Trapped in the Pool with a BROKEN ARM and I AM DONE Chapter 01
While working my summer job at Bluehaven Water Park, my boyfriend’s childhood friend deliberately tripped me and sent me tumbling from a high platform into the pool below.
Yet my boyfriend cradled the woman who was pretending to be unconscious and blamed me instead.
“Learning to swim involves physical contact. Were you really jealous enough to hurt yourself just to frame Brielle?”
The pain was so intense that I could not even force out an answer.
Then the wave machine roared to life without warning, and the sudden surge swept me into the deep end.
My boyfriend, one of the park’s lifeguards, gave the only available rescue tube to Brielle, who was taking a swimming lesson in the shallow end.
“You have an advanced water-rescue certification. A little water won’t kill you, so get yourself out.”
“Brielle nearly drowned when she was younger. I have to protect her.”
When I did not respond, he raised his megaphone with growing impatience and addressed the entire pool.
“Do you really have to make a spectacle of yourself in front of everyone?”
“Fine. Stay in there until you’ve calmed down!”
To make sure I reflected on my behavior, he cleared everyone else from the pool before walking away with his arm around Brielle.
He did not know that the fall had broken my arm, leaving me physically unable to swim.
He also did not know that the violent current had pinned my body inside the pool’s central vortex.
I calmly closed my eyes as his retreating figure disappeared through the rain.
Under the terms of my mission, the System had allowed him to abandon me only five times.
This was the last.
…
“Maren has really found a new way to fight over a man. Pretending to be dead is about as low as it gets.”
Everett Shaw carefully lowered Brielle Lawson onto the staff-lounge couch as though she were the person who had been injured.
He grabbed the largest beach towel he could find and wrapped it securely around her trembling body.
Brielle gave a delicate shiver, and her eyes instantly reddened as if she might cry.
“Everett, is Maren mad at me?”
“I’m such a slow learner. I still can’t get my breathing right, so you had to stay in the shallow end and teach me.”
“She looked like she was in so much pain when she fell. You should go check on her.”
Everett gave a cold laugh.
He poured her a cup of warm water and carefully pressed it between Brielle’s cold hands.
“You’re too kind. She has an advanced water-rescue certification and can hold her breath underwater for three minutes.”
“You really think that pool could drown her?”
Brielle looked at the heavy rain pouring outside.
“Everett, the storm is getting worse. Are you sure Maren is okay?”
“Let her soak for a while. Maybe she’ll finally learn something.”
Separated from my body, my spirit hovered near the ceiling and silently watched their tender exchange.
The System’s familiar mechanical voice sounded beside my ear, untouched by emotion.
“Host, the designated male lead has completed his fifth abandonment.”
“Your vital signs have reached zero.”
“Soul-transfer protocol is ready. Would you like to enter your new body now?”
Everett gazed tenderly at Brielle, wearing the same expression that he had once reserved entirely for me.
My lips curved in bitter amusement.
“Delay it.”
“I should at least watch them bury me.”
The staff lounge door opened.
Marcus Bell hurried inside wearing a lifeguard uniform that was still dripping onto the floor.
“Everett, we finished evacuating everyone around the wave pool.”
“But Maren still hasn’t come out.”
“The current is pretty rough in the deep end. Should I go look for her?”
Everett slammed his cup onto the table so hard that warm water splashed over the rim.
“Marcus, what have I always taught you?”
“A lifeguard’s attention belongs on guests who actually need help.”
“Is Maren a guest?”
“She’s a certified lifeguard. She could swim to the edge with her eyes closed.”
Marcus scratched the back of his head, but the uneasiness on his face only deepened.
“But the wave machine started without warning, and she fell right into the center of the vortex.”
“What if something happened to her?”
“What could possibly happen?”
Everett cut him off without mercy.
“She knows she’s a strong swimmer, so she staged the whole thing to make herself look like a victim.”
“Does she expect everyone in the park to revolve around her?”
“Leave her alone. Let her stay in the water.”
“Once she realizes the tears, threats, and dramatic stunts no longer work, she’ll climb out by herself.”
Brielle lightly tugged Everett’s sleeve.
“Don’t get angry with Marcus.”
“Maren is usually so tough, but what if she really got a cramp?”
Everett turned his hand over and clasped Brielle’s fingers, his harsh voice immediately becoming gentle.
“Brielle, stop defending her.”
“She takes offense at absolutely everything.”
“I only gave you a few private lessons after work.”
“She went around telling our coworkers that you were trying to steal someone else’s boyfriend.”
“Now she’s pretending to die in front of everyone just to frighten you.”
“She can’t stand seeing anything good happen to you.”
“Today I’m setting a boundary, and she’s going to learn when enough is enough.”
Marcus released a helpless sigh and reluctantly turned toward the lounge door.
Everett’s phone suddenly sounded an alarm.
The piercing alert came from the safety app connected to every water-park employee’s heart-rate monitor.
My name flashed repeatedly across his phone screen in urgent red letters.
Heart rate: 0.
Everett looked at it for one second before curling his lip in contempt.
“She’s getting creative.”
“She must have taken off her monitor and thrown it into the pool to force me to give in.”
Without hesitation, he dismissed the alert.
Then he blocked every future notification connected to my name and employee monitor.
