When they had come back, Little Jane dropped her bags onthe floor and put her hands up to her face in mock surprise. They were allthere. Grace, Caitlyn, and Jude yelling "Happy brithday!" in a tonethat made her parents plug their ears with their fingers. It was going to bethe best birthday party ever, or at least that's what she'd thought before thetrouble began.
After devouring a couple of pizzas, showing off her clothesto her friends, and squealing so much that her father's face began to turn red,they were all sent up to the roof of The Encore, as their building was called.It was a modern structure, twenty floors that curved and gave a great view ofthe river and the East side of the city, the side that her father called the"dirty side," but from this distance it looked clean enough. It waslike her own personal ant farm, except instead of ants, it was filled withpeople and cars zipping about. After Little Jane and her friends had changedinto their bathing suits, they were ready to go.
"Bye, Dad," she had said as he sat on the blackleather couch watching the news. He didn't even say goodbye to her. He was tooabsorbed by the images on the television. Her father turned towards thekitchen, where her mother was cleaning up their mess, and asked, "Honey,have you seen this?" Her mother was too busy to reply, and her fatherturned back around, glued to the TV.
Little Jane shrugged her shoulders, and with her cadre offriends all dressed in their swimsuits, they rode the elevator up to the roofof The Encore. The water in the pool was blue as blue could be, and despite thefact that they weren't supposed to go up on the roof without adults, and theyweren't supposed to run around the pool, they did it anyway. What the heck? shethought. It was her birthday, her very own special day.
Being rich and living in one of the most expensivebuildings in Portland, on the top floor no less, meant that you could basicallydo whatever you wanted to whenever you wanted to. The signs on the pool thatincluded sayings like "No running" and "Adult must be present atall times" meant nothing to them. That sign was for other people. Whothose other people were didn't necessarily matter to Little Jane.
Because of Little Jane's belief that she could dowhatever she wanted whenever she wanted, she didn't care that there was an oldman lying on a lounge chair completely clothed, his arm hanging down onto thesmooth concrete below him. They only spared him a glance, and then proceeded tobreak every rule on the tiny placard attached to the wall. Grace charged downthe pale concrete, launched herself into the air with a squeal and landed inthe deep water at the north end of the pool. Little Jane did the same, bringingher knees up to her chest in perfect cannonball form. Despite the name LittleJane, the splash she made was large, loud, and utterly satisfying.
As she kicked up to the surface of the pool, she noticedthat the man was no longer there. Good, she thought. Old guys werecreepy anyway. Now they had the place completely to themselves. Her thoughtsfloated away as Caitlyn swam over to her and attempted to dunk her headunderneath the water. She fought valiantly, her legs kicking, their squealsricocheting off the rooftop and into the city sky where they disappeared. Theirfaces shone in the sun, wet and sparkly like jewels.
Jude and Grace joined in the fun, and soon they were allalternating between coughing and sputtering as they attempted to playfullydrown each other. Little Jane was having a great time, and then she feltsomething odd. Despite the fact that she could see her friends in front of her,she had felt something brush her leg. It had felt like a hand.
"Stop, you guys," she said, trying to calm herfriends down so that she could figure out what had just brushed against her. Butit was too late. While they were still splashing around, she felt pain as ahand wrapped around her ankle and pulled her under the water. Her nose, mouth,and lungs filled up with water. She kicked and screamed, her voice coming outas nothing but bubbles, and then she was free.
She struck out for the edge of the pool, away from herfriends. She hauled herself up onto the smooth tiled edge of the pool, thewater sliding off her skin to be replaced by the heat of the sun. On the edgeof the pool, she coughed and gasped, trying to tell her friends something, somethingimportant. But she couldn't get the words out. All she could do was point, butthey were all too busy dunking each other. She gagged as water, escaped fromher lungs and filled her throat, and then she saw Caitlyn dunk Grace... andGrace didn't come back up.
"He's in the water!" she wheezed. Her friendsdidn't hear.
She heard Caitlyn and Jude giggle, as if Grace wereplaying some sort of joke. The water became still, and then it happened. A slowbloom of red appeared in the sparkling blue water, spreading out from two darkshadows in the deep end of the pool.
"Get out of the pool!" she yelled. Caitlyn andJude swam to the sides of the pool, arms flailing in panic, and crawled out.
"What the fuck is going on?" Jude said. No oneresponded to her profanity. It seemed appropriate at the time, as they stood onthe edge of the pool, watching the crimson cloud grow in the pool.
"There's something in the pool," Little Janesaid.
Caitlyn began to panic. "What do we do?"
Before they could answer, a shape appeared in the shallowend of the water. Grace's body popped up, floating facedown, her black hairsplayed around her head.
