First Love, Worst Love

Chapter 27 - One Second

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys! So it looks like Ashleigh has finally made a breakthrough...! I'd love to know what you think of it :)

We are getting closer to the end of this story now, I am still writing it, but I estimate around 5 to 7 chapters to go (depends how long it takes me to tie up all the ends haha!)

Once it's finished I am going to submit it to the Wattpad Featured list - so please do show your support as I would love to get it up on the front page :D

Thanks so much for everyone reading and voting, it means so much! Hope you enjoy today's episode!
Becky xx

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Chapter 27

One Second

When I was a little girl, maybe about 7 or 8, my Mum took me and Benji to this big waterpark that had just opened about an hour away.

We were so excited to go there. The only place we had been swimming before was a pokey little pool in the local leisure centre which was usually full of old ladies. The waterpark was a world away from what we were used to in Westerfield. There were big waterslides, colourful floats to play with and a wave machine that made the water lap crazily up and down.

As soon as we got there, Benji tore off to play on the slides. He was nearly a teenager and couldn't wait to go and have an adventure. I didn't want to join him, though. The slides were too big and I was too little. I clung hold of Mum instead, hoping we could just splash about in the shallow end together for a while.

At first, that's exactly what we did. I found some floats and paddled about at the very end of the pool. Mum and I played catch with a ball and watched Benji waving to us from the top of the slide. He kept tripping up the stairs, but it didn't seem to phase him.

Then after a while, I started to get a bit bored of the shallow end. I asked Mum if we could go a little further in. She reluctantly agreed to take me into the middle, right at the point where I could just about touch the floor with my feet. There was something quite thrilling about the water rising around me. It felt symbolic in some way. Like I was getting a little bit braver. A little bit older.

"Ash, make sure you don't pass the middle line," my Mum called out to me as I swam a little further out. I wasn't sticking to her side anymore. I wanted to float out, wild and free.

"OK, Mum," I answered in a groan.

"I mean it, be careful."

I thought she was making a fuss over nothing. I wasn't the strongest swimmer, but I was learning to get better with every stroke. As I swam, I forgot all the fear I'd held when we first got into the pool. All I could feel was the warm lap of water around me. The sensation of being totally at one with my surroundings.

And then there was the loud ringing of an alarm as the wave machine started.

"Ashleigh, I think you'd better get back," Mum shouted. "These waves get really rough."

I didn't want to go back. All the other kids around me were screaming and laughing as the water started to bob up and down. It was exciting, like being on an aquatic rollercoaster.

"ASHLEIGH APPLE, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? COME BACK NOW!"

Mum started swimming after me, snatching for my hand. But the waves were getting higher and higher, blocking her from me. And then more people crowded between us. Kids with their parents, all of them giggling and throwing their arms in the air with every crash of the water.

This was fun. I joined in with them, laughing and screeching as the waves hit me. What was Mum panicking about? I was having a great time. So I just ignored her shouts to me. I blocked everything out but me and the water. Rising and falling, matching my every breath.