Twenty-seven.

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Kate almost drowned once, she was 10 and still couldn't swim. One day at the public pool her friends pushed her into the deep end, Kate remember little about what happened after her body sunk under the water.

She remembered what it felt like as she gulped down water, her arms flailing as she tried to pull herself to the top. It was no deeper than 6ft but Kate felt like she was in a never ending hole, after what felt like hours but was only minutes her body stop fighting and at 10 years old she excepted her fate, she was pulled out seconds later and given cpr. She was fine, apart from the realization she needed new friends.

It was a week later that Kate met molly.

This was nothing compared to what she remembered drowning felt like. The water moved rapidly around her, sharp objects landing around her as the wave took almost everything with it. Kate felt her lungs cry for air, she kicked her legs as hard as she could but the water was stronger, there was only so much her body could handle before it decided to stop.

Minutes passed, just as she was about to give up she felt her hand break through the water, a hand grabbed hers and she was pulled up from what felt the ruins of the deep sea.

Kate felt her body land on something hard, she didn't really care who pulled her up or what she landed on.

A gasp ripped through her throat, leaving a burning sensation to linger for a few seconds. She coughed up what felt like a bucket of water, the person responsible for saving her patted her back as she did.

Kate laid down after the 30 seconds of coughing, her chest moved up and down as her lungs took in the fresh ocean air.

Kate turned her head, a woman the same age as her have a soft smile.

"Thanks" Kate panted, she leaned on her elbows and sat up.

"I recognize you, you are the woman who was thrown from the truck 5 months ago"

"That's me" Kate nodded,  wringing out the end of her now tangled hair; Regretting the decision to leave it down.

"You're a firefighter?" The woman asked

"LAFD at your service"

"good, could you help with this" she stretched out her leg, revealing the shard Of glass that protruded from her shin

"What's your name?" Kate asked

"I'm cara. I wasn't here alone, I was babysitting for a family friend, she's a 5 year old girl wearing a pink shirt with a blue skirt"

"Cara, I'm Kate and right now we need focus on your leg, can you tell me how much it hurts on a scale from 1 to 10"

"A there maybe, I expected it to hurt a lot more" she shrugged

"It's probably the adrenaline, it can block out the pain but it will ware off soon" Kate told her,

"So right now it's probably safer to leave this in, if I pull it out you are risk of a lot of bleeding but I'm going to tie something around it to hold it in place" she explained

"Okay"

Kate cupped some water into the wound, cara groaned quietly as she gripped her hand around Kate's shoulder. Kate ripped the material from her shirt and wrapped around her leg.
"you okay?" Kate asked

Cara exhaled a small whimper "I think the adrenaline ran off"

"This should work, at least till someone can come find you"

"What about you?" cara asked

"Well my shift starts soon, but given the circumstances I'd say nows a good time to start" Kate cracked a small joke,

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