Red Rum Inn ✯ h.s. ON HOLD

✯ eleven ✯

     FOLLOWING THE EVENTS of the previous day, I tried to get back earlier than planned. I had worked another shift at Johnny's Records and Denice had stopped in to talk to me. She went on about some boy she liked, and I thought it was funny that she didn't feel like she could speak to him. For whatever reason, she thought that he was way out of her league. Since I knew who she was already talking about, I knew it wasn't true, and after some thorough convincing I got her to ask for his number tomorrow.

Marla was sitting at the desk when I got back to the Red Rum Inn. She seemed eager to see me and I thought it was nice to know someone lit up when I walked in the room. Not to mention that Marla was basically the only friend I had that knew about my current situation. I couldn't be anymore thankful for her. Walking over, I stood beside the desk, about to ask something when she beat me to it.

"How was work, sugar?"

"Fine," I shrugged. "How was your day here?"

"Oh, you know. The way it is any day."

Nodding, I picked at my nail varnish, forgetting that I didn't have any with me to repaint my fingernails. Smiling at Marla, I waved, about to walk toward the stairs when I turned back around. She had already gone back to reading her magazine, Marla glancing up when I was in her line of sight. I didn't know what made me think of it, but a small part of me wanted to go swimming. I blamed it on how my body felt and the fact that I wanted to take some stress off of my muscles the way a pool would. Then again, it was chilly outside, so I had no idea if that was a good idea or not. Still, I found myself asking Marla about the pool.

"So, is the pool clean?" I asked. "And if so, is it heated?"

"Clean as can be. I have someone come look at it every Wednesday afternoon. And yes, it is heated as well, V. Do you want to go swimming?"

"Maybe. I don't know yet. Thank you," I smiled.

Heading up the stairs, I knew that I wanted to relax in the pool for a little while. After all, this past week or so had been quite exhausting. Unlocking my door, I walked inside, shutting it, and latching the lock behind me. Heading to the vanity and mirror, I pulled my hair up into a bun, walking back into the room. Changing into a bathing suit I had bought over the summer, I tugged at the material, unsure why it suddenly looked so small around my bottom. Rolling my eyes at the sight, I pulled on a T-shirt and shorts, grabbing one of the towels I bought at the store the other day.

After I made sure I had all of my necessities, I headed downstairs, Marla not sitting at the desk anymore. I figured she was just in her office, so I walked outside, thankful that no one else was hanging around the pool deck. Lucky for me, the air wasn't as frigid as it had been for the past couple of days, so I wasn't as worried about getting out of the pool once I was finished swimming. Setting my things down, I took off my shirt and shorts, folding them, and placing them on the chair.

My skin was cold, goosebumps forming with the air nipping at my flesh. As Marla had told me, the pool was heated, and I was glad. If it hadn't been for that, I was certain the water would have been freezing cold. After a few minutes, I started floating, ignoring the world around me for a while. My body felt at ease from the awful couple of days. I was finally relaxing, my body floating in the water. I could act like everything was going well for once even though I knew it wasn't perfect. I felt like nothing bad could happen. At least, until I heard clinging noises against the fence.

Sitting up in the water quickly, I was caught off guard by the lack of ground in the pool. I had drifted to the deep end, so it took me a minute to compose myself in the water. The clinging noise was still prominent, and I was positive that it sounded like someone climbing the fence. I treaded water toward the low end, looking around for where the noises could be coming from. My body was shaky, my eyes widening when I heard someone whistling a familiar tune. It wasn't long until I heard boots hitting the pool deck, my mind immediately going to Curly. Glancing around, I still saw nothing, blaming the poor lighting at one end of the pool as the problem.