The added stress of water

You and a friend break into your neighborhood swim club late one night to go for an after-hours dip. While splashing around in the pool, you go into shock when a dead body floats to the top. Worse yet—it's someone you know. Write this scene.

The day had been rough, made worse by the tyrannical heat.  Several cool showers had done nothing to alleviate the stickiness of my skin for more than a few minutes at a time. No sooner had I toweled dry than the oily heat crept across my skin, drawing the cool off my body and shredding my nerves.  I’d stood staring at the pool house in the concrete valley of the apartment courtyard, but screaming kids would have done nothing for my state of mind.

When Aricella popped through my door at nearly ten that evening, I was finally packing away my laptop.  I had a cold glass of wine set out in the hopes of drowning out the darkness of the phrases and images I’d been combing over all day long.  My dissertation on the neuropsychology of “thrill killers” was proving more oppressive than the heat. At least the heat went away some times. The pictures proved more permanent.

“What up, chick?”  Aricella dropped her bag and slid into the chair opposite me. She picked up my wine glass and sniffed it. Her nose wrinkled. “Vinegar.”

“Better than rotten hops.” I snatched the glass out of her hand and took a sip.  It was not vinegar. On the contrary, the Riesling’s flavor was light and sweet.  I felt my shoulders drop and my neck relax.  Between the overwhelming heat, the ice-cold showers, and the horror of my work, I felt like I hadn’t breathed all day.

Aricella grinned. “Speaking of which, got a beer?”  I raised a hand in the general direction of the fridge, closing my eyes to better absorb my first moment of calm all day.  She hopped up and sauntered to the fridge. Aricella sauntered everywhere.  It never ceased to amaze me how relaxed she always looked.  She pulled a longneck out of the refrigerator door and came back to sit across from me. “How goes the fight?”

I shrugged and contemplated the pile of books on the floor at my feet.  “Alright, I suppose.  Some of these people-“ I shook my head.  “You have to wonder how they became who they are. “

Ari shook her head too. “Not worth wondering about.  They’re psychos.  Best thing they could do is die so you could study their brains up close and personal and stop wasting breathable air and drinkable water.” Aricella is a botanist and an avid ecologist.  She is not very fond of most of the human race. I’m a lucky exception. She took a pull off her bottle and stared hard at me for a moment. “You look like sheize chicka.”

“Gee, thanks Ari.”

She held up her hands. “No offense. You just need some fun.” The sudden twinkle in her eye said she had a plan.  Reaching into her breast pocket, she produced a key.

“What’s that?”

“The key to the pool.” She grinned and set it on the table between us.  It gleamed in the warm light from the kitchen.  For liability reasons, the pool was locked down at ten P.M. No one was allowed to use the pool. Period.

“How’d you-“

She shook her head at me.  “Don’t even ask.  I can’t reveal my sources.”  She winked and picked up the key again.  “Care to join me?”

*

The water was delicious against my skin.  To keep down the risk of exposure (and a large fine imposed by the landlord), we kept the lights off. I’d finished the glass of wine before we left the apartment, and poured an additional serving into a plastic cup.  It sat on the edge of the pool near the steps.

I felt the day finally sloughing off my mind and body.  Ari was floating some distance away, and I let the water hold me up while I stared at the vague reflections of moonlight bouncing off the water onto the high metal ceiling.

“This was a good idea.” My voice was alien in the huge, ringing space. 

I heard Ari off somewhere to my right.  The water moved as she swam over to me. “I thought you might think so.” She grinned and stood over me, looking down at my face framed by lapping water.  She bent and kissed me lightly on the lips, then in one swift, smooth motion pushed me under the water. I’m not sure whether it was the kiss or the dunking that took my breath away. Either way, I wanted to reciprocate.  I sprang up and grabbed her. Her eyes were wide as I approached and wrapped my arms around her, preventing her escape. I kissed her before she could try to get away or dunk me again. She did not respond.

I pulled back and looked at her face, but she wasn’t even looking at me. I turned to look behind me, heavy hair standing on end. Had we been caught?

There was someone there with us, but we hadn’t been caught. Floating the water about twenty feet away was an exceptionally pale someone, face up in the water, unmoving. There was something unnatural in the utter stillness of the figure.  She was naked, dark hair a floating corona around her head.

It took me a moment to break my paralysis and move toward her.  I heard Ari finally pull in a breath and swear loudly.  The curse echoed, then there was silence aside from the splash of two bodies moving in separate directions; her for the edge of the pool, me toward the girl in the water.

The girl’s skin was cold, not merely cool as one expects skin to be in cold water.  Her eyes were wide, glazed, and she floated just as I had before my dunking. I felt a shudder pass over my skin. 

“What the fuck are you doing? Pull her out! You know CPR!” Ari’s voice was high and tight.  She was pulling at the pile of clothes on the edge of the pool, trying to find her minuscule red cell phone.

I shook my head, then realized Ari couldn’t see the gesture.  I put two fingers to the dead girl’s carotid artery to be certain, and felt nothing. The texture of her neck reminded me of a thick skin on a Jell-O mold; firm and slick and cold.  There were bruises under my fingers.

“She’s dead Ari.” I backed slowly away. “Call 911.  Tell them it’s a murder.”