It was a breezy September morning as me and my friend Nova were sitting at the table in the kitchen waiting for my father to finish making breakfast. Pancakes. That first thing and the last thing I would eat that day. My friend looked over at me with her dark chocolate brown eyes and said “Why don’t we go to the falls?” Halfway asleep and halfway awake, I ignored the idea.
My dad finally brought the pancakes to the table. My brother sat cross, and my other brother sat next to him. Thinking of what to do today my friend again said “why don’t we go to the falls today?” I couldn’t keep ignoring the question because with her you can’t just do that.
“Fine, I guess we could go” I sighed, I didn’t like the falls. It was muddy and we had to walk so far to get there. We would also have to walk in sewer water. It’s disgusting. But that's not even the end of it. The water is brown and there's a drop at the end of the tunnel. It's not safe there. People graffiti on the concrete wall things that I'm not going to mention. After we ate our very burnt pancakes we went to my room.
“So” Nova said. “When are we going to go?” Looking over at her and sighed. “Whenever you want.”
Jumping up and down on my bed nova grabbed my now hurting wrist and pulled me onto my bed. “This is going to be so much fun!” “Let’s go get our stuff” she said while taking me to my living room. She grabbed my old school bag from the shoe closet then went back to my room. “Okay” she said “first I will change into some old clothes then we will go fill the bag with a picnic blanket and some food.”
I hesitated before answering. I was thinking about changing my mind. I guess she really wants to go. I can’t stop her so “Okay.” She went to the kitchen leaving me behind in my room. I guess I will find the clothes.
I went to the kitchen, passed her and went down the basement steps. It smelt wet and musty. I hated that about the basement. I turned the light on and walked over to the laundry room. I flipped the switch and the bulb flickered on. I sighed while walking over the laundry pile and the old clothes. They were in a big trash bag from my mom's work. I ripped open the top and dug in.
Finally after flinging clothes all over the room I found some old shorts and a purple sleeveless sweatshirt. I also found a pair of boots. Then found Nova a camo Blue short sleeved shirt and some black shorts. And a pair of my old pink and teal tennis shoes.
I walked back over the dirty laundry pile. I flipped the switch off and closed the door behind me. I walked up the step trying not to tumble down with the clothes in hand. I passed the kitchen and Nova was still there making us sandwiches. I went through the hallway and to my room.
I threw the clothes on my bed still thinking about retreating on the idea. I sighed and grabbed the bag off the floor. Setting it on the bed, I grabbed the clothes and shoved them into it. Nova came into my room with the sandwiches in her hands. She stood there waiting for me to come to the kitchen. Giving me a signal to follow her, I did just that.
“Ta-da” She giggled. “So, what foods do we have?” I questioned while looking at the foods that were neatly placed on the counter. “ Well, We have apple slices and banana slices” She exclaimed while pointing at the bags with the fruits inside. She explained the rest of the foods we had then we went back to my room to put them in my bag.
While putting the food into the bag I realized I put the clothes in when we needed to put them on before we left. I looked over at Nova. She was starting to zip the bag. I giggled. She looked over at me. “What's so funny?” She asked. “I realized I put the clothes away,” I said. “ When we needed to put them on before we left.” We stopped and stared at each other for a few seconds. Then bursted out laughing.
We dumped the bag out and grabbed our clothes. “Okay do you want to change in the bathroom or in my room?” I asked. She stopped and thought for a second “Your room” I left the room and closed the door behind me then walked to the bathroom.
We changed into our clothes and went to the living room. “Where's your brother?” Nova asked. I looked over at her. She and my brother were friends. Maybe not those clothes but I guess you could call them acquaintances.
“I think he’s in his room with two other friends. Why do you ask?” She left the room and went up to my brother's door. I followed far behind. She Knocked on his door waiting there with her hair flipping around in a ponytail. He answered the door and asked “what do you need nova?” She said that she wanted to invite him and his friend to go to the falls with us. I was surprised. Does she like him? I grinded a stupied looking grin on my face. He asked his friend and they agreed to go.
Just like we were all out the door, Bags packed and getting ready to go. We walked across the yard to the side walk. Nova and I were further ahead. The Boys were so slow. We got to a bridge. A big one. Nova grabbed my hand and held it tightly. I sighed. Nova was afraid of heights. And the bridges were high off the ground.
We quickly walked across the metal bridge. Finally we got off the bridge Nova let go of my sweating hand.
After what felt like hours, we made it. The falls were kinda easy to get to. It was by the park. But mostly in the baseball field. I stood there staring at the path. Nova was a path between me and my brother and his friends. So me and Nova weren't next to each other. “Nova, Mark, Canada, Drew, Hurry up, or i’ll go without you guys”. A few minutes later everyone stood around and waited. “Okay,” I said. “One by one everyone's going to go down, Make sure you hang onto the rope or you’ll go for a tumble.” WIthout any questions, they each went down how I explained. I was the last one down.
I slid down the dirt path, and got to the end. I let go of the rope and looked around. It was a beautiful sight. The Water fell down from two gigantic tunnels that had a train tracks on top of it. When the water fell down the edge looked light brown, but so clean when it fell down. I forgot the sight was so beautiful. The Last time we’d been here was the beginning of last summer. I remembered the water being the same. I hated the water before but that day I took an odd liking to it.
We walked across a small old log that led us across the water. While climbing up a big rock it had some mud and I slipped and fell backwards, scraping my knee. “Ouch” I said, squeezing my eyes closed. I sighed and got back on my feet. “Guys?” I yelled. They must be up already. I started to climb back up to the top.
I finally got up after a few tries. “Hello” I screamed into the tunnel. “Guys.” They left me. I walked through the long dark tunnel. It was like I was taking a bravory test. And I would find treasure at the end or a prize. I stared at the walls. I stopped and stared at one of the sayings on the tunnel wall.
Death will come
God will end it
And our word will fall apart
I sighed. “People are weird,” I said to myself. I kept walking. The water sunk into my boots soaking my socks in water.
I’m scared there are going to be snakes here. I felt something cross my foot. “Guys did you put a fake spider or snake in the water, cause this ain’t funny.” Nova peeked her head around the tunnel. I was like ¾ into the tunnel. “Nah, why?” she said giggling. Terror struck my face. I looked down at the water.
Relief hit me. It’s just a water spider. Nova came running towards me, splashing water and mud everywhere. She grabbed my wrist again and pulled me with her. “The boys are down here” She giggled again.
We made it back down the tunnel. “Here we are,” She said. I spotted the drop. “Guys, becarful, Their’s a drop off right there” “This stupid brown water’s hiding it, It like it wants something or someone to die while walking over it.” I said,
It has been an hour since we were here. We hung out, splashing water at each other and walking back and forth in the tunnels.
“Quinn” Mark asked “I think me and my friends are gonna go.” I shook my head okay. Soon they were climbing up the rope. “Mark!” I yelled “I'll call you when I’m going home so you know I'm safe.” I paused and then said “ Love you!” He gave me a peace sign “ love you too” he said and then left leaving dust behind.
So there and then it was just Nova and I. We walked to the back of the tunnel where the drop off was. Nova Slid her shoes off and threw them in the high grass beside us. “What are you doing? '' I asked. Nova rolled her eyes. “I’m going to get in the water, Duh” she snapped back. I was surprised. Nova was never rude or had that behaviour. She sat down and slid off into the drop.
I stood there for a while. Nova had gone under. “Nova” I asked quietly. Nova came up with a splash. “It’s about nine feet deep,” she said reassuringly’.
“Wanna get in” she said laughing, I didn’t. “No,” I said, “There could be glass or… something.” She shook her head in disgrace. “I thought you were cool” She said while still swimming “Guess not.” I shook my head in anger. “I am too cool.” I snapped back. “If you were so cool you would get in”, “Don’t be a whoos-Puss”. “It’s not that deep,” Nova told me while swimming in the cold water. “I’m not a whoos-Puss!” I said angrily. I was starting to get frustrated. I came to her to hang out with her, not to swim in sewer water.
I stared at the water spiders dancing gracefully across the murky brown water. I wish I was graceful. Sadly and stupidly I quit dancing when I was younger, but it wasn’t much of a dance class. More like practising jumping on one foot and having to slither across the floor.
“Quinn?” Nova snapped me out of my mind controlling gases. “You need to stop doing that,” “sometimes, something could happen when you are in that trance of yours.” She was right something could happen when I'm not careful. It’s something I never really thought about. But that didn’t matter that day.
“Just please get in. Just for a minute?” I sighed. Taking my already wet boots off, I tied my purple sleeveless sweatshirt into a crop top. Then put my thick hair into a pony-tail. Then pulled my socks off and put them in my boots.
Putting my toe in the water I quickly jolted back. “It’s so cold!”. “SEE!!!” “You are a whoos-Puss!” Nova yelled. “I’M NOT”. Stumbling over my own word I tripped off the edge and into the deathly cold water. I hit my head on the cement. I could feel the water fill my lungs as I saw the darkness fill my blurry vision.
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