The Dollhouse Girls
SAMANTHA FINK
eBook
Jessie is treading water and looking into the water to locate the knife. She spots the pocket knife lying in the sand; the silver of the blade catches the light of the sun. Jessie dives down again, straight to the bottom where the blade is shining. Her arms are tired, but she presses forward, stretching out as far as she can. Reaching out with her hand, she grabs the knife. Jessie turns to her right and swims toward the rope and bottle. She tightens her grip on the knife she will not be dropping it again. Next, she holds the rope with the line with her left hand, but she is fighting her own body to stay under the water. Her legs keep pulling her upward away from her goal toward the surface. This always happens to her in the pool back home. Jessie remembers her Mom telling her if you want to stay under the water you must blow out some of your air. Jessie pushes the air through her tighten lips, allowing bubbles of air escape and head toward the surface. Immediately she notices her legs come back under control and her body steadies a bit. Her next move is to wrap her legs around the rope to act as an anchor. That way when she cuts the rope, the bottle is not carried away by the ocean's current. Jessie takes the knife and starts to saw through the rope. It is working slowly. She can feel that she will need to back to the surface to get another breath. That is not appealing to her, she doesn’t want to start all over again. Jessie decides to put more pressure on the blade, to cut through the line faster, and it is working. She cuts through the final few strands of the rope, and she frees the portion with the bottle attached. Inwardly smiling, Jessie lets go of the rope with her legs and is about to return to the surface for air and rest. Her eyes almost bulge out of her head. In the distance she sees a big shape moving towards her. It is moving fast and it looks like it is heading straight for her. Panic sets in and she feels like she is starting to choke. She can hear her heart pounding in her ears and she can feel her blood racing throughout her entire body. Staying put is no longer an option and that is her cue. With every last bit of her strength, Jessie kicks her legs as hard as they will go. Heading straight up to the surface she pops up out of the water with a splash, she hears Rachel screaming at the top of her lungs. “Run! I mean swim! Swim faster!”