Brook Tyne's Story

A figure sat motionless in the bottom of a bathtub, cold water sprinkling the emotionless face. In an instant, Brook recognized this as her mother She crept closer, some water splattering her but she really didn't care. "Mom?" she asked tentatively. Her mother still sat cold and frozen by death in the bathtub. Suddenly, her mother jerked upward, blank faced to stare at her

"It was a suicide," Her mother mouthed, and the words echoed in her head, ringing in her ears, shining her vision. Slowly, the vision faded away and was replaced with her swimming in the ocean, sweet, cool water tingling her brain. She smiled at the pure please of swimming, but then a figure drifted into view. Brook got a different odd tingly feeling in her stomach, and she swam closer. She saw the vague outline of what appeared to be a fish and a man, almost like a mermaid (or merman in this case). Brook's eyes narrowed in confusion, and suddenly she got a weird warmth in her hand, almost starting to glow. The figure turned back to look at her, and she caught a flash of red.

"it was a suicide," the figure said before the entire world faded to black.

Brook sat bolt upright in bed, gasping in lungfuls of air. Tears stung in her eyes and she fought to keep them back. it was always the same dream: her mother, the fish guy, the tingly feeling, and then the dreaded words 'it was a suicide'. She didn't know what it meant, but as far as she knew, it added up to a whole heck of a lot of nonsense. Brook sighed, then got out of bed. Another day, time to get up and face it.

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"11 minutes, 43 seconds," Josh said. Brook took in a deep breath and wiped the water away from her eyes. Josh was her personal trainer when it came to swimming. she had gotten a scholarship to college, both by her fairly high academic achievements and also by her swimming. "I don't know how you do it. I can hold my breath for 100 seconds at most. Couple more minutes and you might break a world record," he said, showing her his stopwatch. "I don't know. Being underwater is like my only time to think," she said. More like the only time I don't think about what happened. "It's 7. DO some laps then go and get a shower. I don't want you late for your first class," he said, putting his stopwatch away and picking up his stuff to take back into his office. Brook nodded and dove back underwater, her world becoming a blurry, watery mess. She couldn't help but remember her dream. the same dream. The one she always had.

"It was a suicide"

Icy cold water showered Brook's face, and she closed her eyes pleasantly. Most people would be shrieking about and hopping to get out of the ice cold mist of a cold shower, but she enjoyed them. It made her feel alive, rejuvenated, and rather happy. Besides, for whatever reason, cold water didn't phase her. Brook finished lathering conditioner through her bright blue hair. She wondered why her hair was blue. It wasn't even a pale blue, either. It was an insanely bright, deep blue color that was completely natural. The doctor dismissed it as a genetic defect.

After stepping out of the shower and drying off, she went into her private dorm to get changed. Private dorms had their perks, but they were also really expensive. However, she wasn't completely pushed on money, so she could afford it. Finally ready, she gathered her stuff. Grabbing her bag, she headed to her first class of the day. She was studying marine biology, as the ocean always fascinated her. Naturally, her first class was biology. Which, of course, was on the complete other side of campus. Hiking the bag up on her back, she set out, locking her dorm door behind her.

The Campus was really nice, trees everywhere, big, somewhat old looking buildings, there was even a pond with benches, a place she would likely visit a lot. As she crossed a parking lot, she saw a car pull into an empty spot. Why did she care? It was just another car, in a parking lot. However, whenever a man with bright red hair got out, she suddenly got an odd tingly feeling in her stomach. Her hand tickled a little, and she scrunched her eyes together in confusion. It wasn't just any old tingly feeling. it was the tingly feeling. The one in her dreams. The guy looked up for a second, and their eyes only met for a millisecond before she looked away. She really was going nuts. Just like her mom. Brook frowned, then continued looking for biology.

Charlotte smiled slyly at Daniel when right on cue he greeted her but when he turned away to order a drink for a moment she thought he was planning on sitting elsewhere, when he settled in across from her she was pleased and began listening with a smile and the occasional nod in agreement as she twirled a suspiciously curly hair by her left ear. She felt an itch on her neck and went to scratch it but remembered the hidden hickie and flipped her hair instead to make her random arm movement less awkward.

Do you EVER stop talking Charlotte thought and rolled her eyes to Daniels seemingly endless chatter. He was a good kid a bit paranoid and secretive, but for a rich snob he wasn't that snobby and never seemed to act very rich. She liked him for one reason or another and since the two of them had never been romantically involved there was no awkward "we totally had sex that one time" feeling between them.

"Piano song yeah sure. What inspired you this time around Maestro?" She smiled and looked him right in the eyes, most guys would be intimidated but Daniel would either brush them off or quickly break the gaze, he never seemed to care anymore.

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Britton pulled into the parking lot right on time. Sighing he stretched a bit, grabbed his ratty backpack that didn't match his dress shirt and nicer pants. He was required to dress a little more professionally on the first day for his TA position so the student knew he was more than just another student. Either way the two first buttons were undone to make him a little more casual and hopefully approachable. By the way he and his classmates interacted with the TA's back at his old school he knew the first impression was important, he had to be casual but intelligent, and as a Biology 101 TA everyone would be expecting to get an easy A. It was going to be a tough year.

Scooting out of the car he looked up to perfect eye contact with a girl across the parking lot. Blood rushed to his face as he blushed and looked away instantly going back to locking up his car. New place, new girls, and he was already love struck by the first one he saw as he stepped out of the car. A warm feeling filled him and concentrated in his hand, he determined his hand was a strange place for feelings to well up but decided it was just his imagination. His hand fiddled with the keys until they slipped out of the door and onto the ground. Hand a little shaky still from the strange feeling he picked the keys up and pocketed them. From there he continued to the Physical Sciences Center in search of the Biology Class he would be sitting in on before continuing onto the Lab he was supposed to teach that day.

Putting the girl in the back of his mind as a freak interaction, he opened the door and stopped at the main entrance's billboard to figure out where the main lecture hall is.

((Last post before I disappear for a while...!))

Brook concentrated on the map in her hands she had taken out after getting lost about three times. It took her five minutes before she realized she was holding the stupid thing upside down. It appeared as if the map was color-coded, but through her eyes, it just seemed like someone took five different colored crayons and scribbled all over a piece of paper. Finally, she managed to sort out where her class was, and she headed in that direction. Maybe her brain was just a little messed up from that tingly moment... After all, this was her third year here. Why did everything seem so new?

She was seriously going raving nuts.

Brook sat down in her seat, after finding her classroom. She picked out a pencil and notepad from her bag, expecting they might be taking notes today. Maybe even a refresher test, make sure that studies are going good. Or they would likely turn in the twenty page essay on the biological makeup of an animal of your choice that they were to do over break. Brook watched as other students filed in, and then, him. Instantly, it was as if her hand were vibrating with warmth. She felt a tingly feeling all over, but especially in her hand. Brook took a quick glance at her hand and could swear it was faintly glowing. Maybe she should talk to a therapist or something.

Brook tried to avert her eyes from his, but she couldn't help glancing up at him. Based on his appearance, she guessed that he was a TA. Brook tried to concentrate, but she felt so jittery, and her hand felt so weird right now it wasn't even funny. Brook hadn't even noticed she was staring at him until he was staring back. Awkwardly, she looks away again, trying to focus on the professor. What was wrong with her? Why did she feel so weird all of a sudden? Did she like this guy or what? But it wasn't even that. It was like she had known him all her life. Brook shook her head. Her mind was messing with her.

Britton arrived later than he had hoped and nodded at the professor before taking a seat far in the back. He took out a notebook with little intention of taking notes, he wanted to be a role model and didn’t want the undergraduates assuming they didn’t have to take notes. The lecture room was rather large and he was happy he wouldn’t have to stand in front of a group this big. His public speaking was decent when he knew what he was talking about but he would be a little intimidated by such a large crowd of uninterested, judgmental students.
For a moment he zoned out and colors flickered across his vision, it appeared his self diagnosed synesthesia was acting up again. Synesthesia usually involved seeing strange things in color like letters and numbers or sounds, Britton saw what he believed to be movements, there were blobs of color around everything and they would move and fluctuate as the person or object moves. He didn’t think it deserved attention so he didn’t let anyone know, it was too random and harmless.

He noticed a pillar of blue right smack in the center of the classroom, it was unusual for an object to have such a large energy. Suddenly the girl the aura had belonged to turned around to look at him as if she knew he was watching, their eyes locked and his head shot down to his notebook and he blushed unintentionally, it was the same girl from before, the one that made him drop his keys and everything. His hand tingled again and he clenched it, was this a new nervous tick he was developing?

He glanced up to see she had turned her gaze away. That only made Britton more fidgety, he nervously scratched his hand and decided to turn his thoughts elsewhere, this girl was giving him weird feelings and he didn’t need any problems to deal with right now.

There was something about him. His eyes? no... Maybe it was how he looked at her. Was it his hair? His face? Why did she get a tingling in her hand and in her stomach whenever she looked at him, and occasionally, whenever he looked back. Brook didn't even know his name, yet she felt this tugging in the pit of her stomach every time their eyes met. It was only until the class was over that she noticed what the teacher was saying. Hurriedly scribbling what was on the board into her notes, she checked her phone for the time, almost unbelieving. Today she was actually relatively free, this being her only class. However, tomorrow she would be hammered with classes, the day after that, and the day after that. But today she was free, free, free! And where was she going to go? Probably the pool. Do some laps or something, put her mind at ease.

However, the minute she got in the pool, she couldn't help think of him again, and her dream. In fact, the more she swam, the more she pondered over what she had felt. Normally swimming muddled all her thoughts, but instead, it only made her think about him more. The tingling in her hand seemed to not fade away. Soon her trainer came in and started timing her, and she went back to focusing. Her thoughts soon faded away as she swam back and forth across the pool. But in the back of her mind her thoughts on the guy still remained.

The end of the class rolled around and the girl disappeared before Britton could even see her walk out the door. He gathered his backpack and scarce note and made his way to the front of the class to talk to the professor. The conversation was brief and full of flattering comments in both directions, Britton being the top of his class at his last school and the professor being well known in water quality studies of both fresh and salt water. The professor finished with Britton's assignments for the day, reminding him to check his email for the detailed work.

Britton whipped out his phone as the professor wrapped up the conversation and left for his office. He looked through his emails to find the first thing on his to do list was to swing by the pool house to first check the chlorine levels in the pool and then pick up some tank filters from the maintenance closet there. They were typical grunt work assignments, it was clear the professor didn't trust him to do real research yet but this would have to do.

After wandering around a little getting used to the new campus he found his car and parked at the pool house. If he was going to the pool anyways he decided he might as well swim. Grabbing his bathing suit from the trunk he took it to the locker room and changed. He grabbed a chlorine test kit from maintenance on his way to the pool and started by testing the water and left the solution to sit on the pool side while he started laps to clear his mind. He felt his hand tingle with a burning sensation as it hit the water but he continued un-phased.

He was here, in the pool, doing laps, just like her. Brook couldn't help but think back to her dream. Pushing the thought away, she continued her arm stroke, but she could tell (and so did her trainer) that she wasn't concentrating at all. In fact, she seemed to have a burning sensation in her hand. Not like a hurting burn, but like a tingly warm feeling. In fact, she finally stopped after a couple more laps to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with her hand.

When Brook got out, she sat on the side of the pool watching the guy swim. Did he even know she was there? Why did she get this weird feeling in her stomach and in her time every time she saw him? She felt like she should go talk to him, but what would she say? 'hey, I don't know who you are, but I've secretly been watching you and possibly having dreams about you. Want to hang out later?' Brook continued her thinking as she got up onto the short diving platform next to the guy. Maybe he would just notice her, and start up a conversation.

Taking a dive, her hand tingled as she hit the water again, and she continued her strokes until her and the guy met halfway in the middle. Normally, she would swim on past him as he swam past her with no difficulty. However, she had never been this close to him and she suddenly became distracted and she accidentally hit her hand with his.

Brook swear that she could feel electricity and warmth spread her arm. Her heart seemed to stop, and weird images even flashed across her eyes. The guy must have felt her hand hit his, because they both just simply froze in the middle of the pool, her in one lane, him in another.

Britton was enjoying the peaceful sensation of rhythmicly going wall to wall without interrupted, or at least until he was interrupted. He must have been swimming too close to the side of his lane but for one reason or another he accidentally high-fived the person in the lane next to him, which was cool in concept but awkward when the tingle in his hand was drastically amplified and he stopped to see that it was the girl from before in the lane beside him.

"You Again?" he whispered to himself almost in awe. This was the third time today. The first time he saw her was weird. The second time was weirder and he didn't even know how to respond to a third chance meeting, and clearly there was no way they were following one another seeing that they had been entering the same areas at entirely different times, he had seen the same girl swimming in her lane before he arrived without realizing it was her so it wasn't like she followed him here.

He massaged his palm, trying to get the feeling to go away but the warm sting of the contact wasn't going away, maybe he was allergic to this girl, it was the only logical answer.

"Sorry, I hope I didn't ruin a timing." He apologized and looked to the trainer at the end of her lane. They timed races in swimming right? Either way he couldn't think of anything else to say, it was better than "Why are you showing up everywhere? And why do you make me feel so strange?"