Chapter 5

Simon Tam was drowning, or very close to it. The murky storm water had engulfed him. It was hard enough to fight against such water alone, almost impossible while holding onto an unconscious Jayne Cobb. As the burning in his lungs increased panic started to set in. This was not the first time Simon had found himself in such a predicament.

It happened when he was ten years old. It was during his family’s annual stay at their summer lake house. The house sat atop a hill, overlooking the lake. Other houses circled the lake as well, but only the Tam’s house had such a commanding view from atop the hill.

The lake house had belonged to Simon’s great grandfather. It was nowhere near as elegant or a large as the Tam’s estate. Still, Simon and rest of the family loved it.

Simon was always the first down to the metal dock which extended into the lake. For as long as he could recall he would race down the hill and onto the dock. He knew full well that the warm, wet weather of spring would leave a slippery layer of algae. That was the fun of it. Simon would see how far down the dock he could slide. This would inevitably invoke his father into making him clean the dock, but he didn’t care. Last year he had made it very close to the end. He was determined to get even closer this year.

The problem was that boys of ten years don’t realize how much faster and heavier they have become over four seasons. Nor do they grasp the finer points of physics. Simon hit the dock at speed and quickly slid. He realized too late that he was not going to stop. He fell awkwardly into the water and panicked. It seemed like an eternity before his father was able jumped in and saved him.

His father was not going to do that this time.

Simon forced himself to claim down, fighting back his panic and his ever growing urge to gasp. He oriented himself and kicked towards what he hoped was the surface. His lungs screamed for air and his muscles had started to burn with the buildup of lactic acid.

As he broke the water’s su