a cold summer

Chapter Two ~ a chill in the air

I wore my best and only bikini with light blue and white stripes. After all, this was the only time I ever swam. I tied my hair back into a ponytail so that it would be easier to fix into a bun once we finished swimming and wouldn't drip down my back as much.

I made my way down the stairs to find the other waiting for me in the kitchen. They too were wearing bikinis: Jesse's was black and white whilst Isa's was a deep purple. We dumped our stuff in the kitchen and ran back into the garden.

The water was sparkling in the sunlight, a beautiful turquoise, inviting us to swim. The water was so clear that I could see the sandy bed below. The suns rays glistened across the water as the waves gently moved. There wasn't a current but sometimes the wind blew across ever so gently, a warm summer breeze, that was enough to break the calm stillness of the loch.

"Who's first?" Jesse asked.
No one replied.
"You were complaining that you were too hot," I said to Isa.
Isa suddenly became very interested in her feet. "Well, I'm cooler now."
"We can just sit on the edge until someone's brave enough to go in first," I suggested.
"Sure," Jesse replied. "That's fair."
"Just don't push me in," Isa said quietly.
"Wouldn't dream of it," said Jesse, glancing in my direction.

We sat on the edge of the pier which lead out into a deeper part of the loch which was perfect for jumping in, although none of us were planning on jumping in anytime soon. I gently dipped my feet into the water. It was the perfect temperature. Not too hot that it wasn't refreshing, but not freezing either.

"So, how's life?" I asked, trying to drum up some small talk.
"Same as usual," said Isa. "Yesterday I inspected the body of a woman who had been crushed to death by a giant round of cheese at the cheesy."
Jesse frowned. "I don't think it's called a cheesy."
"Well, the place that they make cheese. I don't know what it's called."
"Cheesery," I muttered.
"Whatever," Isa continued. "It's by far the most interesting death I've seen. The shelf came loose whilst this lady was stacking it and she got squashed. "
"That's cheery," said Jesse. "Well if you want to know what I did, I studied a man who chopped off his own fingers so that he couldn't be scanned for fingerprints."
"That's even more cheery," Isa blurted. She turned to me. "Please tell me you had a less depressing day yesterday."
"It wasn't depressing, but it was kind of boring." I said. "We wrote a 5000 word essay on the importance of jellyfish."
They both laughed. "Jellyfish?" Jesse snorted. "Really?"
"Are they actually that important?" Isa asked.
This time I laughed. "Actually no. Well, it depends. Like any species, they contribute towards the ecological food chain as well as their local ecosystem. However, too many of them can cause an excess in carbon dioxide which the ocean is unable to cope with, leading to—"
"Ok, we get it," Jesse interrupted.

We sat by the loch for a little bit longer before the scorching heat finally settled in.
"Well, I'm going in," I announced.
"Same here," said Jesse. "But can we just like walk into the loch? And jump later when we're used to it?"
"Works for me," Isa added.

So we walked off the pier and slowly delved into the loch, where the water met the garden's grass, almost like the beach but with grass instead of sand. We waded out until the water came up to out shoulders and then stopped to acclimatise.

Jesse sent a large wave of water towards Isa who screamed and then sent one back. I joined in on the fight, sending little springs of water in both directions. Eventually, I felt warmed up and announced I was going to jump into the deep part.
"Go ahead,' Isa yelled over the loud splashing Jesse was making. "We'll follow you in a sec."

I waded back out to shore and walked about halfway down the pier before stopping, readying myself for the final jump at the end.

I ran along the pier, feeling the wind in my hair, past Jesse and Isa who had stopped momentarily to watch me jump in. When I got to the edge I jumped as far as I could into the water.

I slowly let myself sink to the bottom, enjoying the crystal clear underwater view. It was nice to just sit for a moment and take it all in. I then suddenly became aware of how I had nearly run out of breath and quickly ascended to the surface.

But when my head broke the water, something was wrong.

The air was no longer warm; I could feel a chill in the air. But it wasn't just a cold breeze. The sun had gone too which emphasised the cold.

This was weird. I had been underwater for less than 20 seconds. How had the weather changed so quickly? I turned back around to Jesse and Isa.

But they were gone.

And so was the grass. It had been replaced with something white and powdery.

Was that snow?

It was. White snow gleaming on the ground. How did that even get there in such a short space of time?

Jesse and Isa had probably seen the bad weather and went back inside. That was a shame - I had been looking forward to a nice, warm day for once. But weird that they didn't wait for me.

Or tell me they were going back inside.

I began to swim back, but I noticed something large floating near the shore. No, two large things floating in the water.

I edged closer, still unable to comprehend what had just happened.

And then I saw it.

The two large floating things were bodies.

It was Jesse and Isa.