Do little brats float in water? [mission]

An unexpected heat wave had hit the town of Magnolia with all the forewarning and gentility of a meteor. Valerie had been in town for a couple of jobs and as a result, ended up suffering in the stifling heat. It was far too hot to stay inside her hotel room, which annoyed her greatly as she had been customizing a new gun she had gotten recently. She was having a lot fun tweaking it but now she was forced to leave it alone until she got home. It left her in a bit of a sulk as she decided she could bear it no more and stormed out of her room. She could hear the hotel’s other residents complaining about the freak heat wave and poke their heads outside to discuss it with likeminded people. Ignoring them completely, she wove her way through the hallways and onto the streets. It seemed that the citizens of Magnolia were combating the heat by wearing as little clothing as possible and eating ice creams and popsicles to cool off. Quite a lot of them had Japanese style fans in their hands, bought from a souvenir vendor who was no doubt glad to realize that his business had just gone up by a whole lot. Well, at least that was one person who was happy about the blazing heat.

Valerie considered her options for a moment. She could go the way of the town’s residents and opt for skimpy clothing or beachwear. Or she could buy herself a cool drink or ice cream. They had the added benefits of being delicious and cold. The gentle breeze stirred by a hand fan would be pleasant as well, no doubt. These were all very good options. But it just didn’t seem like it would be enough for her. That aside, those weren’t very much fun. She would need something better.

A few more moments of pondering led her to remember that she had seen a small lake near the outskirts. It wouldn’t be far at all, considering her the hotel she was staying at was in the outskirts. She could just imagine it now. A nice, refreshing swim in the cold waters of the lake. The trees surrounding it would provide plenty of shade from the vengeful sun. That decided it for her. It had been entirely too long since she had gone for a good swim. She was looking forward to it now.

Humming a song terribly off key under her breath, Valerie arrived at the lake. This close, she could imagine coolness of the water and how great it would be to get out of the blistering heat. Not wanting to waste any more time, she took off at run. Valerie’s clothes changed from her regular tee shirt and jeans to a one piece swimsuit in a blinding mix of neon colors that clashed horribly with her hair. It didn’t seem to bother her in the least as she dived in gracefully, squealing a bit as the water hit her skin. She swam under water for a bit, enjoying the coldness and only coming up for air.

“This is great.”

Valerie was proud of herself for thinking of it before anyone else did. She had the place all to herself. Having swum around for the better part of an hour, she decided to take it easy and closed her eyes, completely growing relaxed and floating on the water’s surface. The shade cast by the tall, leafy trees kept her well out of the sun’s wrath so long as she didn’t drift into the middle of the lake.

I should do this more often.

She thought sleepily, the gentle waves and coolness of the water rocking her closer and closer to dozing off. Valerie yawned and pretended she was a water sprite that had come out to relax in the absence of annoying humans. This nice little moment of serenity was soon ruined by the ever increasing feeling of being watched. Frowning, she opened her eyes and blinked in surprise at seeing three pairs of eyes staring at her. She backed away, splashing water as she righted herself.

“Is there a reason the three of you are staring at me?”

The three people, she assumed they were a family, looked a bit abashed at that. Well, at least the two adults did.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Our apologies. You just seemed so relaxed, we weren’t sure if you were alive – anyway, that isn’t the point. Our son dragged us both here because he wanted to learn how to swim. He dreams of accompanying his dad someday soon - “

“I’m a fisherman, you see.” The man offered up helpfully while his wife continued to talk.

Hang on, they’re not going to just leave their child with a strange girl are they? A girl they had assumed was dead, mere moments ago.

“And we agreed to let him go on the condition that he learn how to swim. So here we are at the lake, in the middle of a work day. But as luck would have it, there you are. You can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t drown. We’re both very busy people and don’t have time for this. We’ll come back to pick him up later.”

During this hurried exchange, the boy in question kept quiet. It was probably for the best anyway, since his parents didn’t seem like the type to let anyone else get even a single word in. The parents waved goodbye and walked away, not having the decency to at least let her reject them.

Apparently, they were.

“Wonderful.”

Valerie stared impassively at the boy and he stared right back at her silently. He seemed to be about ten or so years old. A skinny little thing with huge blue eyes set in a freckled face. Floppy blonde hair fell over his forehead, making him look a bit like a cute and lost puppy. Valerie wasn’t sure if she liked puppies or not.

“You’re not going to disappear if I just ignore you, are you?”

“No.”

“I figured as much.”

“I won’t be of much trouble to you, honest! I’ve already practiced a lot on the weekends. Can I please stay?”

Valerie sighed and waved at him to get in the water. There wasn’t anything she could do now. Ignoring the kid would probably get him killed by way of drowning. She waited for him to flail about like a lunatic and was surprised to find that he was careful. She watched him and quickly discovered that the kid almost knew how to swim. His only problem was that he was too cautious and afraid.

“Come here.”

She took hold of his arm and dragged him through the water to deeper waters where neither of their feet would touch.

“I’m going to hold you afloat. So you just do what you’re doing, okay?”

The kid nodded, albeit a bit unsurely. He proceeded to paddle and push forward through the water, trusting that Valerie would keep him afloat. After a few minutes of this, she slowly let go without his knowledge that she had done so.

“Don’t freak out, but you’re swimming.”

He freaked out. He began to flail around and nearly went under. But just as Valerie was about to step in, he miraculously managed to right himself and stay afloat. After spitting out a mouthful of water, he realized he did indeed know how to swim now. The kid began to laugh, his eyes growing wide at the realization.

“Thank you so much.”

The rest of the day was relaxing once again. She came to discover that Soren, the little boy, wasn’t half bad. She did tell him a lot of scary stories though, especially ones about fishing. Perhaps he would reconsider his decision to join his father. After a while, the parents came back and were surprised to see that their son had learned how to swim. Clearly, they weren’t expecting it. They thanked her rather awkwardly and gave her a very small pouch of jewels for her troubles before leaving.

1359 words total.