Hydrophobia

Where'd she go?

                                                                *Uncle John's POV*

Hm.... Rose isn't back yet. She should be done by now. I'll go check on her.

I heaved myslef out of my recliner and pulled on my boots. She should be by the dolphin tank. Quickly unlocking the gate I turned the aquarium lights on. Rose had feed the seals already and vacuumed out their tank. I could tell becuase the vacuum was shifted and the bucket that held the seals food was on it's side. The bucket with the live salmon in it for the dolphins was gone though.

Ah that's what she's doing.

Rose was a smart girl. Despite what her grades at school said. I KNEW she was failing on purpose but I couldn't figure out why. She'd always gotten A's before so why had she suddenly dropped to C's and D's?

I sighed. She was one confusing girl.

I made my way towards the dolpin tank being careful not to trip over anything. When I got there I opened the "Employees Only" gate and walked in. Sadly although my aquarium is a sucsessful one we don't have many employees so Rose and myself are forced to do some of the work ourselves. I don't mind but Rose hates it. I'm not sure why but she's afraid of water. She wasn't always afraid of water. Just once her parents died in a boat accident when she was 2 she's never gone near water.

"Rose!" I called from the gate.

There was no answer.

"Rose Francito!" I called again.

 I had expected her to answer on the first call. Was she that mad at me? I moved towards the tank looking for her familar strawberry blond hair but I didn't see it.

"Rose?" I whispered but I could already see she wasn't there.

A bucket lay abandoned a little ways away from the edge of the tank. I walked over to it and picked it up.

Where is she? Did she run away? Did she fall in?

I searched the bottom of the tank looking for the dark shape of a body but didn't see one.

Oh no. The ocean! 

"No! No! No! NO!" I muttered running to the part of the tank that joined the ocean.

It was blocked by a metal net so the dolphins couldn't slip out but what if she had fallen on the other side? I ran back the the house muttering the whole way and grabbed the closest phone. It was dead.

"Great!" I swore running up to Rose's room in search of her phone. While I went through Rose's room I knocked a picture off the dresser and picked it up. It was from When she was 7. We had gone to Disney for her birthday. Rose was up on my shoulders laughing her brown eyes dancing and her Strawberry blond hair was all wild from having rode rollercaosters all day. Cinderella's tower was behind us and it was in between being purple and pink.

I finally found the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

"Hello this is the Rhode Island Police department how can I help you?" A lady's voice said.

How could they stay so calm?

"MY NIECE IS MISSING!" I yelled into the phone most likey braking the poor woman's ear drums.

"How long has she been missing?" The lady asked.

"I don't know. I just went to check on her and she's gone!" I said.

"How old is your neice, Sir?" The lady asked.

Why did she care? I wanted them to help not ask stupid questions!

"She's 16." I answered.

"Did she take the car?" The lady said.

"No." I said. "I think she fell into the ocean."

"Are you sure?" The lady asked.

"Yes, d*** you! Send someone to help me find her instead of asking stupid questions!" I yelled.

She was wasting my time. For all I know Rose could be drowned somewhere!