A perfect sunny spring afternoon brings about
a relaxing mood at the Riverbend public pool. The small town you dream about where everyone
knows each other and every weekend there’s dancing and singing at the town
square by the forty-foot pine tree that lights up each Christmas.
Some curious smoke rising in the East beyond
nearby woods interrupts the cloudless sky. A faint smell of a burning campfire and the
echo of barking dogs ride a cool breeze in from the trees giving relief from
the hot sun.
At the East end of town off Newport Ave. sits
a typical small town park with the smell of pine and applewood filling the
air. The park is fairly quiet for this
time of year, Lending an opportunity for Family time at home. There is a water fountain in the center of
entryway leading to a playground at the end of the walk. A small creek runs along the backside and a
public pool lies off the path leading to the woods.
Swinging a whistle around her finger to the
beat of the ambient music playing through the monotone speakers, a lifeguard
sits watch over the children playing and splashing about in the overly
chlorinated emerald pool. A mother sits
reading a book on a blanket in the grass keeping one eye on the children as
they take turns on the diving board. A
sense of security comes over her by the slightly rusted eight-foot high chain
fence surrounding the entire pool area looking as if it has been there for 50
years. A faded graffiti stained red
brick shower house with “Boys” and “Girls” signs posted above the doors
encloses one end of the pool.
The lifeguard blows her whistle at the two
scrawny young boys with Super Soakers carelessly running around the pool
chasing and squirting each other. The
Lifeguard unravels the whistle from around her finger and stands in her chair
blowing her whistle at the boys.
“Hey! No running boys!”
The
startled boys slow to a fast walk without missing a stride saluting
sarcastically and giggling as the lifeguard shakes her head.
A young, quiet little girl, Amy Baird
thrashes about in the middle of the pool unnoticed while everyone’s attention
is still on the whistle-blowing lifeguard standing in her chair continuously shaking
her finger at the running boys. Amy
struggles to squeak out a cry for help but her little lungs can’t find the air
as she bobs up and down staying under a little longer each time. Her fear is unrealized till she gasps in some
water and struggles to push to the surface to cough it out. A panic comes over her like she has never felt
before, like the instinct in all living things when you know your life is in
danger. She frantically paddles and
waves her arms at the same time hoping someone will notice.
An off duty police officer, Frank Huff, still
in his blues and here to pick up his 9 year old son, notices Amy is not
resurfacing. A sense of concern comes
over Frank.
“Oh no. Lifeguard!”
Frank
leaps from the shower room doorway, unbuckles his gun belt and drops it to the
soaking wet pool deck. His hat flies off
and lands in the pool as he jumps in the water after her. The lifeguard notices Frank. Realizing what he is doing, she then spots the
little girl struggling under the water’s surface. She blows her whistle as she throws her towel
around her neck and climbs down from her chair. She grabs the first aid kit hanging on the
hook on the base of the chair, and runs over to the other side of the pool,
skiing on the wet concrete along the way doing what she can to keep her
balance. Everyone pauses from their fun when the lifeguard orders everyone to
exit the pool. When the swimmers realize what is happening, they swim over and
gather around Amy, helping Frank drag her onto the pool deck. The running boys
stop to watch the commotion.
Meanwhile, a man runs out of the woods,
staggering and stumbling, tripping over every blade of grass in the yard, he
falls against the pool fence. He is covered
in blood and naked accept for a bright yellow fireman’s raincoat. His skin is burnt and peeling off him and
smells like burning rubber. With intense
fear on his almost unrecognizable face, He wraps his fingers around the fence
to pulls himself up. He struggles to
speak, but his mouth trembles as he tries to move his lips. After several
tries, he manages to cry softly in a raspy voice,
“H-Help!”.
No
one notices him as everyone’s attention is on Amy. He makes his way along the fence to the shower
house, softly and repeatedly crying for help the whole way, but can’t seem to
find his voice. Disoriented and
stumbling, he finds his way to the shower room entrance. He enters cautiously not wanting to frighten
anybody from his appearance. He makes
his way towards the lockers where he spots a towel flung over the bench. He grabs it and as he wipes his face off, he
notices skin and blood all over the towel. He walks over to the mirror next to a shower
stall and attempts to focus on the image. As he squints, the image begins to clear and
is startled by what he sees. His face is
bloody and burned, but oddly he feels no pain. He wets the towel and wipes his face some
more, and as he wipes away the burnt skin and blood, he notices no evidence of
any damage to his face at all, accept for his hair is gone. He begins to examine his chest when he notices
something written on the raincoat he’s wearing. A nametag reads Joe. The rest of the name is burnt off. He looks in the mirror and a sudden fear comes
over him, as if he is suddenly alone. He
cannot remember his name or who he is or what he’s doing there, but still feels
a sense of time. He looks at the nametag
again rubbing his fingers over it.
“Joseph? Joel? Joe… Joe.” He thinks to himself, “I’m Joe?”
As he looks back in the mirror, he begins to
feel dizzy and disoriented again. As he
stares back at this unknown man, images flash by of fire and commotion. All sense of who he is, flashes before him,
then fades. He composes himself once
again and makes his way to the pool area for help. He throws the bloody towel in the trashcan
near the pool entrance, grabs the
doorway, and slides down to the ground where he sits and continues on trying to
focus. Looking through the door on the
other side of the room, Joe notices a commotion on the other side of the pool,
but can only make out faint shapes and blurry colors. He gets up
slowly, not taking his eyes off the action and slowly walks towards the pool
house door.
<…to be continued!>
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