It was while he was treading water he felt it. A slither of something against his toes. In a knee-jerk reaction, he kicked it off. His feet flailed furiously. Something tangled around his ankle, slippery and strong. He should have relaxed. He dived underwater and tried to free himself, but panic had a hold of him as tight as the reeds that wrapped around him. He tried to swim forwards, pull himself free, was dragged underwater. Water filled his mouth, his throat, stung his eyes. Frantically, he paddled his hands, tried to kick his legs. Broke free of the surface, coughing and spluttering.

He couldn’t keep still, had to keep treading water or he’d sink, but the more he fought to be free the more tangled he became.

‘Help!’ The scream tore from somewhere deep in his belly but still his voice sounded small in the vastness of the lake. The blackness of the night. ‘Help.’

‘Very funny!’ Tyler shouted back.

Connor dipped again. Water in his ears. His eyes. Everywhere. His strength was seeping away, but the desire to live was fierce. He plunged under the water and prised his fingers in between the weed and his ankle. Tugged once.

Twice.

Three times.

It didn’t snap.

It didn’t even give a little. His lungs were on fire. Desperate for air, he broke free of the surface, the cool breeze immediately chilling his face. He was scared, more than scared, he was terrified.

He thought of Kieron, how much he wanted to survive, and curling around his terror was a shame that he had thrown his life away for a stupid dare.

‘Help.’

He couldn’t stay afloat for much longer. His body as heavy as iron.

A cry.

A splash.

Someone swimming towards him.

Hailey.

‘Connor!’ She reached him and he wound his arms around her neck, tried to calm himself down.

Failed to calm himself down.

He was heavy. Too heavy for her and she disappeared underwater before she rose again, heaving water out of her mouth.

‘Do…’ She struggled for breath. ‘Do you have cramp?’

‘Something…’ His voice was too high, like a girl’s. ‘Something around my ankle.’

Without a word, she threw herself under the water again. He felt her hands travel down his body, his chest, his stomach, his legs. He was falling. Without meaning to he drew his knee up abruptly to fall back into the momentum of treading water and somehow pushed Hailey away from him.

She didn’t surface.

Even more panicked, his hands snaked through the water trying to find her clothes to drag her back up.

‘Hailey!’ he called, grasping nothing but air. ‘Hailey!’

More splashes. Tyler and Ryan calling at him to hold on, that they were coming.

He couldn’t feel Hailey.

Hear her.

See her.

He couldn’t find her.

She was gone.