Imagine That

Everyone's eyes were impatiently watching the last few seconds tick down on the clock. In just a few more moments, the final bell would ring and summer break would officially begin. Sam was more excited than she had been in a long time. As soon as the bell rang, she and her friends would be off to their secret spot on Brighton Lake. This would be their last summer together before starting middle school. Their last adventure before everything was sure to change. Most friendships never lasted once they left elementary school. Middle school would be the start of separate classes and cliques. Sam wasn't ready for that.

Everyone jumped out of their chairs and ran through the classroom door as the bell finally rang. "I can't wait!" said Cecilia, linking up arms with her friends. "Super C.A.T.S summer of fun starts now!" Sam laughed and rolled her eyes. C.A.T.S was the secret acronym they had come up with in third grade. C for Cecilia, A for Ami, T for Tara, and S for Sam. "Hey girls!" said Ami's mom, April, as the girls piled into the van. "Hey mom!" They all buckled their seat belts and they were off. Sam pulled out her sketch book to pass the time as they drove.

Ami plugged her phone into the cars stereo and began to play their "C.A.T.S summer playlist". The girls were belting out the lyrics. "What is that?" Tara asked, shocked. She pointed at Sam's sketch book. Sam had sketched out a weird creature. It had the front half of a crocodile with long sharp claws and the back half of a shark. The face looked like it belonged to a t-rex but had four rows of huge, razor sharp teeth and a long pointed tongue like a snake. "That thing is creepy!" said Cecilia.

Sam gave a half smile and closed her sketch book sheepishly. "I thought it was cool!" said Ami. They had pulled up to the lake and were jumping out of the car ready to splash into the cool clear water. "Be careful!" shouted April as the girls rushed towards the lake. They stripped off their clothes as they made their way to the edge of the water. They threw down their bags and towels. Sam tossed her sketch book down next to her and sat on her towel as she began rubbing sun block onto her legs.

"Good idea to wear our swim suits under our clothes today!" said Cecilia. "No wasted time! That's a movement I can fully get behind." She smiled a big cheesy grin and nodded. The girls laughed. April spread her own towel onto the ground and laid on it with her book. "You're not getting in, Mom?" She shook her head. "I'm gonna read. Y'all enjoy yourselves."

The girls ran in, splashing water in every direction. The cool water enveloped their hot skin and it felt amazing. They all laughed, splashing each other and dunking each other under. "Hey, look!" said Tara. She pointed to the little island in the middle of the lake. "That's pretty far out there." Said Ami. She turned back around. Back on the beach, her mom looked like a small toy. They were already out pretty far. "Oh, don't be a chicken!" said Cecilia. "You can't even hardly swim, Cecilia!" laughed Ami as Cecilia dog paddled her way next to her. "That's right!" She said, "So, therefore, I should be the scared on. Not you, Chicken."

Ami spit a mouthful of water into her face. "Ok," she said, "Let's race. Last one to the island gets eaten by the lake monster!" They all begin swimming as fast as they could, each one trying to beat the other. Tara was the first to make it, followed by Sam, then Ami, making Cecilia the last. "You guys suck!" Cecilia said. They were all breathing heavily. "You know I suck at swimming!" "That was the point." laughed Ami. They all laid down on the small island, trying to catch their breath.

There was just enough room for them all to lay comfortably. The island they were on was really just a big slab of wood that someone had built out here for some unknown reason. There was a built in chair. Maybe it had belonged to some fisherman. They didn't know. What they did know was that it was a perfect place to sun bathe. It was also great for jumping off of.

The girls took turns jumping in, trying to see who could jump the farthest. They were all pretty even in wins versus losses so far. They pulled themselves back up on to the wooden island and laid down. "I'm getting bored." sighed Tara. "So, let's make it more interesting." offered Cecilia. "How?" asked Ami. "We could make the loser do all the chores for the trip." Cecilia replied. "Well then, you may as well just start when we get back." smiled Ami, "Everyone knows you're gonna lose." The girls laughed.

"Haha." replied Cecilia sarcastically. "I've got an idea. You remember you said before that whoever made it here last was eaten by the lake monster?" Ami nodded. "Ok, well how about whoever loses has to stay in the water until the game is over and try to grab the others from the air so they can't jump as far as they normally could?" "What does that have to do with a lake monster?" asked Tara. "Well.." replied Cecilia, "Whoever loses the first round, you know whoever can't jump the farthest, has been eaten by the lake monster. Then we all just kinda try and grab the rest until there is just one person left." "And that person will win what exactly?" asked Ami. "Immunity from chores. First pick of food and activities for the rest of the trip."

"Sounds cool." The girls nodded and stood up. "But what is the story behind it?" asked Sam. "What does the lake monster actually look like? Where did it come from? I think we need to really imagine a good story to give us initiative to want to win. Making it more real would make us try harder." Cecilia nodded. "You're right. Well, you already made it, Sam!" "Huh?" she looked confused. "Your sketch!" said Tara. "That thing was absolutely horrifying! And it has a fish tail, so it would be perfect for swimming through the lake." "Ok," said Sam, "but why is it here now?" "It's always been here!" said Cecilia. "It's just woken up!" "Yeah!" exclaimed Ami. "Every summer it wakes up to feed on unsuspecting people that visit the lake!"

"Ok." said Cecilia. "Imagine that it's here under this wood right now. Lurking. Waiting on one of us to fall behind the others so it can eat. It's awake and it's hungry." "I'm actually kind of scared now." giggled Tara nervously. "I mean, just imagine that thing actually swimming underneath us." She shuddered. "Don't worry, Tara." said Ami, "We all know that Cecilia is gonna be the first one to go. She always loses." "Really?" Cecilia rolled her eyes. "Shut up already!" She pushed Ami who lost her footing and fell into the water. The girls laughed. Ami's head bobbed up to the surface and she spit out a mouthful of water. "You jerk!" she cried. She began paddling herself back towards them.

Cecilia high fived the other two and laughed, "That's what you get!" Ami's arms reached and she began to pull herself out of the water. Her eyes suddenly bulged from her head like she was seeing the most terrifying thing she ever had. Her jaw dropped and it looked as if she was trying to scream. Only one small sound escaped her mouth. The girls looked at her, confused. "Stop it, Ami!" cried Tara. "It's not funny!" Sam reached for Ami's hand and tried to pull her up. The water around was suddenly turning a sickening shade of red.

"Help me!" Sam cried out. Tara stood frozen in fear. Cecilia grabbed one of Ami's hands and Sam pulled on the other. Her body lifted easily out of the water and they screamed as they pulled her on to the platform. The bottom half of Ami was no where to be found. Her eyes were still looking at each of the girls, her brain trying to make sense of what had just happened. "What the hell?!" screamed Cecilia, "What just happened?!" Tara had fallen to her knees and was crying for her parents. Sam stared down at Ami's now lifeless body in shock.

"What happened, Sam?" Cecilia was becoming hysterical. "I don't know!" Sam snapped. "It was the lake monster Tara whispered. "Shut up Tara!" cried Cecilia. "That is just imaginary!" "Yeah, well we were all fine until you started talking about that stupid thing!" Tears were pouring from her eyes. "Ok, calm down!" said Sam. "It swims, right? It can't jump. So maybe if we use the chair to propel ourselves farther, we can out swim it?" "Yeah, ok... except when we hit the water, it's gonna come for us." said Cecilia. "Well, we can't stay here forever!" cried Tara. "Throw the rest of her in there and maybe then we can get away!" "Tara, that's sick!" screamed Sam.

"She's dead anyways, Sam!" The water was rippling underneath the wood. "I'm going!" yelled Tara, kicking the rest of Ami's body into the water. The creature leaped out of the water and grabbed Ami's remains. Tara screamed and lost her balance. She fell into the water screaming and kicking her legs. "Swim Tara!" the other girls cried. "Go as fast as you can!" Her legs were throwing up water behind her. The creature poked its head up and looked towards Cecilia and Sam, its tongue darted out of its mouth, which was dripping with blood.

It blinked its big yellow eyes at the girls. Tara was swimming as fast as her legs would allow. She was almost to the shore. The creature turned it's enormous head in her direction. "No!" screamed Sam. "We have to make a jump for it, Cecilia. If we don't, it's going after Tara." "If we do, it's gonna get us!" Cecilia cried. the creature ducked it's head under water and started towards Tara. Tara was almost there. She had about twelve feet left to go. The creature was closing in. Almost there she thought to herself. She threw one arm over the other and swam as if her life depended on it, because it did.

"Cecilia, we have to go!" "No, Sam! If Tara makes it, she's gonna call for help. We can't go in the water!" "If we don't go now, it will come back and get us. We don't have time to wait for help!" They both stopped as they heard Tara scream out in pain. They looked towards her direction.

Tara was still paddling with her arms but the creature had ripped her right leg off. April sat up on the beach and pulled her headphones off. She looked around, startled. Tara was pulling herself up on the shore, the tears were streaming from her face. "What happened?!" she asked. Tara could hardly catch her breath. She was shivering. Where is Ami? Where are the other girls? Tara shook her head. Then she passed out.

"She made it." said Sam. "Cecilia, she made it!" "Good," Cecilia sighed, "That means someone will send help." They sat down together on in the middle of the wooden island. Cecilia cried as she saw the water ripple towards them. She screamed when she felt the creature push up against the platform beneath them. "We can't stay here." Sam shook her head. "How long until that thing breaks through?" Cecilia was covering her ears and shaking her head. "Look, Cecilia. We imagined this thing into existence, right?" Cecilia nodded. "So then, why can't we just imagine it gone?"

She stood up and looked around. She could see the water moving where the creature swam beneath them. "It's gone. You're gone!" She screamed out loud. "You don't exist!" Cecilia stood up next to her. "It's gone!." She joined in. "It's gone. It's gone. It's gone!" The ripples in the water weren't there anymore. The surface was flat except for the bugs landing on top.

They looked around and waited. Everything was quiet. Sam walked over to the chair that was part of the platform and broke off a piece of the rotted wood. She tossed it into the water, waiting to see if anything would happen. Nothing did. "I'm going." said Sam. "And so are you." She grabbed Cecilia's hand and pulled her into the water. Cecilia screamed and began to paddle. They kicked their legs and swam for it.

"Go, Cecilia!" cried Sam. "What if it's not gone?!" Cecilia cried out. "Don't think that!" Sam replied. "Sam, I know it's in here, I think I saw it!" Sam kicked her feet faster, screaming as the water erupted beside her. She kept kicking. She couldn't hear Cecilia anymore. She didn't stop. She didn't turn around. She paddled and kicked and didn't let up.

Thirteen feet to go. Eleven now. Just eight more. The seconds seemed like days and it felt like it would never be over. "It's gone!" she thought "It's gone!" She paddled until her feet touched sand and then she began to run up shore. She dropped to the safety of the beach and looked around. No sign of Cecilia anywhere. Her eyes scanned the water carefully. She was gone.

Sam crawled over to where Tara was laying. April had wrapped what was left of her leg tightly in a towel. "What happened, Sam?" She was crying. Sam shook her head. "Where are the other girls? Where's Ami?" Sam dropped her head into her hands and began to sob.

"You made it." whispered Tara. Sam threw her arms around her. "We just imagined it was gone." said Sam. "It worked?" asked Tara. "I don't think so." replied Sam. "Cecilia kept thinking about it and then it got her. She's gone." "Let's get her into the car, Sam." said April. They lifted her off the ground and helped her into the van. Sam sat in the back with Tara. "I need to get my keys." said April, closing the girls into the van.

"I'm never going swimming again." Tara laughed quietly. Sam shook her head. "Neither am I." she replied. "I'm just glad you didn't draw legs on that thing." Tara said, "Could you imagine that?" Sam gasped and looked through the window towards April who was near the edge of the water picking up her keys from her towel. April screamed as a huge head with rows and rows of teeth emerged from the water. It seemed to walk quite nicely on it's brand new pair of powerful hind legs.