Dive In

The sun was setting and the water was inviting me to dive into it. But I couldn't. I just couldn't.

I sighed, lifting my camera to my eye, snapping a photo of the water, and the way the orange sun shone down on it like fire. The sky had shots of purple and yellow and blue in it and rays of light shone down from the Heavens. The wind picked up, blowing my hair every which way and I closed my eyes, still holding my camera. Oh, how I wanted so much to jump straight into the clear blue water and swim to my hearts content. Or maybe dive under and never come back up. Just the thought of something else being down there at the bottom under all the mud and algae excited me. I stepped close to the edge of the bird dropping stained dock, watching the water lap at the boardwalk. 

So tempting.

Ben was behind me, somewhere, but for some reason I just didn't care. I knew he was wary of letting me be near the water, but he didn't say anything, even as I took another step closer. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the clouds; hiding, going to sleep, waiting for his chance the next morning. He was giving the moon a chance to breathe. Somehow, I liked sunsets much better than sunrises. The end of things was a much more thought provoking subject than the beginning of things. When I tipped my head back and lifted my arms, letting the wind push me back, that was when Ben said something. "Adelise. Too close, don't you think?" I sighed, pretending to sound frustrated, though I knew exactly why he was wary of it. Even I was a little wary of it.

It was because, one day, I didn't come back up. I'd heard drowning was the worst way to die next to self-immolation, and just before I passed out I regretted it. In the last two seconds of what I thought was the end of my life, I regretted my decision. Then I remembered nothing else.

I turned back to face Ben, smiled, then walked towards him, the sun gone, and the camera swinging around on the strap around my neck.