Challenge 01

Christabella stared levelly across the ocean.  This was it.  Now or never.  She only wished that she would be seen.  She wanted proof; what if she did this stunt, and then forgot about it?  Octavian would never remind her; he would assume that she just did not want to talk about it.

“Christa, hurry up!”

Christa turned to see Octavian had abandoned his post behind the wheel of the boat.  The boat that they were not supposed to have as far away from the dock as they were.

“Christabella, if we’re going, we need to go or else get this thing home before Mom founds out we came way out here,” Octavian said.  For the twin brother of someone as careful as Christabella, Octavian was ridiculously impatient and impulsive. 

Christabella was shaking as she stepped onto the seat at the prow of the boat.  She would do this.  She would do this, and never forget it.  “Octavian, stay at the wheel,” she ordered.  Her worst fear was that she would jump, and the boat would start moving.  That was her mother’s worst fear as well, she reflected.  That was why their boat had so many rules.  To keep them safe.  She did not want them to go swimming in the middle of the ocean and drown.  Christabella felt awful about the rules she had broken already, as well as the rules she was about to break, but there was really no going back anymore.  She had broken so many rules that breaking a couple of more would not hurt anyone.

Octavian had already turned around to walk back to the wheel.  “Christa, jump now or don’t jump at all,” he said.

Christabella cast a last look at her brother before she stepped onto the side of the boat.  The boat rocked a little, and she froze until the rocking had steadied into a gentle sway.  “Here I go…”

A deep breath, a glance overboard into the deep, clear water.  Christabella was ready to do exactly what she had sworn to do.  It really was too bad that Octavian had not remembered their digital camera.  She bent her legs, inhaled the warm salty air, and…jumped.  She reached up triumphantly with both arms and spread her legs as she was airborne.  Then she fell.

The water was icy cold as she slapped the surface and completely submerged.  A moment of sinking passed until Christabella began to kick her legs furiously.  Eyes and mouth scrunched shut, the ocean water still found a way to get into her airway, making her splutter when she resurfaced.  Never again would she jump feet-first without covering her nose.  Breathing saltwater in through both nostrils certainly was not an enjoyable way to remember a stunt such as hers.

Treading water and looking around, Christabella spotted the boat, and in the boat, her brother.  He was waving wildly and beckoning her to come back.  With a smooth freestyle stroke, Christabella swam closer to the boat.

“What’s wrong, ‘Tavian?”  Christabella gripped the side of the boat and pulled herself out of the water.  As she stood dripping in the prow of the boat, Octavian looked worried.  He pointed to something in the near distance.  It was another boat.

“Someone saw you.  There was a flash – they must’ve taken a picture,” Octavian said.  He handed his sister a colorful towel and turned to the wheel.  “Let’s get home.”

Christabella was dressed in dry clothes and with clean, curly wet hair and Octavian was watching TV in the den when the mother of the two returned.  The smell of cooking lasagna permeated the warm summer air, for Christabella was cooking in the kitchen.

“Christabella!”  The mother’s voice echoed throughout the entire ground floor.  “Octavian!”

Christabella dashed into the hallway and greeted her mother with a smile.  “Hey, Mom.  How was your day?”  Octavian voiced the same question from the den.

“It was fine, especially after our neighbor stopped me outside.”  She produced a brilliantly colored picture.  “Can you believe her photography skills?”

Christabella stared at the picture in her mother’s hand.  It was her.  The neighbor had taken the picture, and given it to her mother.  And her mother had no idea that it was a picture – proof! – of her very own daughter breaking rules.  Christabella breathed a sigh of relief.

“Octavian, get in here!” Christabella’s mother turned and shouted.  Christabella paled; Octavian was not as quick at comprehending.  He would likely blow the cover.

The sounds issuing from the TV stopped, and Octavian could be heard getting up and coming to the kitchen.  Christabella panicked. 

“Mom, just so you know, ‘Tavian and me took the boat out earlier,” Christabella said.  She scratched the back of her neck.  “Kind of… farther than we were supposed to.”

Octavian walked in.  “Dinner yet?”

The mother just stared, from Christabella to Octavian, and back to Christabella.  “Christa.  Octavian.  Your father and I… made those rules for a reason.  To keep you safe.  How far did you go?”

Octavian reddened and glanced at Christabella.  “Just… where’d you get that picture of Christa?”

“Of Christa?  This is Christa?”  The mother was outraged.  “You went out that far?  And let Christa jump?”

Christabella cringed.  She could tell.  Here it came, the punishment.

“I would ground you if someone else told me.”  Octavian cringed as well and ducked behind his sister.  Christabella had not gotten her patience from their mother.  “But since you confessed, well, in a way, I’m not grounding you.  But you aren’t allowed to go out in the boat without an adult anymore.  Ever.”

Christabella bit her lip and avoided looking at her mother.  She knew it.  At least there had been a picture, though.  “Can I have the picture, Mom?” she asked in a timid voice.

The mother handed Christabella the picture.  “Just – go to your rooms until dinner, kids.”

Christabella and Octavian fled.  They had learned their lesson.  Rules - their mother's rules, at least - were enforced for a reason.  Possibly, it was even a good reason.