Date:7/26/17
Location:Paradise, Michigan
Amber dodged the rack of fishing lures and jumped over a rock. She ignored her hair flickering behind her, the sun making it look like fire. She even ignored the look her dad's client gave her as she charged towards the silver water in her pink bikini.
Just because she was a fifteen year old girl didn't mean she couldn't have fun.
Amber's feet touched the cool, sandy bottom of the great lake. The cool water splashed against her legs with each step she took, slowly getting deeper, and deeper.
In seconds the smooth water encased her mid-thigh, and running was becoming quite the struggle. Amber pushed off and performed a well-practiced, shallow dive into the water.
An electric surge of happiness made Amber smile underwater. Her smile loosened her goggle's suction and the water flowed in, stinging her eyes with the sediment she'd kicked up with her run.
Amber jerked back to the surface and wrung the black goggles off of her face, ridding them off the water.
"I'm not doing that again."She muttered to herself.
With a snap, Amber slipped her goggles back over her wet hair. She submerged herself into the cool, smooth water and just swam peacefully.
Amber couldn't remember when she couldn't swim. Water had always been her getaway. After a nice long day of Dance, she would come home sore and sweaty. Immediately she'd change into her bathing suit and plunge into the water. The water always seemed to give her strength.
Sure, she would leave the water and the cramps, hunger, and tiredness would immediately return, her legs shaking from exertion. But swimming was one of the highlights of her day. She swam in her back yard every day it was warm enough, and walked the two miles to the local indoor pool when it wasn't.
Amber counted her strokes between breaths like one would count music-- one two three four five. one two three four five. Over and over again, the pattern repeated itself. Times before, she tried driving the chant out of her head, but it never worked.
Amber barely acknowledged the sand beneath her as she glided through the water. one two three four five. one two three four five.
She swam for what seemed like only five minutes, her thoughts dancing through her head as she calmly reflected the day she had.
As Amber lifted her head for a breath, she heard someone yelling.
"Am--"her head fell back into the water before she could finish listening.
With a start, Amber realized someone was shouting her name. Amber planted her feet back on the sandy ground and looked back at the lake shore.
Amber's father stood, waving her arms for Amber's attention."AMBER!"he called, his small voice barely audiable at the distance.
"YEAH?!"Amber called back, her voice cracking from low use.
"DINNER!"
"FOOD!"Amber practically squealed in excitement. She pushed off of the shallow sands of the sandbar and swam as fast as she could to the dot of color she called her father. Amber knew her father would've headed back to the house right away, but she rushed like her father was waiting for her.
Once the water was about two feet deep, Amber was faced with a whole other problem-- getting out of the water.
The cold of getting out of the water never bothered her, but Amber never wanted to get out of her safe haven. The water always made her feel so agile and elegant, weightless and strong. Water was definitely her element.
But food...Amber's stomach protested.
Amber pushed herself out of the water and gravity restored itself on her, making her stumble at first. She waddled the last few feet of meters of water, ignoring the familiar sensation of the wind hitting her wet skin.
Amber slipped her cheap, pink foam flip flops on and began walking back down the trail that led to her house. Trees quickly surrounded her and the well-worn dirt path that cut through it.
The wood, usually full of cicadas, chickadees, and bald eagle calls was unusually quiet. Not a single mourning dove call or Robin whistling. The absence of sound and the cold of Amber's dripping wet, practically bare body gave her goosebumps.
A stick snapped behind Amber, causing her to jump. Before she could even turn around, something knocked into her and sent her straight to the ground. Dirt clung to her wet body, but that was the last thing on Amber's mind.
The first thing was the pain. Sharp, painful knives slashing down Amber's back with a surprising amount of weight.
Adrenline kicked in, and Amber forced herself to turn around. She would not be killed by a michigan monster. Australian was reasonable, but Michigan?
With difficulty, Amber pushed her attacker off her and rolled on to her back. The attacker immediately jumped on again and snarled in Amber's face. A black feline the size of a labrador stood on Amber's chest, and fear welled up in her chest.
Amber let out a scream. A scream of pure terror. She was going to die, wasn't she? Die at the ripe old age of 16.
The black cat thing yelped and jumped off of Amber, and scampered leaving her only with her fear and a warming sensation around her body.
A thought struck Amber. The only reason the cat would leave her alone was if there was a bigger preadator, right?
Amber took off back towards the lake, her heart beating like never before. Her arms pumped harder than ever.
A flash of color caught Amber's eye. Amber glanced at her arm and saw a huge, raging fire two feet tall off of her arms.
"HOLY--"Amber let out a string of colorful curses as she realized her entire body was on fire."I'M... I'M
ON FIRE!"
Sprinting because her life depended on it, Amber charged back to the beach. She barreled into the water and dove, completely submerging herself.
Her heart palpitating, Amber cautiously raised her arms out of the water. Normal. Just her normal, somehow tanned arms.
A flicker of warmth filled her arms again, and they lit up brighter than a spotlight.
Amber screamed and submerged herself again.
Her adrenline was starting to ebb, and tiredness began to overtake her.
Sane thought began to bombard Amber'a mind. Why were her arms perfectly fine? shouldn't they practically be bubbling from being in fire? And how did she catch fire?
A small, book-nerdy part of Amber prodded at her mind,"What if you have super powers?"
"At this moment, I just don't want to be on Fire!"Amber scolded herself. Immediately the flames stopped, leaving her bare arms perfectly normal.
"I do wanna be on fire."Amber lied, expirimenting.
Amber caught back on fire.
"It's official. I'm the new human torch."Amber muttered to herself,"Or delirious from blood loss."
Amber suddenly noted the red water around her. Amber's blood.
Amber scrambled to shore with difficulty now that her energy was gone and fumbled for her phone she had thrown on a green plastic garden chair. She swiped the screen open and opened her contacts.
Silently thanking whoever wrote the english language for making 'Dad' so close to the front of the Alphabet, Amber pressed dial.
"You have reached the voice mailbox--"Her phone reported.
Amber hung up. She was in serious pain now. the cuts on her back and fromt throbbing and screaming with pain.
Should she call 9-1-1? Was this important enough for police?
Amber silently debated wether or not it was important enough for a good minute. She tried feeling her back before finally hitting 'dial', but all she felt was thick, sticky blood.
"9-1-1. What is your emergency?"A perky voice chirped.
"Good question. I sort of got attacked by this giant cat thing a minute ago and am still bleeding. I tried calling my dad but he didn't answer."
"Please stay on the phone while I track it. We'll have someone over there in no time."The irrationally perky voice assured."What's your name?"
"Amber. Amber Volt."
"Well, Amber, can you tell me everything that happened?"
Amber paused for a second and silently debated wether or not she should also tell the police about her catching fire before speaking."I was heading back to my house through this trail through the woods, right? Well, all of the sudden, I get knocked to the ground and something incredibly sharp digs into my back. So, I roll over and it's this giant, black cat thing. Suddenly, it runs away and I start thinking that another, bigger preadator's gonna come and that's why it ran, so I run right back into the Lake."
"Lake superior, correct? We've tracked your phone to lake superior."
"Correct-I-mongo."Amber agreed."although, I guess I could've ran home too, even if I was on fire. Home was probably a safer option."
"You were on fire?"
Amber shrugged,"I dunno. I'm probably going crazy. My arms look fine to me, but I could've sworn..."
"I'll make sure the ambulance I'm sending your way is prepared."
"I don't know if you should send an ambulance..."
"Are you bleeding heavily or bleeding for a long period of time?"
"check and check."
"You're getting an ambulance. Is there anyone with you?"
"Nah. My dad just left, like, three minutes before I got pounced on. Then he didn't pick up his phone."
The girl kept asking Amber question after question. It got fairly annoying after a while, but at least she had something to think about. Such as how annoying the girl's voice was. Like honestly...
It seemed to take ages before the first people arrived with her father in tow. It wasn't until then that Amber noticed a very small and faint blood trail highlighting everywhere she'd been.
Amber waved at them,"Sup."
