When I open my eyes, I'm submerged in the slightly sedimented water and my clothes, which are heavy, are making me sink to the depths of the lake.
Inch by inch, the distance between the surface and I is lengthening with no counter actions enforced, leaving me to be my own anchor.
But I don't really care that I'm being weighed down. I don't care that the lower I go, the more energy I'll have to exert in order to resurface. I don't care that despite saying I wouldn't end up in the water multiple times, I ended up falling in. For the only thing I care about right now is my mental health, because with all that has been happening lately, I think I'm going to go crazy.
I mean for god's sake when I signed the contract for this, I did not think this would happen!
Goodness! What the heck does the universe have against me? Just yesterday I was drenched in rain and now I'm shoved into a lake?
I'm so tired of life and all this bad luck. No. Curse! I must be cursed for things like this to constantly keep happening to me. Junior year was fine because nothing overly-dramatic happened, besides witnessing Declan's wrath firsthand, but this year started off in the worst way imaginable and when I managed to sort it out, more bothersome things just popped up!
Can't a girl just take a break?
I let out a long and duly needed scream to pant out my frustrations before I resurface.
Strangely, when I break out to the surface to catch a breath of air, instead of seeing the jetty and everyone nearby, I see them looking into the water tens of yards away from me. Puzzled, I look around and it soon dawns upon me that I'm in the middle of the lake and only a few yards away from Bark Island.
Was I swimming unconsciously?
Everything about this situation is just off. How did I get here? My confused thoughts are left when I hear someone scream.
"Do you see her?!"
It comes all the way from the jetty and I see a commotion of students on the wooden platform, all looking into the water anxiously, waiting for me to resurface.
"Was she eaten by the Lake Wood monster?" A male student who I recognize as Wynn Fraiser, who's parents are big in real estate, yells out.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Another person yells back seriously. Mathew Reeds, the heir to his family's winery.
A more familiar who person is nearest to the edge, but is careful not to lean over too much, yells, "she might have said she could, but I don't think she can swim!"
Olivia. I—someone better push her in for me.
Surprisingly, I can tell how worried she is even from here, and it's honestly perturbing. Why is she so concerned?
There are a lot of people talking from the jetty, and I can hear them clearly, like they're right next to me.
"Who fell in?"
"I think it was Blair, you know, the girl who sits in front of the class."
"Shouldn't someone get the Rangers?"
"Can she really not swim?"
"Really? That makes her easy prey for the monster!" Wynn yells out again.
Mathew turns to him, "hey—I'm not kidding dude, I will slap you!"
Yikes.
I should head back before I become known as the recent victim of a made-up legend and word of it reaches the IIO. The humiliation of that would eat my undead self like I'm Kentucky fried chicken.
Okay Blair, it's time to go back.
I start to swim back to my classmates, but then stop when I get this weird feeling that is telling me that I'm missing something.
I gasp. My phone! Oh wait, I left that in my bag.
I try thinking again and get annoyed when locks of my hair fall over my eyes. I bring my hand up to swipe it away and I realize the color of the lock of hair is not the strawberry blonde it should be, but is brown — my natural hair color!
I grab locks of my hair from all over my head, expecting to see strands of blonde but only find dark brown hair. Frantic to keep my disguise complete, I look around the water desperately to see if it had sunk down, but find nothing but dark greenish water darkening into a pure black below.
Where is my wig?
I did not need this to happen.
I look back to the jetty where more people have come and even Ranger Shaun from earlier has dived into the water. I notice a person by the edge looking out in my direction and it's my cue to drop my head into the water and swim for the island, which isn't that far.
Obviously I can't let anyone see me like this. That would ruin my entire purpose of being here.
If I was in better shape and not wearing such baggy and heavy clothing, I'd be able to swim faster and still have more energy, but since all the odds are against me, I am almost completely exhausted the moment I reach the other end of Bark island. With its dense trees that's are covered with vines and bushes, it's almost impossible to look through from the other side of the lake and see someone there. The island isn't that big either.
I come to the shallow ground and raise but almost slip back into the water, curtesy of the slippery mud beneath my shoes. By now my long, dark brown hair is down and weighing, and my muscles are screaming after the intense battle to get here.
I walk over to the dry ground and slump by a tree, resting my back against it and ignoring the red ants that are marching nearby. Now that I'm out of the open range and there is no hope of finding my wig as it's probably already sunk to the bottom of the lake, I'm forced to come up with a plan that can get me out of this park without jeopardizing my identity — or more so, revealing my brown hair.
All of this doesn't help when I'm still unbelievably socked and my snickers are wet. Speaking of which, I should take them off. I unlace the shoe laces and pull my snickers off, revealing my penguin socked feet. Hideous. I pull the wet socks off and nod. That's much better.
I squeeze my hair out, causing lots of water to drop down and do a side braid to manage the mess that it is.
Maybe the best thing right now is to let the disguised version of myself remain in the water whilst the real me, Pheonix, finds a way out of here. I know I have spare change in my bag, however it only consists of blue jeans and a plain black shirt. If I can get to my bag without being noticed, change into clothes that are actually fit for me and call Olivia to tell her I swam away and caught a cab to go home since I "suddenly felt sick" and to tell the teachers, than that should do it.
Now to get off of this island...
I stand up and look across the water in front of me. There are some ducks to my left floating over the lake calmly and on my right is nothing but open water — a red zone. At the other end of the lake, there are trees and what looks like sand at the edge of the water. Unlike its opposing side that is populous with students, teachers and Rangers, this side looks quiet and unoccupied, peaceful even. I don't see any benches nor picnic tables either and the only signs of life are what looks like two ducks having a go at each other over something over the sand.
That's where I need to go.
I take off my thick purple sweater to lighten the weight and unwrap my bandages as well, taking off a lot of tension and discard them by the tree. Now only in my white undershirt and jeans, I shove my socks in my shoes and tie the laces through a belt hole in my jeans and fix it with a tight knot, leaving it dangling beside my right leg.
Without the extra weight, I feel less constricted when I re-entered the water. I make sure to swim within the blind spot provided by the island. As long as I swim in a straight line from the middle of Bark Island to the other side, there is a good chance I won't be seen, and to take extra precautions, I swim below the surface of the water.
After every twenty seconds, I come up to take some air before swimming lower and continuing. It takes a few minutes for me to finally reach the sandy pit and I slowly raise up, my calf muscles so close to cramping because of how hard I was swimming and the fact that I barely stretched. A poor decision on my part.
Water cascades down my body from my head to my toes like a waterfall and my feet burn the moment they come in contact with the hot sand. I can feel my white shirt clinging to my upper body like a second skin and in the sun, it appears see-through, exposing my grey sports bra.
I swipe my face with my hands to get rid of droplets of water running down and look around, hearing an irritating sound nearby. It's a sound that makes one want to go deaf.
When I find the source, I raise an eyebrow curiously. Ten feet away from me are two brown ducks circling something in the sand between them. They're quacking at each other in some type of argument, sort of reminding me of Olivia and Simon.
Duck one takes a step closer to the center, where the object lies almost camouflaged in the sand, and is immediately attacked by duck two.
It's a bizarre sight.
Duck one is hit and moves back and the two continue to circle the thing in an anti-clockwise direction, like boxers in a ring, waiting for each other to make the next move. Duck one appears to be a daring and bold character, opting to go in and steal the object from his friend, but duck two is stubborn and blocks him every time. Finally, there's a breakthrough and duck one manages to grab the object with his beak and breaks out into a sprint to fly off.
And that's when my eyes widen.
My wig!
Before he can fly off, ran after him and grab hold of my precious blonde wig I had lost all hope in finding.
It must have floated up and these imbeciles flew off with it!
By grabbing the wig, the duck is pulled down and just when I try to yank it off, duck two starts quacking at me like I'm the bad guy.
"Let go! It's mine!" I tell duck one between grit teeth, shaking the wig that his beak is still locked on.
The creature starts to flap his wins furiously, trying to fly off. Rolling my eyes, I swing the wig around, causing duck one to fly in the same direction and he quacks, his beak breaking free and the motions causing him to crash land in the water.
I huff and walk off when I trip on something and fall forward, half of my body landing on green grass and the other on the sand.
Quack!
It was duck two.
He's under my ankles, the mass enough to lock him in place and he begins to wriggle in the sand in an attempt to free himself.
Seriously?
I push myself up and he runs free and I when I think he knows better than to mess with me, both he and that stupid duck one come after me, quacking at me as though I can understand duck language.
"Go away. I won't hesitate to hurt you." I warn them, taking steps back, my feet landing on the soft green grass. Both ducks waddle forward, their black eyes on the wig that has specs of sand falling from it.
Quack!
"No."
Quack quack!
"I'm being serious. Don't come any closer."
Quack!
Duck one foolhardily races after me, but before he can reach the wig, I use my left hand to slide him to the side. I barely used any force but that weakling lands three feet away like I had kicked him.
Duck two is mad.
Quack quack quack!
"I don't understand what you're saying!" I exasperate as he flys up and with his webbed feet, tangles locks of the wig and attempts to fly off with it. He is joined by duck one and the both of them traps locks of hair on one side whilst I'm holding the other. How is this wig even holding up?
Gosh, I never knew ducks were such pesky creatures!
The reason I can't let them fly off with this is because they might drop it somewhere someone else could pick it up. Although I'm sure none of the seniors care enough to pay attention to me, there is a possibility someone could look at it and wonder why it might resemble my hair so much. Especially now that I'm still thought to be in the lake.
I bet I've already died and they're just waiting for my body to float up now.
With a last tug, I pull away the wig and both birds fly forward, shooting over a tree, never to be seen again. Just kidding, they return!
I groan. This is stupid. I'm fighting with ducks! How low have I come that I've resorted to fighting with birds!
Down to my last option, because this fight was not supposed to happen in the first place, I do what needs to be done... I clench the wig in my hands and make a run for it.
I know. Running barefoot in a park that is known for its bears? You're mad. But look at me; I'm wet, my makeup in undoubtedly smudged and I'm being chased by ducks who want my wig! What would you do if you were in my position? Nothing, because this situation is not normal!
I sprint into a line of trees, hearing duck one and duck two quacking behind me in hot pursuit. If wildlife was not so important here, I'd be enjoying some roasted duck by now. Actually, scratch that. I don't like sassy ducks.
The woods are dense, but I know that there are countless trails here and there and I'm bound to find one. I run faster, feeling the twigs, leaves and earth beneath my feet. I come to an opening and sigh with relief when I find a trail. Thankfully, I don't hear those troublesome ducks, so it's a good sign.
I slow down into a walk and hold the wig out in front of me to shake out more sand.
As if ducks had the ability to hear wigs being shaken, I hear a quack behind me and start running along the trail again. A hundred metres into my run and I'm faced with yet another problem.
You've got to be kidding me.
Someone is asleep on a bench under the shade of a tree ten feet away from me. It's a decent place to get away and get some shut eye, but for me, it could not have come on a worse time. To put the cherry on top of this situation, it's someone I'd never consider in a million years if I hadn't discovered his lovely habit of falling asleep in art class.
Declan.
I'm frozen to my spot, watching him in his uncomfortable position, where he's only sitting up, back leaning against the tree that bench is situated in front of.
With the fact that Declan can take a nap anywhere, he should be used as another Snow White found sleeping beautifully in the woods. Actually, how random is this situation?
I shake away my thoughts and get back to what's important: me getting my bag and getting out of here. I take slow steps forward. All I have to do is walk past him that's it. Besides, he's in a coma. There's nothing to be worried about here.
Thump, thump.
Oh no. I hear movement behind me. When I turn around I'm met with those two demons. I mentally curse them and turn back around slowly, careful not to provoke those two and take a step forward. I'm right in front of Declan now. If he were to open his eyes, I'd be the first one he sees.
But it's okay. Everything is fine. He won't wake up.
Quack!
I stop and turn around to glare at the idiot who did that, my eyes landing on duck one. I had a feeling he would do this.
Quack quack! — argh duck two! I did not need that!
QUACK!
Duck one flies up and locks his beak on a lock of blonde hair and once again, we're in a tug of war... this time right in front of the most feared person in Victor High, who is sleeping!
I grind my teeth and reach for a stick nearby. With the stick, I try to pry off their clutches on the wig.
Suddenly, from my peripheral vision, I notice Declan's head tilt slightly and see him starting to wake up. His eyes slowly open and I don't know why I stay rooted to the spot like an idiot.
As an agent, you knew to get out of situations before the worst could happen, and I used to be the definition of stealth and covertness, yet only a year away and here I am, a lost cause.
I let go of the wig and both ducks fly off, but I no longer care about that stupid thing. Because I realize something else. I'm still wearing my green contacts, and wig or no wig, I look like the Blair I've brought everyone to recognize.
Declan's hazel eyes are an empty void when he wakes up, and when they land on me, they don't move anywhere else. He sees me. He's seen me. He's looking at me right now.
His eyes shamelessly travel from my bare face down to my dirty feet and back up, but makes no reaction whatsoever, his face remaining their usual neutral, rather emotionless expression. I can hear my heart beating erratically in my chest and I snap out of whatever reverie I was in, coming back to my senses.
I run away.
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A/N: I'd love to be able to take a nap anywhere and anytime I wanted to, but I'm the type of person who wakes up feeling like going to bed and goes to bed feeling like I've just woken up. Also, the last three chapters (including this one) have been really long 🤔... not sure if I should keep this 3000words plus thing going, please let me know what you prefer - I updated early because of this.
Vote and comment what you like, and stay safe.
Bye! — @prettierflowers