Quoted By:
You’re not sure of anything anymore with these people, but despite it all you give Pepper a nod. Yea, you sigh, you do.
A faint glimmer of a smile appears on the girl’s face, if only for just a moment. “The water thing… I never told you, did I?”
It takes you a moment to realize how far she’s sitting from the water’s edge. Right…
“The truth is,” she begins in a measured tone, “I used to really like swimming. <span class="mu-i">Loved</span> it.”
There was this place we went once–some play place on the beach… it had all these obstacles and tunnels and slides that would launch you into the ocean–they had their own private cove, too, so no one had to worry about riptides or anything like that…”
Sounds like a lawsuit just waiting to happen, you remark, earning a singular laugh from the girl.
“Yea, but for kids like us it was <span class="mu-i">HEAVEN</span>... I must’ve spent five birthdays in a row there…“ Just as quickly as her expression brightened, it darkens again. “But one day we went on an off-day–just me, mom, dad, and Jake.”
Her grip tightens around the camera.
“I was pretty small back then–still am, but… you get the picture. Because of that I always had a tough time getting a turn on the slides. Jake would help out sometimes, but he wasn’t really thrilled to be watching over his sister the whole time.”
Pepper closes her eyes. “But that day there was practically no one there, so I <span class="mu-i">went</span> for it. Musta’ gone down every slide at least nine times… I was going down the <span class="mu-s">TIDAL TWISTER</span> when it happened…”
She flinches a bit. What?
“I hit the water and went <span class="mu-i">deep</span>–it was cold, dark… it was pretty overcast that day and the wind was kicking up all sorts of sand and mud…” She explains as if it were yesterday, “And I was still breathing hard from all the excitement, so when I swam towards the surface I barely had any air left…”
The redhead turns to look at you with fresh tears forming in her puffy eyes. “And then…”
She pauses to swallow a lump in her throat. And then?
“And then…” she continues in a voice just above a whisper, “My leg… my leg got caught.”
You blink. On what?
Pepper takes a few steadying breaths. “On… no, something… something <span class="mu-i">grabbed</span> it!”
Your breath gets caught in your throat as you watch her struggle to breathe herself.
“I… I fought back, but…” She stammers as fresh tears run down her face, “But I was so small back then and…” Her eyes shut. “A-and I took a breath and felt water come in… and it was so <span class="mu-i">cold</span>, Diesel…”
Her arms wrap around her torso even tighter.
“So cold…”
>CONTD.
