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How would you describe this feeling? Weighless? Carefree? Unconditionally free? Without gravity? As if nothing mattered? Like… Floating?
Gura couldn’t really place a word for this. This one specific feeling that she could only have here and now. Alone, with nothing but the slight sounds of tiny waves crashing against her body. Laying with her back, on the cold surface that swallowed half of her body. Eyes closed and the world completely disappeared around her, as her ears sank under the water muffling every noise coming from outside the water.
Only one thing could compare to that and even be better. Doing this on a summer day, in the hot sun, in the ocean while the beach was just a few metres away. Oh, how she wished she could be there and not here, in the steril indoor pool way too big for one person alone, and yet feeling so unbearably claustrophobic.
But if she concentrated enough, she could pretend. Yes, pretending sounds nice. If she imagined just hard enough she could even hear the seagulls in her head and the fishes that would swim underneath her. At least she didn’t have to worry that one of those pesky birds would poop on her again. The only avian able to disturb her here was Kiara, and she really didn’t mind the phoenix company. She was always glad when the bubbly and cheerful woman would come to her. Who would ever mind having a friend like that? Well, maybe Calli, but it was all just a pretence anyway. If she’d really thought of the ginger as annoying she wouldn’t have asked her out.
Still a fun memory to think back to. Of all people, it was Ina that made the Reaper jealous and finally go for it. Gura would have loved to see Calli’s face back then. She could only imagine the blush on her friend's face while she’d try to stammer the words out. Gura guessed the fans didn’t call Calli a Tsundere without a reason.
Not like she was any better, honestly. She was never the “It’s not like I like you” type, like the beloved reaper, but it, too, took her a long time to ask the girl she liked out for a date. Who would have guessed that dumb bannters and jokinly calling each other wifes would turn into a feeling of actual deep love, and who’d have guessed that the detectiv in question would feel the same?
It was sometimes surprising to Gura how easily it was to think about and reminisce old memories, in the water. Everything came so lightly into her head here. But, how so often these days, thinking leads to overthinking.
The shark too wished to go live again soon. Tell the internet about all the things she had experienced the last one and a half years. Tell them about the trips she went onto and, frankly, immature pranks she pulled on her gen- and roommates. Play a new game, and bring back old jokes. She wouldn’t even mind the flat jokes at this point, just to see the comments of her fans again. Sadly, all of these things are hard when-
“Gura!”
An all too familiar voice ripped the small woman from her trainthought. Death's right hand was calling for her. This would probably scare some people, but not Gura, the shark was never scared of Calli, even when she called out to her in such a hard, yet slightly panicked voice.
Turning her head to the source of the sound, Gura threw a smug grin in the general direction of her friend. “Yes, Calli?”
Her voice was cooky and teasing. She knew what she did to cause such a reaction from Calli, but she couldn't really allow herself to feel bad about this. If she did, she’d have to feel bad about so many things.
The huff of her friend was barely audible, but Gura could easily picture Calli’s aggravated face in her head. “You know exactly you are not allowed to go into here alone”
“Oh come on Sheriff! I can handle a bit of water” Gura giggled and turned her head back to face the ceiling.
“I looked all over the house for you. What if you’d drowned? I could have been too late to get you out of there” Gura could hear her friend shuffling around the pool, probably searching for a place to pull Gura out of the water. The shark didn’t know how close she actually was to the edge of the pool, so maybe the reaper would have to actually get in to get her out of here.
“I’m a shark! It’s all instincts” The whitehaired girl replied like it was a given fact, even tho, both knew it wasn’t
“Oh?! Then what about last time, huh? When Ina had to pull you out and needed to call an ambulance?”
Call sounded really angry now. Gura knew she had gotten careless, especially with her own safety, but back then, back when she almost drowned… it made her feel the most alive then she felt in a while.
Most of it was a blur at this point. She could remember getting into the pool and just floating on the surface like she was doing now. Ame, Calli and Kiara were out shopping for a big collab that was planned. Ina stayed at home with Gura, but the poor woman had not had a lot of sleep the past few days. The anniversary of the incident was just a few days before, and Ina couldn't get a full night's rest because of that. She tried hiding it especially in front of Gura, but she knew, all of them knew. So when she passed out on the couch, Gura let her sleep.
It was dumb and reckless what she did after, but Gura coudln’t take the constant babysitting anymore. She needed an escape, just some time to be alone, and feel normal again. So she snuck down to their indoor pool, getting into the water.
She thought she could handle it, and everything was fine, until the getting out part. Slowly walking over in the shallow part, she tried finding the ladder to get out, but one careless step made her slip into the deeper half. Her head dropping under water, she panicked, not knowing where back and forth was for a moment. She tried swimming to the edge as best as she could, underestimating how much space was between her and the ledge.
Knocking her head against the cold tiles, the pain in her head was imminent, her head involuntary dunking under water again, and breathing instinct seating in immediately. She didn’t know why, but at this moment she couldn't move a single part of her body. She was conscious to some part, she could remember time passing by her like a speeding light, while also seeming to go by fast enough. It was the first time in a year she felt so light, even more weightless than when she was normally floating on the water surface. Maybe this is the reason she got into the pool in the first place, just to feel normal again.
Sharks could survive under water with their gills, but Gura wasn't a full shark at that time. She could hold her breath longer than humans and most other mythical creatures, that’s true, but after 2 hours even her oxygen supply was fully drained from her human body.
If Ina hadn’t awoken and started searching for her, who knew if anyone else would have found her in time.
The rest of the story she only knew from the others telling her. How Ina jumped into the pool and dragged her out. The immediate call for an ambulance, and the CPR the priestess had to do, to keep Gura alive. She heard how the others came home only moments after the ambulance arrived. How Kiara had to hold back both Ame and Calli, so they wouldn’t get in the way of the paramedics. How all of them immediately jumped in the car to drive after the ambulance.
The only memory after that, that was truly Guras, was waking up in the hospital bed. Strapped to a plethora of medical machinery. The face of her friends and loved ones, staring back at her with an expression of lingering shock, pain and guilt.
Gura only realised she got lost in her thoughts again, when Calli started speaking once more. “Hey, man. Sorry I snapped. I just… You know. I don’t want it to repeat… I’m worried for you”
Gura couldn’t hear these words anymore. Everyone was worried for or about her. They treated her with such care. Even now Callis' voice was so soft, it was almost unrecognisable as the reaper that spat rap like it was a contest. All of them treated her like a porcelain doll, like she’d break every moment if they’d say the wrong word.
“Apology accepted, Stinky”
Gura tried to ignore the internal turmoil. She didn’t want to worry them even more, so why not at least try to act happy, right?
She could feel Calli pulling slightly on her hoodie, bringing her closer to the border. “Give me your arm, dude”
Raising her arm in Calli’s direction, the taller woman draped it over her shoulder. It didn’t take her a lot of strength to pull the shark from the water and onto land again.
“You had to go into the water with your clothes, didn’t you?” She said to Gura after her feet were safely on the ground and she found her balance. Gura just showed her that wide mischievous grin that revealed all her upper sharp teeth.
Silence passed through the two friends like a sting, the worry that Calli still radiated made Guras throat almost to thigh to breathe, but she had to ask something. Something very important. “Are you gonna tell the others about this?”
“Oh, you can bet your ass that I will tell them about that. We’ll have to keep an even closer eye on you. Maybe we’ll just install a tracker on you, watch out for that” What was supposed to probably be a joke, to lighten the mood a bit, and make Gura not as scared of the reaction from the others, just brought out something bitter from the smaller one. “I wish I could actually watch out for that”
Calli tensed next to her, she maybe couldn't see it but she could feel it next to her. “Man, you know what I mean… it was just, well you know…I didn’t actually mean-”
“It’s okay Calli. We all sometimes forget about it don’t we?” The reaper sighed, not really able to come up with another reply then “yeah…” to this.
It was something they all wish they could really forget. That they could forget that event, and its consequences.
But everyday they are reminded of it, especially Gura. That day, this random guy came running up to all the members of Holomyth through the ground. They had just finished the concert, when he pushed his way to the front. It was a coincidence that Gura stood in the middle of them all. And as he opened the container he held the liquid in, he tried aiming for them all. But with the shark standing there, right at the front, most of the acid landed on her and her face.
The doctors told her while most of the scares would heal to be not as prevalent, they couldn't do anything for her eyes, and she’d never be able to see again.
Shaking her head, Gura turned her head up to where she thought Calli’s face was. “Let’s just go up, I think I need some new clothes.”