Quinn sat down on the bench, drawing in her notebook, watching the other kids play in the pool. She sat as far as possible from the pool water, sitting on the very last bench. She watched as one kid splashed a young girl. The next thing Quinn knew, water was everywhere as the two kids splashed each other repeatedly. As long as I’m not splashed, she thought to herself.

Ever since the incident, Quinn hated water. She actually loathed it. Or maybe just feared it. The only reason she came to this pool party was because her older brother, Andy, wanted to go and her parents insisted that she came too, thinking it would be good for her. They know how I feel about water, she thought. But deep inside, she knew they were right; it was time for her to face her fears. After all that happened, Quinn and her family moved as far away from the water as the interstate would take them. They settled on Kansas; it was middle-ground. But in Quinn’s mind, she didn’t think it was far enough.

 Quinn screamed, as if she was stabbed by a double-edged sword. The shock of what she thought was cold water to her face caused her eyes to instinctively close. As she wiped her face with her trembling hands and opened her eyes, she was overtaken by the sight of blood.

Delirious, she panicked, jumped up from the bench, and ran towards the car yelling in a manic rage.  As she passed the pool, someone pushed her in the water. She released a gut-curdling shriek as she fell backwards and fell in with a big splash.

Quinn could feel herself going deeper into the water. Blood was all she saw. She saw blood all around her. She felt a sharp pain in her leg and screamed. Water flooded into her mouth as she tried to gasp for air. Deeper, deeper, deeper, why couldn’t she swim? She knew how! Years of living by the ocean taught her to swim with the grace of a dolphin. She felt like the weight of iron was pulling her deeper into a bottomless pit, as if it were devouring her.

Suddenly, she felt the force of a tug on her arm, violently snatching her out of death’s grip. It wasn’t until she felt the cold, rough concrete that she stopped fighting the illusions caused by her delusions. As her fears slowly faded, reality sets in. The spasms in her lungs caused her to violently cough up water. She looked down to examine herself and didn’t see any blood or feel any pain. She franticly looked at the pool. No blood! As she stared at the pool water, her parents hovered over her as Andy knelt beside her trembling body. As he embraced her, he whispered something in her ear. Quinn reluctantly looked around and saw that every eye was on her. What had Andy whispered in her ear? She felt her face get as red as the blood in her delusion and her eyes began to water. No, she wouldn’t cry in front of everyone. Quinn got up quickly and ran towards the car. She knew she shouldn’t have come.

To Quinn, the ride home seemed infinite. Other than the hypnotic sound of the tires on the highway, no one spoke; just pure silence, as if they all were in a deep trance.

They didn’t even notice the movement from a small brown box on the floorboard in the back of the car. Before her dad could even place the car in park, Quinn flung the car door open, leaped out, and ran into the house to the safety of her room. Slamming the door, Quinn began to cry, as if she were expelling all the water she had swallowed from the pool. She opened a dresser drawer and threw out all her swimsuits. Everything in her room that dealt with water, she threw out the window. Even her most cherished snow globe with her late Grandma Emma’s picture.

Still, feeling enraged, she looked at her inherited Barbie doll collection, valued at over half a million dollars, placed neatly in her trophy case. Without hesitation, she threw the trophy case onto her floor, screaming in anger as she picked up a doll, one by one, ripping the right leg from each one. She picked up the last and most valued doll, and with animalistic behavior, she clutched the dolls right leg in her teeth and viciously ripped it off.

No one understands, she thought, now you understand. Welcome to my world. She stood lifeless, falling to the floor in slow-motion, curling up in fetal position in utter calmness.

Her mom, waiting patiently, as she had done many times before, finally realizes that her daughter has been resurrected from the grave of her deep, dark, haunting, imprisoning ocean within her mind and is now at peace. Her mom slowly walked in, and without even saying a word, or even acknowledging the catastrophic mess, her mom sat the small brown box on Quinn’s bed and quietly walked away.

Quinn, unaware of her mother’s entrance or exit, heard a faint whimper. Standing to her feet, looking around her room for the sound, she noticed a mysterious box on her bed. She opened the box and a small, white puppy popped his head out.

She smirked, slowly picked it up and noticed it was missing a leg. Quinn scoffed and sat the puppy on her bed. Yeah, this was just what she needed. She watched as the puppy ran around her room as happy as can be and content with life. The puppy nudged Quinn’s leg. She smiled. She stood in the mirror and looked down at the prosthetic leg that replaced her real one. She looked at the puppy and back at the mirror as she recalled what Andy whispered in her ear.

Hey, it’s ok, Quinn. I’ve got you. We’re here for you. Quinn smiled at the puppy. Her family was there for her.  She grabbed the animal and walked outside. We’re here for you. She liked the sound of that.