“Laure?!! LAAAUUUUURRRREEEEE!!!????” The guys yelled over each other. Rachael could be heard scream-crying. (That’s a thing).
I couldn’t respond. Try as I might the words wouldn’t form. My eighteen your old self could only cling to a rock and keep praying.
It started out as a fun adventure. My guy friends from the city had decided to take a road trip to visit me and check out a place where one of their families was possibly moving to. I was ecstatic! My best friend and I had greeted them and driven them our favorite spot, Blue Streak. Blue Streak and Candy Rock are spots along a river just outside of town. The river has shaped rocks into natural water slides and in between are small pools of water. At the end is a jumping rock that jets out a little farther than the waterfall.
We had stripped down to board shorts and bikinis. As soon as we had found a spot to lay our towels the boys were off to explore. Their amazement was intoxicating, it brought life to something that’s just “always been there”. I guess you could say that put the surprise and beauty back into for me. So I dragged Rachael into the familiar pools of water. Edging closer to where we spotted the boys who had discovered sliding down smooth rocks. Joey popped up next to us in the water and then Geoff appeared. I can’t remember what they were discussing in such an animated way, but the looks on their faces were so darn cute. They climbed out and Joey turned, bent toward us and began to talking. My teen heart throbbed wildly. A half-naked gorgeous piece of guy was talking to me. *Sigh*
“Laure did you hear me?” Joey asked.
“Huh? Umm, sorry, what?” I stuttered. (I was mortified. Rachael was snickering).
“I said, ‘Be careful. This is the last point of the rock where you can get out safely before the current picks up and you end up at the waterfall.” He winked and walked off towards the rocks below.
Rachael stopped holding back her laughter and exploded into giggles. I shoved her playfully before I caved and laughed at my self. We swam back up to a safer spot where the boys wouldn’t hear our girl talk. We played on the natural slides for a bit and then got caught up chatting some more. Until Rach realized that she was at the rock, the spot…the last bit of hope and I wasn’t there. I had passed it. My name burst from her lips. That’s when it hit me. My smile dropped from my face. I started frantically trying to swim towards her but Joey had been right, the current had picked up between the rocks. As a last resort Rachael had stuck her foot out towards me and I managed to grab it. The force was too much for her and her fingers slid from her safe spot on the rock. Silence. We knew what was coming. I was facing her, desperately holding on to her foot. Something struck my arm and my grasp was cut off. We had no words for what was happening. It was as if time had slowed down and then sped up in such a small amount of time. I saw her as I went over backwards. Her face was etched with fear, staring me down. Then BAM my head hit a rock to my left. Crack, my left arm took a hit. Shomp, my head hit hard that second time right before I hit the water. I was out. I didn’t see that Rachael had a clean fall and been pushed right out of the Washing Machine (the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It’s a nick name locals gave to it because it had dragged down many intoxicated victims). It could have only been seconds before I came to, with tiny bubbles above me. I could feel the pull of the water against my body. Instinct kicked in. Immediately I began fighting the current of the whirlpool, until eventually I burst to the top and gulped in a mixture of water and air. Instantly my body began being pulled back into the circling water. I finally was able to grab on to that rock and listen to the yells of my friends.
“I see her! Laure! Are you ok? I’m Coming!” Joey yelled. Shock had overtaken me. I could only watch Joey run around a large rock and see him start to crawl through a small cave towards me. Finally he could stand and ran toward me. He pulled me up and carried me back through the cave to spot near by. Rachael, Geoff and Greg had come running as fast as they could. Rachael and I hugged and cried, then laughed and cried some more. A few stoners came over and told the guys they had medicine for the girl who jumped off the waterfall. Medicine being weed. We all burst out laughing. Eventually when they decided I was well enough to walk we hiked back up the cars.
I ended up having two concussions on my brain. One affected my short-term memory loss for life. The other was just a normal bruise that was able to heal to properly. I had a few cuts and bruises all over me but all in all I’m just left with a big fear of uncontrolled water and not being able to find where I put my keys.
One Official Hot Mess 