Family Ties (girlxgirl)

Chapter 22

"Ten, but whose counting?" Sarah laughed. She stepped forward, pushing Vivian higher and higher on the stairs. Vivian was walking backward, unsure how to re-gain control in this situation.

"I am" Vivian snarled.

"Where did your sense of adventure go? You have done so much already, don't quit now" Sarah pleaded. "Tell, you what, just take a look and if you don't like it, you can always walk down"

Vivian groaned, hating how much power Sarah had over her. She hated how Sarah made her feel. Powerful and yet, weak. Fearless and yet nervous. She turned around and climbed the rest of the stairs with Sarah hopping triumphantly behind her.

"Are you not going to remove your shirt?" Vivian asked from over shoulder.

"I'll throw it down later. As long as I'm in the water, people won't stare at my scars. It prevents people asking questions"

Ten meters did not look high from the ground, but looking down to the clear water sent cold shivers down Vivian's spine. A lump had formed into her throat and sweat started to appear on her forehead. The thought of falling made her nauseous. She had never been so high before, excluding her visits of buildings, like the Empire State Building. Those places were safe.

Here, at the top of the springboard, was not.

"I don't think I can-" Vivian started but was immediately cut off when she felt hands pushing her into nothing. The sensation of falling was excruciating. She had no ground to feel, nothing to touch. It felt as if her heart was in her throat and would pop out of her mouth at any moment. She had no control, no anchor as she fell thirty-three feet down into groundless water. She had no time to scream when her feet slammed into what felt like a wall. First her body and then her arms followed until the water had closed over her head.

Vivian lost her breath and all of her senses. She had lost all whereabouts of herself and forgotten where up or down was. She started to remember how to think and with a hard push of her legs, she went up until her head was out of the water. The first thing she did was take a deep, shaky breath, something she felt had not done in years. When she looked up, she saw Sarah laughing hard.

"Fuck you Green" Vivian yelled at the top of her lungs. To her right, she hear a whistle and a lifeguard came storming to the springboard.

"You, at the top" he yelled with anger "Get down. Now. I will not ask again"

Vivian swam to the edge of the pool and pulled herself out. She sat with her feet in the water and watched as Sarah took a step back. The brown haired, crazy girl sped across the solid springboard and jumped off into the air. She did a double back-flip before falling feet first into the water. Her fall lasted no more than a few seconds, much faster than what Vivian felt.

"Show off" Vivian mumbled under her breath. Cheers rang around the space and bounced on the walls as the children sang Sarah's name in awe. Their attention had diverted to them when they heard the whistle blow and completely loved the show Sarah had given them.

Sarah's head popped out and swam to the edge. Her hand grazed Vivian's thigh as she looked to the safe guard with an innocent look. Vivian twisted her upper body to look at the man with a credulous look.

"You have just violated a serious regulation. I must ask you to leave the pool" he glared. Sarah sighed and lifted her body out of the water, revealing her flawed skin.

The safe guard was about to speak again but froze when he saw a long scar in the middle of her chest. He stared at her upper body and noticed at least three more visible scars around her shoulders and arms. He stared and suddenly felt uncomfortable.