Page 47 of Whistle

My eyes whipped around, but it was like I couldn’t see. It was too much at once… and then I was airborne. The hands no longer gripped me as my body sailed through the air and dropped.

Splash!

The cold temperature was something I’d once been conditioned to but now a complete shock to my system. Water rushed around me, saturating my clothes and swallowing me whole. Maybe it was the weight of my wet clothes, but suddenly, my body felt heavy. Heavier than ever before. Despite the buoyancy of the water, I sank toward the bottom of the pool, my body like an anchor. I hadn’t been in a pool since Brynne. Since the police retrieved her dead body from Pembrook’s pool.

Thoughts of my twin assaulted me, and I forgot I was underwater, trying to breathe. My nose burned as water rushed in and singed the back of my throat. I coughed, bubbles bursting around me. As I squeezed my eyes closed, my lungs seized, and I told myself to swim to the surface.

I didn’t want to swim.

I couldn’t.

Images of my sister floating in the water filled my head. Her long tawny hair waving around her pale face, her eyes wide but unseeing. I wondered if bubbles were the last thing she saw and if the cold bite of the water made her afraid.

Did she feel trapped as I did now? Did she hope I would come for her…? Was she hurt when I never did?

A sob ripped out of me, and more chlorinated water rushed in. I forgot about trying to swim and fixated instead on the last moments of Brynne’s life.

The edges of my vision began to dim. The bright blue of the water and rising bubbles seemed to fade. I was tired. I missed my family. I should go to her and apologize.

I’m sorry, B.

A strong grip wrapped around my arm, and my body went from floating to being towed. Water rushed around me, tugging at my clothes, but it was no match for the determination holding me in its grip. The cold seeping into my bones was battled by something large and warm wrapping itself around me. The sound of splashing, yelling, and a few grunts swirled around, teasing my consciousness but not enough to rouse me completely.

I was dragged over cold tiles and pushed onto my back. The air was cold, the fingers on my chin not. My head was tilted back and pressure, so much pressure, slammed into my chest.

“You will not do this.” A familiar voice floated overhead. “You breathe. Fucking breath right now.”

The pressure was unbearable. My lungs screamed in protest.

A grunt. A curse.

Warmth covered my lips, and air forced its way into my mouth and all the way down my throat. Another breath filled me, and I felt my chest expand. The weight on my chest was suddenly bearable.

“C’mon, Goldilocks,” he whispered. “Breathe for me.”

I gasped, the wheezing sound it made loud in my ears. And then I was spewing water all over the deck as I sputtered and coughed.

Rough hands pulled me onto my side as I gagged and spit, and then I collapsed, spent, against the unforgiving floor with a groan.

Wet strands of my hair plastered my cheeks and offered a shield from everyone standing around. I felt their eyes even if I didn’t look.

“Coach—” Someone began.

“I don’t want to hear it,” he growled, the words quiet but so menacing they literally silenced everything. “Not one goddamn word.”

I was heaved up into a set of arms, my body like a limp noodle.

“Extra laps. Every last one of you.”

He carried me into the locker room, the door slamming behind us. Quiet pressed in, and I started to shake, from cold or trauma, I didn’t know. Tears rushed to the backs of my eyes, and I let them come. They’d be disguised by the water already clinging to me.

“I said I wasn’t swimming,” I rasped, my voice raw.

He cursed, the sound of his voice comforting even if it was aggressive and crude. My body jostled with every step he took, his feet practically pounding into the floor as he walked. His body was tense, and I knew he was likely angry with me. In that moment, I had no room to fight back or to care.

Inside his office, he put me on my feet. I swayed, legs wobbly, and he palmed my hips. “Can you stand there for me, sweetheart?”

My lower lip quivered, and I nodded.

---