Blurb: It's about a girl who lost her mom to drowning and she found a pond that keeps her close to her mom.
A waterfall more than 100 years old has been emptying crystal clear dark blue water into a pool below. The water had been flowing for years and years and nobody had noticed it until a teenage girl put her eyes on it. The landscape around the pool was like something straight out of a movie. It had beautiful pink and purple tulips covering the edge of the pool there were big stones going in a circle around the pool which was covered in dark green moss.
Tasina slowly turned her head side to side not wanting anyone else to see her walk toward the strange blue water. She walked in between two bushes and her eyes met with the beauty of the pool. She stepped onto the bank around the rocks and walked around the little pond. She looked down into the water and closed her eyes. The sounds of birds chirping, and the wind howling into her ear gave her a sense that she was safe and nobody would find her even if they tried to. Tasina lifted her head back up and opened her light green eyes. She thought for a moment about what she was remembering, her lost mother having fun in the little pool swimming around, and just having a great time. She smiled a soft smile mixed with sad emotion and turned her head to meet the direction of her dad calling her name from their campground.
Tasina started to walk back to the entrance and tripped over a vine from a big pine tree. She fell onto her knees right by the water almost falling in but not quite. She turned over and sat up, getting a good look at her knee. She saw the blood coming out of her knee and took off her grey jacket wrapping it around her knee making a tourniquet which her dad had taught her how to make. She picked herself up wiping the tears from her tan skin moving the black strands of straight black hair from her face.
Tasina hopped herself back over to her campground to where her dad was squatting trying to light a fire in a circle of grey mossy stones. Her dad lifted his head hearing his daughter approach him from behind. He turned his head and his eyes immediately shifted to her blood-soaked jacket. He got up and ran toward his daughter cupping her tear soaked face questioning what she had done to herself to cause this to happen. Her dad had been a part of a beach patrol team and knew a little bit about injuries. He helped his daughter hobble over to a bench to sit down next to their R.V. She sat down on the light blue cushioned seat and cupped her face as her dad removed the jacket from her knee. She squinted, trying not to see what the blood was covering. When her dad finally unwrapped her knee, blood started coming out and dripped down her leg. Her dad wrapped her jacket back around her knee and told her to hold it there while he went to get a rag and a bucket. She removed her hands from her face and held her jacket onto her knee with pressure to do her best to try and stop the bleeding. She lifted her eyes from the ground to see her dad speed walking over to her with the bucket in his left and the rag in his right hand. He walked over to her with sadness in his eyes and bent down to her knee. He grabbed her jacket and placed it on the ground next to her. Tasina grabbed her face not wanting to see if there was a bone sticking from her knee. Her dad dipped the rag into the water and dabbed it on her knee watching the blood mix with the water flow down her knee. After he was done wiping it, it revealed just a small deep wound that would heal just with a huge band-aid.
“Even for a small cut, it bleeds don’t it?” Her dad chuckled from in front of her.
“Yeah, it does.” She laughed.
She laughed with her dad after that whole thing just happened. They laughed at the fact about how scared she was even though it was only a little gash and really nothing to worry about.
“Where did you go to get this cut?” questioned her dad.
Her dad said in confusion raising his eyebrow putting her jacket on a line that was wrapped around a tree.
“Okay so don’t get mad, but I was out near campus and I saw this really pretty pool of water and I had to check it out so I went into the little opening and when you called my name I was walking out and tripped over a vine and I guess a really sharp rock went into my knee.”
“From now to our time leaving I forbid you to ever go back to that place. I don’t want you getting hurt again.” Her father replied.
“That’s fair but you can’t stop me from going back.”
“Fine, if you don’t show me where the pool is right now we will pack all our stuff and head back home and you’ll be sitting out in your room without your phone until spring break is over.”
She didn’t say anything and just grabbed the band-aid that was next to her and opened it up. She put it on her knee and walked toward the pool entrance and led her dad to where she hurt herself. She turned back to her dad and his eyes widened. She looked away in disgust not wanting to hear what her father would say to her. Her dad looked at her and opened his mouth to speak.
Her dad said to her in disgust, “I’ll be getting some barbed wire put around this place until we leave.”
Her lips turned to a frown and anger overran her body. She raced up to her dad to try and convince him to let her keep going back, but nothing she said or did to try and change his mind seemed to take any effect. Later that night her dad went up to the camp manager and asked for barbed wire to be put around the pool that she had been going to. He happily agreed and offered to help put it up. The two men went to the little pool and began wrapping clumps of barbed wire around it. She watched as her last memories of her mother were fading away.
Tasina ran into her RV and turned on the TV expecting nothing to be done about the barbed wire, thoughts of the only thing that connected her to her mother was being torn away from her. She watched the TV with a sharp eye and focused on the show she was watching. The guys on the TV were dealing with barbed wire trying to get to an animal that was trapped in a barbed wire fence. An idea popped into her head, she would break into the camp managers den and try to find some cutting pliers. She remembers her dad asking for some after a nail was sticking up out of the wooden floorboard of her RV. She waited for her dad to come back, they sat outside together in silence and cooked some meat on the fire. She waited for complete nightfall for her plan to come to life.
….
She poked her head up from her blanket and looked at her dad his eyes were closed and his mouth was open the sound of him snoring reminded her of the booming thunder when there were nights the storms got bad. She slowly got out of bed still having her shoes on and quietly crept across the floor to the door. She put her foot on a creaky step and she lifted her foot up and shot a gaze to her dad who was turning over to now face the other direction. She winced at the thought of her dad catching her in the act to go back to the place where he had told her not to go. The fear quickly resolved to anger thinking about the only thing that kept her close to her mother was ripped away from her.
She stepped onto the grass and she sighed with relief. She walked over to the den and stepped behind it where she wanted to try and peek around to see if anyone could see her. She poked her head around and in the sight that she saw she saw a German Shepard. She knew if the dog saw her he would bark and wake up the person that was living close to the den. She turned back to herself and thought about what she was going to do. She remembered that they had meat that night for dinner. She ran back on her tiptoes to try and lessen the sounds that her feet would make on the grass. She grabbed the meat and ran back to her hiding spot behind the den.
She looked at the dog and back at the meat fear and anxiety was running through her brain. She decided that she would do this for her mother. She threw the meat in the other direction as far away as could and the dog ran toward it. She ran to the door and got inside she flickered on the lights. She saw how much junk and how many tools there were on the ground. She looked everywhere for the pliers but she never found them. She started to panic she settled down and took the fate that she would never have any memories of her mom left. She walked to the door and saw a sticky note on the crusted wooden door frame reminding her of the mud on her floor in her RV. The note read aloud in her head.
Dear Bruce,
I had to take the pliers, my son stepped on a nail. Gotta get it out some way! If you need it back it’s on the counter by the sink in my RV. Feel free to get it. My daughter is sleeping so try not to wake her.
Your dearest friend, Alexander cannon.
She took mental notes and a smile ran across her face in a happy grin. She was going to get her spot back… tonight.
She ran over to his RV since Alexander was a good friend of her fathers and they were very close, She stepped close to the RV and saw a pink sleeping bag through the window. She stared at the sleeping bag and saw the pliers on the counter near the sink. If she could just open the door she could sneak her hand in and grab the pliers. Just as she was about to go into the RV someone grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back. She turned around so sharply her feet dug into the ground and she spun, she saw a young boy with poofy brown hair his green eyes stared at her in disbelief.
“Were you just about to break into that RV?”
“For a good reason” She turned her head toward the RV looking inside the window making sure his voice didn’t wake her up.
“What are you even doing here anyway?”
“I’m trying to get cutting pliers to get into that little pool.”
“What pool?”
“Listen If you help me get the cutting pliers then I’ll show you what the pool is. Deal?”
“Deal, but anyways I’m River.”
“I’m Tasina, but you can call me Tasi.”
After the conversation, they went to try and get into the RV. River pulled open the door and the girl that was in there peeked her head up her eyes went wide and she was about to scream. River put his hand over her mouth and said not to scream. He took his hand away from her face and walked backward away from her when he grabbed the pliers on the sink he stepped out the door and walked back down the steps. Just as River thought he was in the clear he passed the pliers to Tasina. Tasina gave River a soft grin and took the pliers in her hand and put them in her pocket. The girl that was in the RV bust out of the door and started talking in a sarcastic and rude voice.
“Why are you guys even here and why are you breaking into my RV?!” The girl gave Tasina and River two nasty scowls and crossed her arms over her stomach.
Tasina replied in a calm voice not to rial her up any more than she already was, “ We were just grabbing the pliers that were on your sink we weren’t meaning it to look like a break in.”
River touched Tasinas shoulder reassuring her that everything would be okay in the end. Tasina looked up at River and smiled.
“You know what. Maybe I should run and tell my dad that you broke into my RV and stole something, and guess what they will never believe you, idiots.”
Tasina tried to think of a solution to this problem, but nothing popped into her head in time. The girl started to stomp over to the manager's tent to tell him what was happening, and just as she thought all this work was going to be foiled the girl tumbled to the ground face first. She stood up and screamed when her mouth was closed Tasina thought it was funny and tried not to giggle out loud.
“You know what you little thieves can do something for me and I won’t speak of this to anybody.
Tasina looked at River and he shrugged his shoulders. Tasina looked back at the girl in a curious state to as what she could be talking about.
“Okay? What’s the deal?” said Tasina
“You give me your brand new top that you are wearing and give me 50 dollars to buy a new top, and if you don’t I’ll tell the manager you broke into my RV in the middle of the night to steal my diamond bracelet.”
Tasina thought in her head that it was a clever type of blackmail but she would do anything to get that pool back, so Tasina agreed she ran back to her Rv and got 50 dollars and gave the girl her top. The girl went back to her RV and agreed to keep quiet. She ran over to the barbed wire with River and started cutting and moving it. They stepped into the pool and were so mesmerized over the beauty that Tasina wasn’t paying attention and she slipped into the pool. Tasinas mother never got the chance to teach her how to swim and she was sinking to the bottom and fast. Tasina was so afraid that she was going to die that she passed out and everything went completely black. River jumped into the water and tried to find Tasina but his eyes were clouded. He stuck his hands out trying to reach for her and felt her arm enter the palm of his hand. River grabbed her hand and tried to pull her up but her leg was caught on a weed. The river was trying his best to pull her up since they were really close and the thought of losing her clouded his mind and wanting to get her out of the water was his only wish. Finally, her leg broke free and he grabbed her limp body bridal style and kicked his feet upward trying to get to the surface. He finally made it up and dragged her body onto the sand. He put his two fingers on her neck and he felt a heartbeat. It was spaced far apart but it was there. He cupped his hands around her face and did mouth to mouth until she started to spit and cough up water. He smiled and picked her up bridal style again and brought her back to his campsite so she could sleep and go back to her RV before her dad woke up. He carried Tasina all the way back to his campsite and laid her down gently onto an air mattress. River woke up first and carried Tasina back to her RV. He looked inside and her dad was still asleep with his mouth wide open. He walked through the door and set her down and he disappeared without a trace back to his campsite. Tasina woke up and went to Rivers campsite. She hugged him and told him that they would not speak of this to anyone, not even her dad. Tasina gave him and smile and nodded, and River pulled out a stone from his pocket and handed it to her.
“Since you said that the pool kept you closer to your mom I grabbed the stone on our way out to remember this day.”
Tasina wiped her eyes with her sleeve and took the stone into her hand. While Tasina got into her car and her dad drove off she waved to River as she left the campsite hoping one day she would see him again.
“Even for a small cut, it bleeds don’t it?” Her dad chuckled from in front of her.
“Yeah, it does.” She laughed
She laughed with her dad after that whole thing just happened. They laughed at the fact about how scared she was even though it was only a little gash and really nothing to worry about.
“Where did you go to get this cut?” questioned her dad.
Her dad said in confusion raising his eyebrow putting her jacket on a line that was wrapped around a tree.
“Okay so don’t get mad, but I was out near campus and I saw this really pretty pool of water and I had to check it out so I went into the little opening and when you called my name I was walking out and tripped over a vine and I guess a really sharp rock went into my knee.”
“From now to our time leaving I forbid you to ever go back to that place. I don’t want you getting hurt again.” Her father replied
“That’s fair but you can’t stop me from going back.”
“Fine,If you don’t show me where the pool is right now we will pack all our stuff and head back home and you’ll be sitting out in your room without your phone until spring break is over.”
She didn’t say anything and just grabbed the band-aid that was next to her and opened it up. She put it on her knee and walked toward the pool entrance and led her dad to where she hurt herself. She turned back to her dad and his eyes widened. She looked away in disgust not wanting to hear what her father would say to her. Her dad looked at her and opened his mouth to speak.
Her dad said to her in disgust, “I’ll be getting some barbed wire put around this place until we leave.”
Her lips turned to a frown and anger overran her body. She raced up to her dad to try and convince him to let her keep going back, but nothing she said or did to try and change his mind seemed to take any effect. Later that night her dad went up to the camp manager and asked for barbed wire to be put around the pool that she had been going to. He happily agreed and offered to help put it up. The two men went to the little pool and began wrapping clumps of barbed wire around it. She watched as her last memories of her mother were fading away. She ran into her RV and turned on the TV expecting nothing to be done about the barbed wire, sadness thoughts of the only thing that connected her to her mother was being torn away from her. She watched the TV with a sharp eye and focused on the show she was watching. The guys on the TV were dealing with barbed wire trying to get to an animal that was trapped in a barbed wire fence. An idea popped into her head, she would break into the camp managers den and try to find some cutting pliers. She remembers her dad asking for some after a nail was sticking up out of the wooden floorboard of her RV. She waited for her dad to come back, they sat outside together in silence and cooked some meat on the fire. She waited for complete nightfall for her plan to come to life.
….
She poked her head up from her blanket and looked at her dad his eyes were closed and his mouth was open the sound of him snoring reminded her of the booming thunder when there were nights the storms got bad. She slowly got out of bed still having her shoes on and quietly crept across the floor to the door. She put her foot on a creaky step and she lifted her foot up and shot a gaze to her dad who was turning over to now face the other direction. She winced at the thought of her dad catching her in the act to go back to the place where he had told her not to go. The fear quickly resolved to anger thinking about the only thing that kept her close to her mother was ripped away from her.
She stepped onto the grass and she sighed with relief. She walked over to the den and stepped behind it where she wanted to try and peek around to see if anyone could see her. She poked her head around and in the sight that she saw she saw a German Shepard. She knew if the dog saw her he would bark and wake up the person that was living close to the den. She turned back to herself and thought about what she was going to do. She remembered that they had meat that night for dinner. She ran back on her tiptoes to try and lessen the sounds that her feet would make on the grass. She grabbed the meat and ran back to her hiding spot behind the den.
She looked at the dog and back at the meat fear and anxiety was running through her brain. She decided that she would do this for her mother. She threw the meat in the other direction as far away as could and the dog ran toward it. She ran to the door and got inside she flickered on the lights. She saw how much junk and how many tools there were on the ground. She looked everywhere for the pliers but she never found them. She started to panic she settled down and took the fate that she would never have any memories of her mom left. She walked to the door and saw a sticky note on the crusted wooden door frame reminding her of the mud on her floor in her RV. The note read aloud in her head.
Dear Bruce,
Had to take the pliers my son stepped on a nail. Gotta get it out some way! If you need it back it’s on the counter by the sink in my RV. Feel free to get it. My daughter is sleeping so try not to wake her.
Your dearest friend, Alexander Cannon.
She took mental notes and a smile ran across her face in a happy grin. She was going to get her spot back… tonight.
She ran over to his RV since Alexander was a good friend of her fathers and they were very close, She stepped close to the RV and saw a pink sleeping bag through the window. She stared at the sleeping bag and saw the pliers on the counter near the sink. If she could just open the door she could sneak her hand in and grab the pliers. Just as she was about to go into the RV someone grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back. She turned around so sharply her feet dug into the ground and she spun, she saw a young boy with poofy brown hair his green eyes stared at her in disbelief.
“Were you just about to break into that RV?”
“For a good reason” She turned her head toward the RV looking inside the window making sure his voice didn’t wake her up.
“What are you even doing here anyway?”
“I’m trying to get cutting pliers to get into that little pool.”
“What pool?”
“Listen If you help me get the cutting pliers then I’ll show you what the pool is. Deal?”
“Deal, but anyways I’m River.”
“I’m Tasina, but you can call me Tasi.”
After the conversation, they went to try and get into the RV. River pulled open the door and the girl that was in there peeked her head up her eyes went wide and she was about to scream. River put his hand over her mouth and said not to scream. He took his hand away from her face and walked backward away from her when he grabbed the pliers on the sink he stepped out the door and walked back down the steps. Just as River thought he was in the clear he passed the pliers to Tasina. Tasina gave River a soft grin and took the pliers in her hand and put them in her pocket. The girl that was in the RV bust out of the door and started talking in a sarcastic and rude voice.
“Why are you guys even here and why are you breaking into my RV?!” The girl gave Tasina and River two nasty scowls and crossed her arms over her stomach.
Tasina replied in a calm voice not to rial her up any more than she already was, “ We were just grabbing the pliers that were on your sink we weren’t meaning it to look like a break in.”
River touched Tasina's shoulder reassuring her that everything would be okay in the end. Tasina looked up at River and smiled.
“You know what. Maybe I should run and tell my dad that you broke into my RV and stole something, and guess what they will never believe you, idiots.”
Tasina tried to think of a solution to this problem, but nothing popped into her head in time. The girl started to stomp over to the manager's tent to tell him what was happening, and just as she thought all this work was going to be foiled the girl tumbled to the ground face first. She stood up and screamed when her mouth was closed Tasina thought it was funny and tried not to giggle out loud.
“You know what you little thieves can do something for me and I won’t speak of this to anybody.
Tasina looked at River and he shrugged his shoulders. Tasina looked back at the girl in a curious state to as what she could be talking about.
“Okay? What’s the deal?” said Tasina.
“You give me your brand new top that you are wearing and give me 50 dollars to buy a new top, and if you don’t I’ll tell the manager you broke into my RV in the middle of the night to steal my diamond bracelet.”
Tasina thought in her head that it was a clever type of blackmail but she would do anything to get that pool back, so Tasina agreed she ran back to her Rv and got 50 dollars and gave the girl her top. The girl went back to her RV and agreed to keep quiet. She ran over to the barbed wire with River and started cutting and moving it. They stepped into the pool and were so mesmerized over the beauty that Tasina wasn’t paying attention and she slipped into the pool. Tasinas mother never got the chance to teach her how to swim and she was sinking to the bottom and fast. Tasina was so afraid that she was going to die that she passed out and everything went completely black. River jumped into the water and tried to find Tasina but his eyes were clouded. He stuck his hands out trying to reach for her and felt her arm enter the palm of his hand. River grabbed her hand and tried to pull her up but her leg was caught on a weed.
The river was trying his best to pull her up since they were really close and the thought of losing her clouded his mind and wanting to get her out of the water was his only wish. Finally, her leg broke free and he grabbed her limp body bridal style and kicked his feet upward trying to get to the surface. He finally made it up and dragged her body onto the sand. He put his two fingers on her neck and he felt a heartbeat. It was spaced far apart but it was there. He cupped his hands around her face and did mouth to mouth until she started to spit and cough up water. He smiled and picked her up bridal style again and brought her back to his campsite so she could sleep and go back to her RV before her dad woke up.
He carried Tasina all the way back to his campsite and laid her down gently onto an air mattress. River woke up first and carried Tasina back to her RV. He looked inside and her dad was still asleep with his mouth wide open. He walked through the door and set her down and he disappeared without a trace back to his campsite. Tasina woke up and went to Rivers campsite. She hugged him and told him that they would not speak of this to anyone, not even her dad. Tasina gave him and smile and nodded, and River pulled out a stone from his pocket and handed it to her.
“Since you said that the pool kept you closer to your mom I grabbed the stone on our way out to remember this day.”
Tasina wiped her eyes with her sleeve and took the stone into her hand. While Tasina got into her car and her dad drove off she waved to River as she left the campsite hoping one day she would see him again.