Mariah

"Papa, I'm leaving!" 19 year old Mariah Vasquez yelled as she walked toward the garage. Her black hair was tied back into a messy pony tail. She was wearing jeans short shorts and a bikini top that was striped black and white with red, blue, and yellow near the bottom with black palm trees, and blue flat sandals. Over the top she had on a small white cardigan that was unbuttoned.

Her grandfather, Louis, was back behind his 1963 red Chevrolet Impala. He looked up from the hood just as she came into the garage and grabbed her surfboard, which had an array of colorful flowers starting from the tip of the board down to the base. Louis grabbed a rag and wiped his hands off, walking closer to her. "Good luck, sweetie." He said, leaning forward and kissing her cheek. 

"Thanks papa." She said, returning the kiss to him. She left the garage and placed her surfboard against the back of her Audi. She got in the drivers seat and started the car, lowering the roof as well. She got back out and put her board in the backseat and sat back down.She made her way down to the beach with a final wave to her grandfather. They didn't live far, so it only took a few minutes.

Once she was parked at Huntington beach, she grabbed her surfboard and put the roof back up on her Audi before locking it. She made her way through the crowd that had formed and signed up for the competition. "'Riah!" A voice yelled, gaining her attention and making her look up. She smiled big when she saw her good friend, "Hey Michelle!" Mariah said, putting her board in the sand and opening her arms just in time to hug her.

"Are you ready?" Michelle asked, grinning excitedly at her. Mariah just laughed, "Yeah, I've just got to change first." She explained. "Well hurry!" Michelle said, grabbing her board and running away. "Hey!" Mariah yelled, smiling as she chased her friend.

                                                                                      ~!~!!~!~

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Huntington Beach Surf Invitational. We're expecting a great competition today. In semi-final heat number 1, we've got six competitors: in Orange, Alyssa Kenner; in Black, Melissa Brown; in Blue, Mariah Vasquez; in Yellow, Leah Martin; in White, Lisa Goode; and in Pink, Michelle Peters."

Wearing a long sleeve blue floral rash guard, Mariah paddled toward Michelle, who was wearing a long sleeve pink rash guard, with one black sleeve. "Good luck." She said. Michelle smiled at her and winked, "You too." She said. 

When the horn sounded, all six girls were off. They each paddled to get the next wave and get a score up on the board. After about 10 minutes, the announcer came on again.

"Black, Melissa Brown you are in first; Blue, Mariah Vasquez you are in second, looking for a 4.2 to advance; and Pink, Michelle Peters, you are in third, looking for a 5.7 to take first place."

Throughout the competition the announcer revealed the scores of the judges and also commented on what the surfers were doing.

"Solid wave for Pink, nice job!"

"Whoa! Orange took a gnarly wipe-out."

"Looks like we have a paddle battle out there! It's Blue and Black scratching for the next set. Oh, and it looks like Melissa Brown has taken the wave from Mariah Vasquez. Here she is, up and riding."

While Melissa rode the wave, a strong force pulled Mariah back under the water. It felt like her foot was caught on something, but when she looked down, all she saw was the velcro that attached to her surfboard leash. She was getting pulled further away from the surface.

She kicked her legs and arms, trying to get back up, but whatever was pulling her down was strong. Her lungs burned, begging for air. She knew she was panicking, but she couldn't get herself to calm down. The salt stung her eyes. Black dots began to cloud her vision, she couldn't tell which way was up or down, all she saw was dark water.

Her lungs were pleading for air and were about to give up on her. She couldn't stop herself from instinctively taking a breath. Salt water invaded his lungs and burned her insides. She took another breath and the strangest thing happened.

She could breathe.

She took another one, then another. What the hell? She was breathing underwater..How was this possible? The ocean suddenly lit up, it wasn't as dark as before. She saw her surfboard floating on the surface, only now seeing that the leash had broken, the velcro still around her ankle.

She heard the muffled roar of the surf rescue jet ski before she saw it. It came to a stop just by her board, and she decided now would be a good time to stop questioning everything and get to the surface. She kicked with her legs and arms. Her head breached the surface and she took in a breath. The man on the jet ski looked down at her, "Are you okay?!" He yelled.

She nodded her head, grabbing her board with her hand and paddling over to the rescue sled. She pulled herself up on it and relaxed her body as the man drove back to shore.

What just happened?

                                                                                      ~!~!!~!~

Mariah smiled at the memory. She was so scared when she first discovered her powers. Now, with her being in the water so much, she learned to control them pretty good. No one knew about her powers, she didn't even tell her best friend Michelle.

It's been 2 years since that meet. She's at Huntington once more, out on her surfboard, laying on her back on it. She's been doing this since that day, not always going under, but just hanging around the water. Ever since that day, she's been going to the more secluded place of the beach, where no one really goes, to practice her power.

She's stronger, learning to control and master her abilities. Now one has ever seen her abilities and she plans on keeping it that way. She lives her life normally, nothing changed and nothing will. Her grandfather is great, and Michelle is still a great competition. 

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" A familiar voice said, accompanied by the splashing of water. Mariah opened her eyes and looked over, seeing Michelle paddling closer to her. Mariah gave her a smile and sat up on her board, "Just relaxing. What about you? Come to rescue me?" Mariah said with a laugh.

Michelle laughed as well and shook her head, using her hand to splash some water towards Mariah. "C'mon, let's head back. We're about to start the barbeque, and don't forget that we are making dessert!" Michelle said. "Okay, okay. Let's head back." Mariah said.

Michelle nodded, "Race ya!" She said, turning around and paddling back to shore. "Hey!" Mariah yelled, paddling as well, "That's not fair!" She laughed, catching up to Michelle and splashing her with water, both of them paddling back to the shore.