Riptide (Chicago PD)

Stream

"That's disgusting, Jay. Even just the thought of it."

"Sorry but it's true."

"No, its not. The type of water system this is. Only small things can get in the system because of railings on the other side. You dump a body in the lake, it will only travel downstream and either be at the end or it will get caught on something." Said some guy with fishing gear on.

"Um thanks." Said Sandrelly.

"Sorry, I'm Steve. I deal with the fish trade that comes into Chicago. The old owner used to dump the fish guts into the river. Police found them when they were searching for a body and arrested him. If you're looking for a body, look at where steps are."

"Weird that you know where to look." Said San.

"No, he's right. That's where all the fish guts were found. Thanks Steve." I said as I remembered the case.

"No problem. Hope you find the body."

We walked down to multiple spots where there were steps but the water was too murky to be able to see anything.

"I'm gonna keep looking. Call Hank and tell him to head to the steps." Said San and walked off.

*Sandrelly's Pov*

I was walking along the side when I saw a man down by one of the ladders.

"Hi, can I help you?" I asked him.

"Sorry officer, I dropped my watch into the water. I've just found it."

"Not being weird but did you see anything else down there. Like maybe a body."

"No, sorry."

"Okay. Thanks anyway."

"No problem. Hope you find her."

I went to say something else but pulled my gun out and aimed it at the man.

"Bit of a big slip up." I said.

"Oops you caught me." He laughed.

"Where's her body?"

"Not sure. I unhooked it from the ladder so it could be anywhere by now."

He took off running but I couldn't shoot him because he had no visible weapon on him. I ran around the corner, chasing him but when I turned the next corner to get to the next ladder, he wasn't there. I slowly approached the edge, with my gun raised. Forceful hands shoved me from behind and I fell into the water.

It brought me straight back to that moment. The moment where I nearly lost everything.

"She could win this heat!" Cheered the commentator.

"Abigail is catching up. She could beat the reigning champ!"

I looked behind me to see Abigail doing a double flip and I knew I had to beat her. I went up, doing a double flip, landed perfectly and then attempted doing a barrel ride. I was so close, I just needed to reach the end but I misjudged. The wave came crashing down at a strong speed, snapping my board in half.

One end of the board got caught in the under wave and smacked me in the head. I detached the piece of rope from my ankle that was holding onto the flimsy piece of wood.

My head popped up at one point to see I had left the flagged area and was heading straight towards the riptides. A wave came over my head and pulled me under once again.

I reached out, begging someone would see my cry for help and scoop me onto their board but it didn't happen.

Sharks were rare to see in Maceió but recently a few had been popping up all over the place. They would normally keep away from the shore and definitely stayed out of riptides but for some reason this one wasn't. It looked right at me and charged towards me. I didn't see much as it's tail smacked me in the face and that's when I realised. The shark was dead and was being pulled around by the rip.

It pushed my body closer to the floor, denying me of any possible help. But I kept reaching and I kept hoping that eventually, someone would reach down and grab me. But they didn't. I soon ran out of breath and the urge to fight. My limbs went limp first and then my body felt weightless as I slowly drifted to the bottom of the ocean like a leaf falling from a tree.

It was just me at the bottom in the dark abyss. It felt somewhat peaceful. All the cheering and the stress was gone from my body as my eyes slowly closed.

I was jolted back awake when bubbles erupted around me and I could see someone cutting through the current of the water. Their arms swooped around me and pulled me up to the surface but still I felt so tired.

Next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital bed with my family around me. Hugging me and kissing me.

My arm reached out one last time and my hand clapsed another person's hand. The hand that I felt safe in. I didn't know who it was until I saw their big smile. Sammy always saved me but this time it was Diego, my big brother.

I turned my head to the side to see a still pair of eyes staring at me. Well, I found the body.

I let out a scream in the water, hoping someone would hear me. I kicked my feet backwards and tried pushing water towards the body to move it away from me but I didn't have much luck. It's happening again but this time, I don't have Diego to save me.

I reached my hand up and almost instantly, I was pulled out of the water and taken into a warm embrace.

"Hey, shh. I got you. Are you okay?" Asked Jay as he kissed my head.

"The body. The girl. She's d-down there." I said.

My cheeks were radiating heat from the fear and the shock but the rest of me was shivering from the almost frozen lake. God, I hate Chicago's winters.

"Hank! She's here!" Shouted a familiar voice as they ran over to me and wrapped a warm towel around me and grabbed an oxygen mask.

I didn't realise I was breathing heavily and I certainly didn't realise that everyone was now looking for me instead of the body.

"The girl. She's down there." I said and pointed towards the steps.

"We've got her, guys!" Shouted Antonio as he called towards 51, who ran over with the right tools.

"How did you find her?" Asked Kelly.

"I fell in the river." I said.

"Hey, take a seat. The ambulance will be here in a bit to get you checked out." Said Jay and helped me onto the floor.

I could see Antonio throw shade towards Jay but I don't know why. It's not like he did anything wrong. I chased after the guy...shit the guy.

"There was a guy!" I said as I quickly stood up and took the blanket off of me.

"He's the murderer. I didn't tell him the gender of the body and he said 'her', we need to find him. If he hung around after dumping her body, surely he'll hang around after we find it."

"Can you remember his face?"

"No, it's dark out, Jay."

"Oh yeah, sorry."

"You should be sorry." Said Antonio as he walked up to Jay and punched him.