Masterpiece

Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped,  her head turned to me. She screamed while running to the boat that sat in the water.

"Clem be carful!" She ignored me. She was to busy admiring the pink and blue boat sitting at our small dock near our farm house.

"This is amazing, Arlo! You must have put a lot of work into this." She smiled cheerfully.

"Luckily, father taught me a few things before he passed." My heart ripped  in that moment.  Slowly, my smile faded. Clementine calmly walked over to me. We didn't exchange any words, no glances, we just silently stood there. Clementine quickly grabbed my hand. She didn't look at me, she didn't say anything, she just studied the lake with a straight face. I nudged her. Startled, she looked up at my half smiling face. Seeing this, she smiled back.

"Come on, I'll row the boat for you." I said with hesitation.

"Are you sure? If you don't want to you don't have to." I kneeled down and kissed her soft, warm forehead.

"I'll do anything for you. It's your birthday today." Clementine had begun to jump with joy, grabbing my hand, dragging me to the thin, rickety dock. I listened as the wood creaked and groaned with anger. That heavy feeling still lingered around the lake. Clem jumped into the boat without hesitation.

"Clem, please be careful! I don't want you to fall in." She looked back at me with a sarcastic expression.

"I'll be fine." She sat on the bench I had rested on the morning before. I stood on the dock looking into the water. It seemed to be bottomless.

"Come on Arlo!" Clementine laughed. I struggled to move. Somehow, I managed to set one foot into the boat.

"Hurry up!" Clem hopped in her seat, shaking her new masterpiece.

"Please, don't shake the boat like that." I said as I set the other foot inside.

"What? Like this?" She said with a mischievous look. She swayed from side, rocking the boat. I had begun to loose me balance.

"Clem, please stop." She continued while laughing.

"Clementine, stop!" She still shook the boat with content. As I tried keeping my balance, I tripped over the side of the boat.  Everything seemed to slow down. I watched clementines face fill with horror as I hit the water below us. I splashed and kicked trying to stay above water. I could feel my body slowly sinking. It seemed as if the water was dragging me down. It was cold, harsh, and felt thick like blood. I screamed, but to me it was silent. I could see the bubbles from my lungs, rise to the surface. I could hear Clem yelling to me. I could hear her crying. Suddenly, I felt  mud and rocks beneath my feet. I pushed off the floor with relief. My body surfaced and I  inhaled the magnificent air. I grabbed onto the dock just a few feet away. I hauled my cold, wet body onto the wood. I lied there for a moment looking at the sun lit sky. I could feel droplets of water drip off my face as a flow of relief enters my body.

Then, I hear a slight sniffle. I sit up and turn to see Clementine already on the dock, her eyes filled with salty tears.

"I'm so sorry." She said with a hiccup.

"I could have drown, Clementine!" She cried even more.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean-"

"You never mean anything! You need to think! When I say stop, I want you to stop! What you did was very dangerous!"  I grabbed her wrist and drug her back to the house. My mother ran to me when she saw my soaked clothes and damp, darkened hair.

"What happened to you two?" she questioned.

"My masterpiece. That's what happened."