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The ceiling was a stark, sterile, patchy white expanse. She'd been staring at it for ten minutes, as she floated on her back and let the barely-moving current carry her down the long olympic size pool. Her body made a perfect T in the water, and her long blonde hair looked dark even as it floated in a vibrant sunset around her head, waving gently at the behest of the water that controlled it.

This wasn't the first time Maebe had come to the pool to swim, but it wasn't often. The time spent washing chlorine out of her hair made swimming an uncommon choice, despite how much she loved it. But she'd already spent an hour doing laps, trying to expel all of the nervous energy that had started to pent up inside of her until she was exhausted. But even now, as she cooled down by floating carelessly through the water, her mind wouldn't shut the ******** up.

Drowning would be a nice way to die.

You're far too self-serving for suicide, child.

Thaw was right, as usual.

So instead, she tried to fill her thoughts with how beautiful she knew she must look floating in the water at that moment. She was sure she looked like a floating angel, dressed in a straining bikini that might as well have been her skinny dipping. She wished she could have taken a selfie or two.

Maebe's head tilted back just enough to look at the boy calling out to her, despite the fact that she knew exactly who he was the moment he'd uttered the first word. She smiled, and then she didn't, settling her head back into position and returning to her even, perfect floating. "I like it when you're being nice. What an interesting change for you. And you'll be happy to know that I got in here because I snuck in, like I always do. It's nicer here. It's always nicer up here."

She sucked in a breath, and let her body sink down, twirling under the water and jetting forward in butterfly strokes towards him. She looked like a predator under the water, which wasn't really that far off.

When she resurfaced, her hair stuck to her body flat and shiny, but imperfect. She couldn't control where the water had left it, and she dropped her head back into the water, running her hands down until it was sleek against her head and back. Then she straightened up, and finally looked at him once more.

He had changed. There was a time, she mused, where he would have seen her in that water and turned to leave. Now, he tolerated her presence, though he wasn't happy about it. Now she smiled, her normal, knowing smile, and it stuck this time.

"Are you a good swimmer? Or should I get the floaties?"

The smile disappeared, because Maebe had actually assumed he was a good swimmer. Why else would someone be at a public pool? There were other reasons, but she hadn't taken them into account when she saw him. He had a swimmers body, after all. A body she was very carefully watching as he undressed and bent to test the water.

She wanted to push him in. She wanted to pull him closer. She wanted to drown him until he was dead. She wanted to desecrate the hunter pool with him, slamming her against the pool wall.

She wanted to go back to swimming.

"All right." She clipped, pushing herself off of the wall and moving smoothly into a backstroke. She needed a moment to think, and to decide how murder and sex were so easily intertwined in her thoughts when Otto was involved. "I'll be here if you need a life saver."

Maebe slowed, but only because it gave him time to catch up to her. Eventually, she stopped, and watched his half-hearted attempts to move in the water with careful consideration. They were in different lanes, until he passed her on the way to the deep end, and she crossed over the lane to join him.

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to drown in a pool, Otto." She told him, her voice even and oddly monotone. "A leg cramp. A heart seizure. Accidentally knocking your head on the wall. Playful tom foolery getting out of control." Was he scared of the water, too? She wanted to know. She wanted to know so badly, it made her follow him in the water, keeping just enough distance to stay away from his legs. "It could happen to you. Or me. I could die right now, Otto."

She stopped swimming, and let him get some distance. Then, as should have been expected at this point, she dipped under the water, and pushed herself down as hard as she could, until she was at the bottom of the pool.

A few bubbles floated up to the surface. Then a large number of them all came up at once, which was surely a bad sign. But only a minute passed before Maebe did, in fact, resurface, bobbing back up to break the water tension noisily. She thought it was very funny, and her wicked expression spoke volumes concerning how seriously she took the threat. She bobbed up closer to him, refusing to stop once she was at the wall. Her hands reached out right beside him, and pushed herself backwards to float a foot or two away.

"Were you worried about me, Otto?" She pondered, her voice lifting to exaggerate the question. "I bet you weren't. You knew me better by now." Her head dipped down under the water, and she blew bubbles. But a moment later, her lips were above the surface again. "You knew I'd always come back up for air."

She failed to mention the real reason she knew Otto wasn't worried; the most obvious and important one. He had no reason to care. She failed to mention it because people did not accept the reality of their dark, twisted humanity when they were presented with it. They did not appreciate being told that they would not save a stranger in need. Everyone wanted to believe they were a saint, when really they were all sinners.

Maebe's skin turned a lovely shade of pink, as if she was blushing from a compliment. "Awwww. Come on. It was a little funny." She teased - but the flush of her cheeks wasn't a blush at all. She looked revitalized by his answer. She could have lived off a diet of nothing but toying with Otto's fear of death. It felt so good.

Her hands lifted out from under the water, reaching out for him lovingly. At least, it looked that way. "Come here."

Damn, that sounded like such a delicious idea. Pushing him down under the water, watching his beautiful head struggle as his lungs filled with liquid and he tried his hardest to break free, while snap went her phone. Maybe she'd throw up a peace sign. She giggled, and it sounded like she was laughing at his absurdity. Really, she just thought it was a very pretty idea.

Her hands rose up in the air. "No phone. They're not waterproof, you know. Do you think I'd risk my phone just to ******** with you?" Yes, she silently answered. She would risk so much to ******** with him. So much more than she should have been risking. She was already risking too much, as it was.

Her hands reached back out, calling to him with a gesture. "Just come here. I'll take you for a ride."

Now that was an understatement.

He floated into her arms, and for a few seconds she blissfully forgot what she was going to do with him. He just came, and she took, and that was the end of the interaction. Then she turned, still holding his hands in hers, and wrapped his arms around her neck.

"See? I'm putting my life in your hands. You couldn't be more safe." She pulled him up until he was resting against her, and tilted her head just enough to give him room to see. "I just want to take you for a ride. It'll be fun. At least it was when guys used to do this to me." She didn't have to ask - if Otto didn't know how to swim well, he'd certainly never done this with a girl before.

She remembered being used in a game of chicken, sitting on some guys shoulders, but she couldn't remember his face. That was too far in the deep end of her memories - it felt like another life.

"Just hold on to me. And I'm going to swim."