𝙎𝘾𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙌𝙐𝙀𝙀𝙉 [✭] 𝙎𝙢𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙏𝙁𝙋

chapter two; visions of death

Fourteen-year-old Madison Waller swam laps in her neighborhood's community pool. Madison was preparing to try out for her school dive team. Her family knew she would make it without a doubt, but Madison did not want to be arrogant.

After all, practice makes perfect. For the past three hours, she had pushed her body to the brink of exhaustion by swimming laps and cleaning up all her dive flips. She wanted her tryouts to go perfectly, and she could only do that by practicing so much that there was no chance for failure.

If Madison wanted to make it to the Olympics, this was where it would start. After her fifth lap, Madison emerged from the water with a deep breath, her eyes reflecting the clearness of the pool.

As soon as the young teenager stepped onto the hard concrete surrounding the pool, she allowed her gaze to follow the just rising sun. She had been out here since four A.M., it was now seven o'clock in the morning. In Madison's opinion, when she swam in the morning, she was much quicker and her flips were more solid.

Glancing at the red towel she had brought with her, Madison debated calling it a day and walking home. However, she decided that doing one more back full off of the high dive would not hurt. In fact, if she could manage to do it perfectly even while being this tired, Madison would go into her tryouts tomorrow with complete confidence.

Taking another deep breath, Madison rang out her hair, her legs taking her closer to the high dive. Anyone who saw Madison up close could easily tell by her body that she was a swimmer. For being just fourteen, she was tall, yet very skinny. No fat was visible whatsoever, only skin, bone, and muscle, a feature she had gained from hours in the pool every day.

As Madison climbed to the top of the high dive, she could not stop herself from thinking about her future full of so many options. Madison's grades were nothing less than perfect, her family had a good amount of money, and she was on the road to becoming a professional swimmer. Yes, many girls her age would die to be Madison Waller, many wished to have a future full of as many opportunities as she had.

Standing on the board, Madison turned backward lightly bouncing, her thoughts focused on the gleaming water below. With a deep breath, Madison leaped from the diving board, her body soaring through the air gracefully, spinning as she performed a full twisting layout while falling toward the pool. The sound of the board cracking from the force reverberated around.

The minute Madison's body finished the flip, she hit the water, sinking toward the bottom. Oh, how Madison loved being underwater, it was so peaceful in her opinion. No noise, no worries, simply the water and herself.

As Madison hit the bottom, she allowed herself to float for just a second before beginning to paddle her way to air. From the fifteen-foot depth, she was halfway to the top when catastrophe struck. She recognized the feeling as a charlie horse in her calf, an occurrence which usually happened after an intense workout.