AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Blaze
College will never end. We’ll be here forever, and nobody will bail us out. I have the best housemates a person could ever hope for, but I need to get on with my life.
Gramps said it was time for my brothers and me to grow up. So instead of working as we’ve done all of our lives, we went to school. It wasn’t a choice. I don’t feel like any of usneedschool. We have a ton of money. I’m acing all of my classes; the first year hasn’t been all that bad. But now my brothers are talking about going on for master’s degrees. Are they crazy?
“Where’d you go, Blaze?” Zach asks.
I look at my younger brother — well, if five minutes counts. And Icountevery one of those five minutes. We’re fraternal triplets. I came first, at midnight on the dot, then Zach five minutes later. Callan waited six minutes longer. He’s always liked to make an entrance.
“I want out of here.”
“Why do you want to leave so bad? This place is great,” Zach says. “There are girls everywhere and the studying is easy.”
“Easy for you,” Callan replies. “I’ve always learned better by doing, not looking through book after book.”
“I don’t know. I’m restless,” I say.
“Then let’s swim,” Zach suggests.
“Sounds like a plan. I’m not in the mood to party tonight.”
We live on the edge of campus at Oregon State University. We could’ve gone to Seattle, but wanted to get away from our family, not have weekly visits. We adore Gramps, but a bit of freedom is a good thing for a kid trying to become a man. We make our way to the lake as the time closes in on midnight.
“Did you hear that?” Zach asks, stopping as he holds up a hand.
“I don’t hear anything,” I say.
“Shh,” Zach says. Callan and I freeze where we stand. Then we all hear it. The sound’s faint, but it’s unmistakable. Someone’s in trouble.
“Help!” This time the voice is louder, and we move into action fast. I’m in the lead as I rush to the water’s edge. There’s a full moon so visibility isn’t too bad, but I can’t figure out the direction of the voice. It sounds female, but I can’t be sure.
“Help,” the voice calls again, and this time I see splashing in the water before a head disappears beneath the smooth surface.
We don’t have time to debate what to do next. We rush forward, glad we’re already in our swimwear. I’m first in the lake, and the adrenaline of the moment takes away the shock of the cold water. I normally like to ease in.
I vaguely hear splashes as my brothers jump in after me. Quickly swimming to where I last spotted the person crying out, I see no further movement. I dive beneath the surface and reach out, feeling for a person, without a thought of danger to myself.
I feel nothing, but keep searching until my lungs burn. Finally, I have no choice but to go up for air. If I’ve been down long enough that I can’t breathe, I’m losing hope that we’ll be able to help this person even if we find them.
When I pop up, Callan’s holding someone under one arm as he races to the shore. I quickly head in, my brother Zach right behind me. We all make it back about the same time.
“She’s not breathing,” Zach says.
“CPR,” Callan says. We were all recertified a couple of months earlier.
I give compressions, while Callan gives breaths. It feels like hours before the woman gasps and we turn her head while water spews from her mouth. She’s choking and sobbing as she tries to expel the liquid from her lungs and reorient herself.
Zach jumps up and grabs our towels, quickly covering the woman as we kneel around her, waiting. We need to call the ambulance, but don’t have our phones. We’ll have to take her back to our place. She looks familiar but I can’t place her. I’d swear on a stack of Bibles though that I’ve seen her before. A shudder rushes through me.
“Th... thank you,” she finally says after the last of her coughing seems to abate. She’s in her forties if I have to guess. Seeing this woman nearly lose her life makes me want to call Gramps right away. I might complain sometimes, but I’m a blessed man, and I need to never forget this.
“We didn’t bring our phones,” Zach says. “But we only live about a quarter of a mile from here. We can take you home and call the ambulance.”
She smiles at him, a sweet, serene smile. It seems so odd, considering the circumstances. We don’t say anything more but I’m shaking pretty bad. It’s May in Oregon, not exactly swimming weather. But still, it gets the blood flowing, that’s for sure.
“I’m going to give you boys a gift,” the woman says. All three of us raise our brows.
