The Pool

The Pool

Janice Magerman

On purpose I walked past her house. Somehow I knew she was watching and waiting for me to pass by, probably peeking through the curtain. Of course she wouldn't make it obvious. 

For the last week I'd taken this route, at this exact time to get her attention. I knew she liked me from the way she'd look at me behind those long lashes of hers and the way she'd lick her lips, lusting after me like most girls did. I would've thought by now she'd join me but she hadn't yet. Maybe she was shy, maybe she was waiting for the right moment. Whatever her reasons, I'd wait. So I slowly strolled down the stone street in our gated community, bare chested with a towel over my shoulder. 

An older lady sat on her stoep, ogling me from behind dark and expensive sunglasses. I gave her a terse nod, to which she returned my greeting, taking her sunglasses off to get a better look at my crotch. Then I passed a group of teen girls who started giggling. Amused by them openly staring at me, I smiled and this made their giggles even louder as their heads turned to me. By now I was used to female attention, which was due to my handsome, yet masculine features, including my athletic build and tall height at six foot two. It was no secret women liked tall men, especially ones with huge packages and I always made sure mine was prominent and on display in my shorts. 

When I made it to the swimming area, I unlocked the gate with my key and entered the quiet space. No one ever swam in the community swimming pool. There were times I wondered why? Maybe there was something I didn't know that the other occupants knew, but whatever the case, I was going to take a dip and cool off before my shift at work started. I dropped my towel beside the pool, and with my board shorts still on, I jumped into the water causing it to splash. I swam for a few minutes when the gate creaked open.

Before I looked in the direction of the gate, I already knew who'd entered it--her, the girl I'd been obsessing over for the last two weeks. It took her long enough to realise I wanted to get her alone, but at long last we were, just as I imagined in my fantasies. I swam close to the edge of the swimming pool and gave one of my warmest smiles. She was wearing a flowery bikini top and cut off denim shorts with flip flops on her feet, her hair in a ponytail. Her cherry coloured lips curved into a smile at seeing me.

"Hello," I said. 

"Hi," she said almost shyly, biting the bottom of her lip. 

"You came for a swim?"

Her ponytail swung as she shook her head, releasing her lower lip. "I can't swim... I just came to dip my feet into the pool."

"Is that so?"

"Are you perhaps insinuating I came for other reasons?"

My smile grew even bigger as she put on a flirting tone. 

"Your words, not mine," I said, placing my hands on the edge of the pool, watching her with intent eyes. 

"Touché," she said and took a vape from out of her shorts' pocket. 

Her finger pressed a button, while the tip of the vape went to her lips. She drew deep, held the vapor in for about a second and released a thick cloud of smoke up into the air.

"You know eventually that thing will kill you, right?" 

Her shoulders shrugged. "Eventually we all get killed by something."

"Or someone," I said. 

"Yeah," she said. "I almost forgot what a sick world we live in." My response seemed to make her think though, because she bit her lip again, as if she had something to get off her chest. "Actually, I always fantasised about being murdered, you know. In a brutal way... maybe axed to death, like in those really bad horror movies. I'd make the perfect scream queen, don't you think?"

I didn't expect her to say this, but her statement piqued my interest. "Hmm. That's quite a peculiar thing to say."

While the the vape hovered at her lips, the corners of her lips curled into an amused smile. "Well, I'm a peculiar girl. You have a problem with that?"

A vehement shake of my head made it clear I didn't. 

"I find that interesting," I said. "Too many people fake. It's a breath of fresh air to hear someone say what they feel."

"That's right," she said. "I don't hold back. Even when people think I'm weird. I mean, it's your problem if you haven't been around too many people."

"Exactly," he said. "Wish more people had that kinda attitude... what's your name anyway?"

"I have a really horrible name," she said. "I'm Sophie, but I make people call me Phee for short, because Soph is so boring... what's yours?"

"Benedict, but everyone calls me Ben, because Dict sounds a lot like dick."

Finding what I said humorous, she giggled. "So you have personality, great!"

She sat down on the edge of the pool and let her feet dangle in the water. My eyes went straight to her exposed thighs. They were pale white with tiny bumps all over them. 

"My eyes are up here," she said with a knowing smile.

That's when my eyes travelled up to hers. I saw they were copper for the first time, a rare eye colour. 

"You're really good looking," she said. "Like really really good looking. It must be sad, right? I mean it should feel like a curse to have women gawk at you all the time and only be into your looks. They don't see beyond who you are, just see you as a piece of meat..."

There was a tinge of bitterness behind her voice. I swam so I was right across her and saw pain in her eyes as well.

"Are you sure you're still talking about me?"

Her lips pushed out. "Duh, because I'm not really that pretty."

She knew that was a lie, that's why she gave a sly smile. Her beauty was indescribable. If I could cast her in a role, I'd choose Snow White, because she was honestly the fairest. But there was more to her than her looks, which made me reluctant to go forward with my plans, and for a moment I wrestled with my mind. 

Then she broke me out of my short trance by saying, "You wanna teach me how to swim?"

I mulled her request over in my head but chose to answer it with another question. "How come you don't know how to swim?"

Self-conscious her hand brushed over her hair and dropped at the nape of her neck. "My dad died before he had a chance to teach me." She averted her eyes, but it was too late. I'd already seen they were welling with tears, but she pushed them back fast and smiled to mask her sadness. "So, will you?"

I didn't respond, however, I held my hand out to her. With a faint smile she delicately placed hers in mine and pushed herself off the edge and into the water. I caught her by the hips so that her head didn't go under and continued to hold her close to me, our chests touching ever so slightly. Her eyes gazed up at me while her lips parted. I could see her face inching closer to mine but not too close. She wanted me to kiss her. Any other day I would've but today I had no intentions of locking lips with a girl, least of all a girl as perfect as her. I was attracted to flaws, not perfection. 

When she realised I had no interest in kissing her, she pulled her face away and looked both wounded and ready to get out of the pool, a red tint in her cheeks at my rejection of her, but I wouldn't let go of her, my fingers borrowing into the fat of her hips. Her face scrunched up in confusion and all I could do was smile at her puzzled expression. It was quite amusing. After all this time, I still couldn't quite get used to seeing that hopelessness. In all my victims, I'd seen that same glint of worry, as if they knew they were about to die, just not how.

I had an urge to wrap my large hands around her neck, squeeze the life out of her, but when I considered all the witnesses that could've seen her enter the pool area right after me, I quickly changed my mind. If I went ahead with my plan to strangle her, soon a white van would shine its blue and red lights through my living room window. Police officers dressed in their usual navy blue uniforms would knock at my door, and ask me all sorts of questions. I couldn't take that risk, not now that I'd already gotten away with several murders. 

Yes, I wouldn't kill her with my bare hands, but I would still kill her, because I could sense she wanted to die. Death was something she always wanted but she couldn't take her own life, not possessing the guts. But I'd be her hero and save her from this horrible and cruel world. 

As I was contemplating ways to end her unwanted life, her quivering mouth whispered at last.

"Please let me go."

All it took was those words to make the lightbulb go off in my head and I said, "As you wish, my dear Phee." Right away I loosened my tight grip from her hips. A wide smile played on my lips as I watched her go down, her arms going up and flailing wildly as she tried to keep her head out of the water, but she couldn't, her weight pulling her down and her head under the sparkling aqua water.

Holding my breath, I sank down to the bottom, my eyes left open in order to enjoy her last moments. Bubbles were escaping her nostrils as her body writhe, arms still up and flailing to get back to the top, but it was no use as more water entered her nostrils and mouth, filling her lungs up with water. After awhile, her body gave a couple of ticks, then went completely still and lifeless, her amber eyes glazed over like the gemstone itself.

She hadn't looked more beautiful.