“Nana! Nana! Dunk me!” A young girl asked, over the pool party noises. She was in a pink frilly suit, playing with the other kids, not yet swimming, but doing a lot of splashing. She ran up to her grandma and jumped for a bit pleading with Nana. “Nana!”

“Oof,” The child tackled Nana, hugging her around her neck. “Alright, lets go.” Nana picked up the girl, holding her on her hip. The child couldn't have been older than four. The duo got to the edge of the pool, and Nana sat on the edge, put the girl down on the concrete, and slid in to the water comfortably. “Rylie, come here.” The girl sat down and tried to emulate what her grandmother just did, but stopped at the pools edge. Nana grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the water.

“Dunk me! Dunk me!” Rylie started to splash around, her blond hair getting darker and darker, turning from pale yellow into the color of sand.

“Alright, Going under!” Nana said. The girl closed her eyes and plugged her nose. Nana lifted Rylie a little and dunked her under the water, she held her under for a little bit then brought her back up. Rylie spit out a little water.

“Hi, auntie!” The girl waved at her aunt, who came over to see what was going on.

“Rylie, gong under!” She laughed and plugged her nose, and closed her eyes. The rushing water covered the small girl, who wasn't ready to open her eyes yet, but the feeling. She loved it. She loved how it felt to be under the surface of the water. The way everything echoed around her, but too soon Nana brought her back up for air.

“Auntie!” Rylie exclaimed in joy. Her aunt was by the waters edge watching.

“Hi Rylie, are ya having fun with Nana?” Her aunt spoke t Rylie the way most adults spoke to kids, in that almost condescending tone of more “knowledge”, but Rylie took no notice.

“Yeah I just love the-”

“Going under!” Rylie was cut off by Nana dunking her unexpectedly. She had no time to prepare for the water, no time to take a huge before breath. She was just dunked.

The water rusher at her again, but this time she had not the protection of her hands at her nose, nor her closed lips. She was so startled that she took a breath, but what she inhaled wasn't air. The rushing water this time wasn't enjoyable, it hurt. This time it was a monster. It attacked her nose, mouth, and eyes, filling them with harsh, chlorine filled water. Rylie started to panic, this wasn’t the comfort she normally found. It was scary. She thrashed, only to have more water enter her mouth and nose. Her panic over whelmed her.

Rylie was scared of the water.

* * * * *

“Ry, time to get up! Breakfast's ready! You're going to be late!” A young woman sat in her bed, thinking about that memory, which had turned into a dream. She was going to be eighteen and she still remembered that time at the pool. She sat a little while longer, mulling it over in her head. Why did she dream about it? Was it because of school? She had no idea.

“Be down in a minute mom!” She yelled back. She stood up and made her way to the bathroom, up before her brother. She opened the door and looked at the mirror. Her hair was no longer that pale yellow, but almost a brunette. Her green eyes stared at imperfections around her round face. She took off the cat eye glasses she wore and stripped down.

Rylie started the shower, not having the time to draw a bath, the water was cold for a minute but gradually warmed up, it took a bit to get the perfect temperature, but she got it, she tried to let her mind wander, to think about the day and how it would go, but she could only think about her dream. It wasn’t one that felt like sand in her hands, no this dream felt like a solid brick, in her head. This was because it was real, all of that happened when she was almost five.

She couldn't swim, which put a downer on any pool parties she was invited to, not that there were many in her neighborhood. She lived where there were so many lakes a person would be stupid to buy a pool. She lived in south St. Paul, not in a terrible neighborhood, but not really a good one either, her home was cozy, three bedrooms, on bath, that was hell when the mornings became rushed, but her brother was starting college and his classes didn't start till ten, on a bad day. Rylie started school at seven fifteen every morning.

“Rylie, are you up? Don't tell me you're still sleeping. Can you get Zane up for me?” Her mom yelled from downstairs. Rylie sighed, Zane didn't like to get up in the mornings, to be fair neither did she, but he could be a real pain to get up.

She made her way down the hallway and knocked on his door. There was no answer, but she didn't expect one, so she opened the door and walked in. Zane was a neat freak almost, so his room was easy to navigate.

She poked him until he stirred, “Good morning sunshine!” She whispered to him. He turned over and gave her a blunt reply.

“Fuck you.”

“Mom told me to get you up, so get up or you'll have her to deal with.” She turned around and herd the distinct shuffling, and some more choice words that meant he was getting up. Rylie made her way out of his room and closed the door behind herself.

The closer she got to the small kitchen, the better everything smelled. She could smell bacon, french toast, and some sausage, It smelt like heaven. Rylie walked up to her mom and tapped her on the back. “Good morning, I woke Zane up, but I don't think that he'll be down in a while. This smells delicious mom.”

“Thanks Ry, your dad won't be home for a while yet so eat up, I'll save some for the slower ones, but eat fast, we need to get going.” she sat down and gave Rylie a wondrous impression of a vacuum.

“Mom, don't eat that fast, we still have time.” The young lady remarked, although she did slightly quicken her pace when she saw the time.

The two women left the house and headed for an old beat up truck, and entered. It wasn't cold enough to warrant heavy jackets, but chilly enough so that the duo had to wait for their truck to warm up. Once it was ready they were on the way. Rylie got to school right on time.

Her day passed with out incident, until gym class hit. She had for gotten that there was a pool ant Arlington High. She didn't even consider that she would ever enter it. Rylie starred at her teacher as she told the class what the lesson plans were. Rylie couldn't swim.

She was afraid of water.