WEP: In Too Deep

                I have been watching the Write…Edit…Publish blog hop challenge from the sidelines for the last year or so. I had an idea for one last summer but never wrote it out. This story flowed so easily from my mind last month after seeing the theme, and I really wanted to share it. So, I am finally off the bench and joining in, yet I still somehow managed to sign up at the last minute because I’m a perpetual procrastinator. I think it is worth mentioning that this is the first time, as far as I can remember, that I am sharing a fictional story publically. It seems only fitting that this is also my 200^th blog post. 

---

The Depth of the Ocean

                When Bonnie saw the ocean for the first time at age seven, she was astounded. The waves were so big and the water so cold. She was afraid to get too close at first, but her friend, Max took her hand and led her to the edge. They collected seashells together and played in the shallows for hours on end. Had she realized then that she would not see the ocean again for twelve long years, she may have enjoyed those days with Max a little more.

                Scott came along when Bonnie was nineteen. He seemed charming and sweet, and he brought her back to the ocean again. “It’s about time!” She thought because she had been dreaming of the ocean for years now and she deeply longed to not only go back, but to go out further in the water. Why had she been so afraid as a child? When she watched others who had been out in the deep blue, they never seemed afraid. Scott slowly and gently led Bonnie through the sand. She stepped timidly into the water and it was just as icy cold as she remembered, but she liked this easy pace as they let the water edge its way further up their bodies. It was nice until they were shoulder deep and suddenly, Bonnie was afraid again. “Will Scott really be able to help me navigate these waters when it’s too deep to touch bottom?” She wondered as she let go of Scott’s hand and swam back to shore.

                Then, there was Ethan, and he was so fun! Bonnie was always pleased to be around him and they even talked of the ocean one time. But, when she went out to the ocean again, Ethan was nowhere to be found and she realized that he never really wanted to go there with her.

                The years went on, and Bonnie was now in her late twenties having never gone out in the deep, as she watched so many others experience it before her. She was frustrated and desperately searching for the one to go with her. She thought she found him when she got to know Trevor. He was an all-around good guy; he would definitely be able to protect her from drowning. She would sit at the water’s edge and dream of going out with him. It came to a point when she was tired of waiting and dreaming, and she attempted to go out on her own, hoping Trevor would catch up eventually. She was neck deep when the tide started to pull her under. Bonnie nearly drowned that day. As she breathlessly crawled to the shore, she caught a glimpse of Trevor going in with someone else, and Bonnie realized he had never wanted to swim with her in the first place. It had all been a fantasy in her head. The waters became a much darker place after that.

                A few years later, Bonnie had formed a habit of taking sad strolls along the sand. She still liked to gaze at the ocean, but she dared not to enter it again. She sat and stared at the waters until she saw something out of the corner of her eye. There was someone else down the beach doing the same thing she was. He looked up and suddenly the sun started to rise creating a beautiful, shimmering glow over the smooth waters. He approached her and spoke of how he had always dreamed of going out where the water goes above your head. She enthusiastically told him she shared the same sentiment. Before she knew what was happening, they were walking hand in hand out into the clear, blue waters. It went from their ankles, to their knees, to their waists, shoulders, necks, and then it was the furthest point Bonnie had ever been. They plunged into the deep, no longer touching bottom, and it was the most freeing sensation Bonnie had ever experienced in her life. She felt as though they could swim all day and all night and never drown.

Word Count: 680, FCA
Photo is my own taken in Cape Canaveral, Florida

---