The Next Generation (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 13

The current in the river had been especially strong because of some recent rain storms, so when Talon had fallen forward, it had immediately swept him out to the middle of the river. Talon struggled to stay afloat as he was carried down the river. Ben stood up and jumped into the river after him without a second thought. Luckily, Ben had been a member of a swim team back in middle school, so he was an excellent swimmer. He swam as hard as he could after Talon, trying to reach him before he went under, but this was no easy feat, the river was nearly one hundred feet wide and probably at least a few dozen feet deep. When Ben was about fifteen feet away from him, Talon’s head went underwater and did not come back up. Ben swam even harder, attempting to use some of his super speed to help propel him along. He then dove under the water, trying to find Talon in the murky water. He had to resurface several times before he felt his hand brush a piece of clothing. He yanked it to the surface and found that he was carrying Talon along by the front of the shirt. Then paddled backwards, dragging Talon in front of him to get them back to the shore. Thankfully, Talon had not been under long and came up coughing when Ben pulled him up. He didn’t want to have to explain to Talon why he had to give him the ‘kiss of life’. Ben had had more than enough of that sort of thing today. 

After a few seconds, Talon stopped coughing and looked back at Ben carrying him back to shore.

“What are you- put me down!” he exclaimed.

“And let you drown again? Please, you just demonstrated you have the swimming abilities of a two year old,” Ben replied, rolling his eyes.

“I’d like to see you do better.”

Ben gave him a look. “Who’s carrying you to shore right now?”

Talon stopped and turned back around, refusing to talk to him. Ben chuckled to himself. He really was acting like a toddler. After a couple more minutes swimming backwards, Ben finally managed to pull Talon ashore. When they got deep enough that Talon could easily reach the bottom, Ben stood up and dropped himin the water. For a quick moment, Talon freaked out, until he realized that the water was only about two feet deep. Blushing, he stood up and followed Ben up the rocks and back to where they had left their shoes. 

Ben sat down on his boulder again to put his shoes on while Talon carefully got out and immediately retreated to the top of the bank like a cat with its tail on fire. Ben rolled his eyes. He stood up after finishing and followed after Talon, sitting on the other rock across from him. Talon finished putting his shoes back on and then sat with his arms resting on his legs, looking on the ground.

“How about we agree not to tell anyone what happened here,” Ben suggested.

Talon smiled. “Deal.”

He and Ben stood up and began walking back towards the mouth of the canyon. 

“You’re not going to fly?” Ben asked.

“Hey, I need some exercise every once in a while,” Talon said, pushing Ben with his shoulder. “Plus I think you and I have misunderstood something about each other.”

Ben and Talon walked in awkward silence, looking like they belonged to a strange circus between Ben’s skin and Talon’s burn on his face. Anyone that happened to pass them driving down the highway would be very confused as to why there were two soaking wet young men, one shirtless and shiny, the other looking like a homeless man that had just taken part in the ice bucket challenge, walking down the highway. 

Finally, Ben couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Are you scared of water?”

“What?” Talon answered.

“Are you-”

“No, I heard you the first time. I’ve just...never really thought about that before I guess.”

“I mean if you are, that’s totally fine. Everybody has their quirks.”

Talon smiled at the ground again. He then took a deep breath and exhaled deeply. “It started when I was five years old I guess. I have two little siblings and at the time, the youngest hadn’t been born, and my little brother was only three years old.

“We had gone to the beach for a family day out, just my parents, my brother, and I. It was a bit stormy that day, but I didn’t think much of it. I was a little kid with not a care in the world, so why would I worry about it? 

“Anyways, we were on a beach almost completely to ourselves, but the price to pay for that is that the water goes deep very quickly in the spot we were at. My dad warned me to be careful and not go out without a lifejacket if I wanted to go out far. They honestly should have just told me to take one of them with me if I wanted to go out and try to swim.

“I decided I wanted to try and see how far out I could go, so I grabbed a life jacket and put it on myself. My parents were preoccupied with my little brother, trying to figure out what his current tantrum was about. Seeing as I had put the jacket on myself, I hadn’t put it on right, nor was it my size. I had actually grabbed my mom’s on accident, so you can probably see where this is going.

“I went out into the water and started paddling out. Without realizing it, I had already gotten pretty far. Where I was at, my family guessed it was probably somewhere close to twenty feet deep, but of course, I thought I was invincible because I had the life jacket.

“When I turned around to shout to my family so they could see how amazing I was to have swam that far out, in doing so, I tipped the life jacket upright and immediately slipped out of it and the jacket shot off of me, landing a few feet away. I was too young to have any idea how to swim, so of course I sank. 

“The feeling of helplessness, of being overcome and not being able to do much about it is what really scared me. It’s not the water itself, it's the sinking feeling of falling to the bottom and not being able to get back to the top. That’s what I felt when I fell through the life jacket. That and pure and utter panic.

“Thankfully, my flailing and gasping managed to get my dad’s attention. He saw me out in the water and immediately dove in to save me. In the end, there was no lasting damage, just emotional scarring. Since then, I’ve been too scared to even get near the water. For years after that, I refused to even take a bath, only showers because of my fear. My parents could forget about giving me swimming lessons, I wouldn’t even get within one hundred feet of the pool. I was very relieved when I found out that none of the eagle scout required badges included swimming, though I almost died when my dad took me boating to help pass off a fishing badge.

“So, yes, you could say I am afraid of water. Everyone has their ‘quirk’, as you put it, and I guess this is just mine.”