo even more enraged. I laugh and then show him where he was messing up and that causes him to regain his composure for a moment. We do this for about ten minutes. Chatting about life and how much fun we’ve had this summer and the new school year on the horizon.
Then a little ways away in the water I see Chase surface. He must have been swimming for at least ten minutes but he isn’t far away, only about 100 meters off the shore line. I watch as he paddles over to us, his tail making quick work of the distance. He had a strange look in his eyes as he walked back up towards us from the beach. Leo says something to Chase for stepping inside the area we were skipping stones in. It's about five more minutes of skipping stones while Chase sits silently behind us watching. After a little while we hear a hysterical scream coming from the direction of where we left Toby. And before I even know what I'm doing my legs are quickly running down the embankment towards the bend and I see it.
Carl is starring in slack jawed horror. Toby stands up in ankle deep water staring out at the lake and…Sydney’s just floating face down about 20 meters out. I stare at the scene when I hear Leo barrel up behind me stopping to stare too. He looks down at me before we start rushing ourselves towards the shallows. I feel the cold water go around my ankles as I quickly dive towards Sydney. Despite being relatively small he’s still incredibly heavy to drag when I'm in shoulder deep water. It isn’t even until Leo crashes besides me and starts to pull and tug that he starts to give slightly. Chase dives far more gracefully than either me or Leo and with his help we quickly get Sydney up the shore. I gaze upon the scene ahead of me in a mix of numb horror and anger. Carl sits on a rock sobbing and wailing hysterically. Chase is hugging Toby and comforting him. Leo is desperately doing chest compressions and mumbling something about waking up in between his shallow breaths. It's in that scene that I finally snap back to the gravity of our situation…My grandma had a book on her shelf I read once. Most of the words were far too big for me to understand but the gist was what the brain did when seeing something terrifying. I think I saw what they were talking about in my friends eyes.
Carl immediately curled up and started crying, Leo started desperately fighting to keep Sydney going, Toby just froze up, just stood as still as a statue and Chase is trying to busy himself by helping someone else rather than face it. Before I know what I'm doing my legs are moving.
“ I'm going to get help!” is what I scream to no one in particular as I start dashing down the trail and hopping through the brush.
I'm going very fast now, the weight of what I just saw is starting to get to me. I can feel tears start to well up in the corners of my eyes. I wipe them and keep going. Adam had once told me while we were in my room hiding from one of my parents house shaking arguments that if anything bad ever happened I’d have to keep calm to tell the police everything so they could get help. I take his advice here too. I'm coming up to where we ditched the cooler and I see Flynn with a can of…something in his hand, He tosses it to the side when he sees me coming.
“ Something bad happened!” Is all I can shout as I run past him in between my breaths.
I see his gaze go from curiosity to worry to a hardened stare as he changes his gaze past me. He starts jogging in the opposite direction I'm running to. Back towards lake Emma.
I am actually inside town now, Though the motel is closer to the lake but the car lot is empty and the man at the front desk creeps me out. I slam into the dinner door and nearly trip onto the chequered floor as I make it inside. Janice’s ears twitch as she whips her head around immediately to face me.
“..?! You okay hun?” she asks with her brow furrowed at me clearly caught off guard
I quickly respond, still trying to catch my breath.
“Something…Something bad happened at the lake. I think a friend nearly drowned! We need an ambulance.”
Nearly drowned? Last I saw he didn’t exactly look like he was breathing. I think to myself but I cram the thought down. Janice tries to comfort me and as the otter guy in the kitchen dials the police. My mind is still racing and my head hurts but the adrenaline hasn’t worn off yet. I need to go back to the lake right now or else our lives are never ever going to be the same. The thought hits me like a strike of lighting and I don’t know why but some part of me knows it's true. I push myself out besides her after she finishes relaying all of what I told her to the other man. I dash out the doors as soon as I get confirmation that the police are on the way and make my way back to lake Emma.
The return trip is far faster this time and I'm back before I even know it. Flynn is filling in for Leo giving him chest compressions. I can see tears welling up in the corners of the gilia's eyes as he desperately keeps pressing. Leo looks down upset at not being able to do anything. Chase is comforting both Carl and Toby now telling them that it's going to be alright. I feel hollow, I mean I should be upset or angry or sad right? Sydney was awful to Toby but he didn’t deserve this.. Maybe he did? I gasp at how dark my thoughts become. But I can’t shake the feeling deep down that maybe I'm right…
I watch in the distance as I can see the ambulance lights nearing the guard rail on the turn to the lake. It won’t be long now. I don’t know how long but eventually paramedics arrive.. A helicopter, like one of the big ones in Carl’s games, touches down in the parking lot and just like that. Sydney is carted off. We are all grouped up as the Paramedics and police work around us. They take our statements and we all stand together as they wait for their parents to come. I know even in a situation like this mine don’t give a fuck. I’ll probably leave with Leo. Speaking of, he tries his best to hold us through the tears. It strikes me that…The water in the lake has changed. My life has changed. And now nothing will ever be the same for any of us. There’s no going back from what happened today. And I start to wonder if the others are beginning to realize that as we all sit in our distraught huddle.