flipped. charlie conway

64

leah couldn't have prepared for the heartbreak she would face that monday morning. abiding by her promise to herself, leah woke early, prepared her backpack for school, and ran to her beloved pond. the gentle sun was beginning to melt the scent of grassy morning dew into the air, prompting leah to bound faster so she could watch the sun rays peek through the blossoming trees. how she missed this. the dewy scent in the air, the smile of the rising sun, the quiet streets in the early morning. los angeles was so different, too different for leah to like it.

dumping her backpack onto the grassy bank, leah leaped onto the weathered raft that bounced on the clear pond. using a rowing stick to wade herself several feet from the shore, leah slumped in a heap. a sigh of relief passed her lips as the gentle breeze swept over her. the sun rays peeking over the trees kissed her freckled cheeks, as if greeting her back home through a loving hug. it was quiet.

streaks of orange and pink glowed against sky's dark navy fading into a soft blue. leah took a mental note of the way the colours intertwined seamlessly, like two unconditional lovers who refused to leave one another's side. if she could, she would spend forever laid upon that raft admiring the sky. in her dazed infatuation, leah failed to notice the large black pipe trailing beneath the surface of the water.

the screeching beeps of a truck pulled her attention. this was unlike any truck leah had seen before. it was rounded like a cement mixer, except it appeared more like an empty garbage truck. the empty capsule seemed like it could hold tonnes upon tonnes of garbage waste.

two male tradesmen jumped out of the gigantic vehicle, sipping on their morning coffees as they crudely joked about each other's wives. leah felt her eyebrows furrow as she attempted to recognise the logo on their uniforms, to no avail. as they pulled a ribbed pipe toward the truck, fastening it onto a circular opening at the rear, leah's gaze finally recognised that the pipe was trailing into the pond. it was at least a metre in diameter. assuming they were pumping a saline solution into the pond, leah shrugged and relaxed back down.

a deafening whirring sound echoed over the rippling surface of the lake.

"leah!" adam yelped, beckoning his sister to the grassy bank hurriedly. the banks girl huffed, pushing the raft to shore.

before she could dock the wooden crate, adam began to blurt a dilemma. leah struggled to hear him over the large vacuum-like sound.

"they're draining the pond, leah! mum said they're building a car park here for the lake behind - they're cutting all the trees down and everything! you gotta get off the raft."

in adam's hurried string of words, leah could barely comprehend what he was saying. "what?"

adam groaned in frustration. "just get off so we can take the raft home before the bus comes!"

"i'm not getting off! why are they going to fill in the pond, that makes no sense."

"leah! they'll force you off at some point, now come on." the banks boy attempted to tug his sister off the weathered raft.

"no!"

"yes!"

the two continued to tug opposing ways as they argued. leah couldn't understand what was happening, or why.

"look!" adam pointed to the large pipe.

leah halted her tugs of refusal, whipping her head to face the direction of adam's pointer finger. steadily, the gentle ripples of the pond lapped toward the whirring black pipe. a muffled gurgle echoed from the pipe as it suctioned water from the pond.

in her moment of distraction, adam harshly pulled his sister off the raft. leah immediately ran toward the two uniformed contractors.

"what's going on? what's this truck for?" the banks girl demanded, her voice breaking with her growing distress.