In the Water

Chapter One

I know that there are mistakes, I haven't exactly had much time to edit. Anyway, here's the first official chapter for In the Water. Tell me what you think in the comment section!

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CHAPTER ONE:

‘Dawn Fay, a much loved young member of the community has been put on life support late last night. After a fun day at the beach, Dawn’s friends younger brother, Hector Richards, pulled the girl to shore, much to the confusion of doc—‘

“Dawn’s best friend’s younger brother,” Spencer corrected bitterly, her eyes flickering towards the TV screen with what seemed to be the ninth report from the same channel.

She turned in the uncomfortable hospital seat, feeling a piece of wood dig into her back as she did. With a short sigh of defeat, Spencer let her head drop backwards, her eyes moving to stare at the roof as she rested her legs on the other unoccupied chairs.

It had to have been at least thirty five hours since she last saw her friends smiling face, and she had spent twelve of those hours crammed into a tiny seat at the hospital. The one thing stopping Spencer from visiting more often was school, but considering her mental state she was excused for however long she needed to ‘recover from the terrible incident.’

The only person who had spent the full thirty five hours at the hospital was Audrey Fay, Dawn’s older sister, who was currently sprawled over four chairs across from Spencer, her head lolled to the side as she slept.

The doctors hadn’t told much to either of the girls, though when Dawn’s parents left her room with pale faces, Spencer knew it was a more than just nearly drowning and hitting her head sending her into some kind of deep coma. Why else would they put her on life support?

Audrey mumbled incoherent words in her sleep, pulling Spencer back to reality as she stared with a dazed expression around the room.

Her eyes eventually landed back on Audrey, who was clutching the railing of her seat as if trapped in some nightmare. She opened her mouth, like she wanted to yell. Yet no words came out. Dark bags were visible under her eyes, even though she had tried covering it with her makeup.

With her long, auburn hair, tan skin and hazel eyes, Audrey was like Dawn’s twin, she could probably pretend to be Dawn and people would believe her, especially seeing as the two acted the same.

Silently, Spencer stood from her seat, her eyes traveling to the long, dark corridor with the flickering light and the constant sound of dripping water from one of the rooms. Dawn was in the seventh room on the right, a heart monitor by her bed, probably thousands of tubes and medical things stuck in her arms. A nurse would be checking on her, making sure everything was in order. If not they would get the doctor.

 “Where are you going?” While lost in thought, Spencer had somehow drifted much closer to the corridor, not realising it until now.

Audrey stood from her seat, looking slightly better than yesterday.She looked like she had been through hell still, but in a way she kind of had.

“I, um, I was going to the canteen.”

“The canteen isn’t down there, Spence.” Audrey retorted, mustering a small smile though it didn’t reach her eyes. “Surely you know that by now.” Audrey paused as if realizing what she had said, “I didn’t mean it like that because I know that you were here last year and your mum-“

“No, it’s alright.” Spencer forced a smile, though it didn’t seem right so she stopped. “And you’re right; I do know where everything is.”

After a moment of silence in which was spent listening to the constant ticks of the clock that hung on the wall, Spencer finally spoke. “Are you hungry?”

Audrey nodded her head quickly, not trusting to open her mouth to speak.

The two girls arrived at the canteen eight minutes later. after Audrey had managed to convince Spencer in letting her stop off in the visitor’s bathroom to fix up her makeup.

When they walked into the bathroom, Spencer really wasn’t too keen to look at her reflection, dreading it actually. So the sixteen year-old had squeezed her eyes shut, waiting patiently for Audrey to finish.

“Spider!” Audrey yelled at the top of her lungs, latching on to Spencer with a vice grip. Of course thinking that Audrey had hurt herself, Spencer’s eyes flew open, darting around the room for the potential threat. A sigh escaped Spencer’s lips as she saw the only danger was a tiny daddy long legs spider which didn’t even look alive anymore after Audrey had slammed her mascara tube down on it.

“It’s dead you lunatic!” Spencer hissed; she really never did like girls who squealed at the sight of a tiny spider. But Audrey was Dawn’s sister, and in a time like this they needed to look out for each other.

Two more minutes later, Audrey had finally worked up the courage to lift her mascara tube from the spider, scrunching her nose up (while looking a lot like Dawn) as she did. While this was happening, Spencer was carefully scrutinizing her appearance in the mirror.

She didn’t look like the happy, carefree Spencer she had two days ago. Instead she looked more like the walking dead, worse than Audrey who had fooled everyone into thinking she was okay. Spencer was breaking, her tough exterior crumbling with each passing second.

As she studied her face, a knot formed in her stomach, tightening with each breath she took until soon she was gasping for air. A weird sense of déjà vu washed over her, making her want to cry out in pain.

Spencer looked like a train wreck. Her once beautiful, brown hair was tangled, tied up in a pony tail to keep it out of the way. Her hands shook badly, her nails bitten raw as she leaned against the bathroom counter to keep her balance. She was always fair skinned, easily sunburnt, but now her skin was pale against her dark clothes.

Her eyes though, they were the worst. They used to be aqua green, always sparkling even when she wasn’t in the best of moods, now they were verging on grey and they were always wide and alert, showing a mixture of fear and sorrow.

Even though Dawn was still alive, Spencer was already mourning the loss of her best friend.

“Are you alright, Spence?”

Spencer had nearly forgotten about Audrey, who was staring at her as if able to read her mind. How long had Spencer stood there, having a near mental break down?

Wordlessly, Spencer released her hands from the counter, counting down from 10 before she turned around to face Audrey. “This place just brings back a lot of memories.” There was no point in lying, Audrey wouldn’t judge Spencer or pity her; at least she hoped she wouldn’t.

“Do you want me to leave?” Audrey was always very selfless, something Spencer was never really good at.

“No! Please don’t leave, that’s the last thing I want.” Spencer replied, her heartbeat quickening at the thought of being left alone, making her voice shake as she continued, “I don’t really want to be left alone in a place like this, especially now.”

Audrey stared at Spencer with what looked like, not pity, but relief? Spencer had been so wrapped up in herself that she hadn’t even stopped to ask the older girl how she was coping.

As the two girls walked side by side out of the bathroom, neither saying a word, somewhere else in that same hospital in the seventh room on the right, Dawn Fay’s heart stopped beating.