stay away from my swamp [Louie]

For the past decade of her life she had woken up in the morning, she would eat a few berries, or any other form of fruit for breakfast. Then before the sun had even kissed the horizon she would leave the small house her family loved in, beginning the half hour hike t the pond she deemed to be her very own. It sat nestled in a clump of trees, alone, and silent, it was rare, practically an unheard of occurrence for people to ever wonder by it. And then after the hike she would reach its side, she'd settle by the edge for a few minutes, preparing herself for the days events.

Then all at once she'd step in, whether the water be as cold as ice, whether snow and ice encrusted it surface, or the blaze of the sun reflected off of it so badly it burned her skin it did not matter. It did not matter that the water would be the death of her, because she did not believe this, everyone else in her family knew it was going to kill her. How many times had she received hypothermia? How many times had she contracted an illness so severe she'd had to be held down to make sure she didn't wander off and back to the ponds embrace. This water was her life, her being, it was an extension of her body and she wanted to be apart of it. She wanted to be able to live within its confines, to never need to resurface for air again. This pond and her would be one, one day they'd be united and the world would know that she had been correct all along.

The headache that ensured after breaking the surface was always the worst thing to deal with, but this time instead of having to deal with just that a hand was shoved near her face. She almost screamed, but instead she back-pedalled, sinking further into the confines of the water, hoping it would protect her from the monster that had invaded her home. He asked a stupid question, but she didn't care, who cared about meaningless questions? The more important thing here was the fact that this guy was near her pond, in fact he was inches away from touching the water and dirtying it with his filthy touch.

"Get away! This is my pond, you can't have it!" She snarled, the words a better mix of bubbles and actual words, as she hadn't even lifted her head quiet high enough from the water. Still, if those words weren't pointed enough to get her meaning across then the murderous glare she threw his way was surely enough.

Ever so gently the water tugged teasingly at her long, lean limbs. She could feel it wrap around her body, but at the same time she could feel it test the boundaries around her face. She loved the feeling that came with the taste of the water around her face, the way it pushed, the bridge between the surface and the liquid stiff. Not even the dirt stained clothes could fight against what was happening. When she moved the water swayed, and it tugged at her clothing, pulling them backwards and forwards over every single one of her limbs.

The first time she found the pond she felt nothing. There was no upbeat to the tempo of her heart, there was no blistering bubble of joy as one might expect as they saw the thing they would send the rest of their life in. She felt emotionless, just as she always did. The only thing that could leave an impression on her heart and mind was the water, but she did not know that yet. It was the first touch they shared that created the pond between the two. The water tickled her skin, it had sent small shovers racing down her spin and body, the cold causing a ripple of goosebumps to dance across her smooth skin. She moved into the depths of the water, allowing her body to be swallowed, till every, single inch was covered.

"Sorry... My bad... Beautiful pond, by the way."

Beautiful pond.

The words were an echo, they slid across the surface of the water, just like a cool breeze and Areltta Elwyn gasped. This pond was beautiful, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in her entire life, and this boy agreed with her. However, a few loose words would never create ease where her heart begged to beat like a wild storm. And then after that declaration he asked her why she had been underwater.

She answered him by lifting her lips out of the water, "because I want to breathe."

She’d always wondered how would she react when the day finally arrived. When she’d be able to breathe the water in and stay under their in the clutches, in the pull and pull of that clear, beautiful liquid. Would she even go home? She doubted it, she’d be so lost in the magic of what she had finally achieved, in the beauty of being held and comforted by the love of her life that she’d probably find herself stuck their for days, weeks and months before she was able to gather the strength to pull herself away. After all it was her life long dream, the biggest goal in her life and to achieve that it would be difficult to simply walk away from it.

Her sister’s, when she finally pulled herself out and walked home would be ecstatic, she’d imagine. After all she disappeared in the morning and returned home every night covered in water, soaking wet and disappointed to her very core. They saw how hard she worked and how much she wanted to achieve this victory, they saw what she put herself through to get what she wanted and so they’d have to be proud of her. She knew Ingrid would, and she waited every day for her sister to return home, she waited, and hoped that by the time her sister came back she’d have achieved her dreams and then she could grab Ingrid’s arm and pull her to her side and show her. And then Ingrid could tell Arletta about everything that happened after she disappeared.

And they’d be happy. All of them would be happy.

This boy made her happy, he was asking her things, he was interested and maybe he loved the beauty of the water, that some glistening shimmer that swallowed her and kept her tied down to the bottom of the pond, the same tether that had her coming back day after day. Could he see the love and the life and the majestic grace of the water? Could he feel the pull of life as it moved along the sand in front of him, could he hear it cooling him as the wind slid across the surface, ruffling its surface, breathing to him, speaking and whispering it’s name?

She doubted it, but she could dream.

”Live here, in the water, breathe it and survive. Like fish.”