The bed frame
Another collaboration by Carolyn and Riwa
“They did what??”
“They tossed a bed frame off the dock into the lake, Danica.”
“What the hell were they thinking?? Wasn’t anybody watching?”
“How the hell should I know? Billy just came and told me about it.”
“Are you sure it’s down there? Are you sure someone’s not trying to prank you?”
“I’m not sure what cabin it came out of so I don’t know for sure. Shouldn’t we go take a look?”
“The lake?? They tossed it into the lake?”
“That’s what Billy said.”
“So where did they toss it? Did they toss it off the side or did they toss it off the end?”
“He didn’t say. All I know is he said he saw some kids haul a bed frame out to the dock and toss it into the water.”
“So we don’t even know where it went in?”
Heather gulped and shook her head.
“Shit.” Now Danica was angry. “So how the hell are we supposed to find it?”
“I guess we go down and look for it?”
“In the lake?? Once you get down about five or six feet it turns green and murky. You can’t hardly see two feet in front of you! Does anybody even have a dive mask?”
“I can check the equipment locker. They have stuff for the canoes and the paddle boats. There should be some floaties and life jackets in there. But I don’t know if there are any dive masks. So what are we going to do?”
Danica sighed heavily. “What else can we do? This isn’t our camp so we have to account for every piece of property, even if it is a fucking bed frame. We’ll have to go look for it.”
“We??”
“You don’t think I’m looking alone, do you? It’s dark and murky down there. And as long as that dock is, I have no idea how rapidly the bottom slopes downward. We might be talking five or six feet… or we might be talking twenty to thirty.”
“Oh shit.”
“Exactly. That’s too much bottom for one person to search. With two of us it should take less time if we’re lucky. If they threw it off the end of the dock, who knows where it landed or how deep it is. Go get Kym to help us look if you have to.”
“She’s not going to like going in that water, Danica.”
“I don’t fucking care, ok? Those bratty kids tossed it into the water and we have to find it and get it back up before it rusts and we have to pay to replace it. Now get going! I’ll be waiting down on the dock. Maybe we’ll get lucky.” Heather nodded with a sigh as she headed off to the equipment locker to see what was available.
All of them went in different directions. Heather went to the equipment locker while Billy went to get Kym. Danica went to the long dock on the lake. It was at least 40 feet long and she walked the entire length slowly, looking over the right side hoping that she’d spot it easily. When she came to the end she looked around and, not seeing it, walked back along the other side. Wherever it was, she couldn’t see it from the surface.
At the equipment locker Heather started looking for anything that might help. The life jackets were in a locked portion and she didn’t have a key. Snorkels would have been nice too but there weren’t any.
There were two masks though. Better than nothing, she thought. Still, she wasn’t looking forward to the argument that was going to happen when at least one person wouldn’t have one. She stopped and pulled up her long red hair and slid one over her neck. The others could fight for the last one.
Billy got 3/4 of the way to Kym’s cabin – the manager’s cabin – and saw that all the lights were off. Fuck it, he thought. Better not to go looking for her and try to fix it themselves.
With Billy and Heather back on the dock, Danica told them of her unsuccessful search. Then Heather watched as he argued with Danica about the last mask. Then, not giving a shit, she took off her jeans and shoes but kept her shirt on. Seeing her do this, Danica did the same and took a band out of her pants and put her long black hair into a ponytail.
Billy enjoyed the show but kept his pants on. His shirt and shoes stayed on the deck. Then all three of them got into the water and swam off in 3 different directions. Danica went straight out while Billy went off to the right of the dock and Heather took the left side.
Danica followed along the dock, looking this way and that. It was murky as hell; she couldn’t see a thing without a dive mask. All she could do was search mostly by feel.
She went as far as she could before rising to the surface and gasping for breath. Heather was up a short distance away. “See anything?”
“Does it look like I saw anything?” Heather replied irritably.
“Hey, don’t get mad at me, ok? I wasn’t the one who was supposed to look after those damned kids!” Heather just shook her head before taking a deep breath and submerging.
Danica shook her head. This was crazy. Why in the world would these kids throw a bed frame off the dock? But the answer to that was relatively simple: some kids were dicks and had dicks for parents.
She took a deep breath and dove for the bottom. At least the sun was out; there were no clouds in the sky. But the murky green bottom was giving her severely limited visibility. If she found the damned thing it would probably be more by feel than by sight…
Heather swept with her arms as she moved forward. This was stupid. Couldn’t they just leave it out here? Who would miss one lousy bed frame?
She shook her head as bubbles dribbled out of her nose. Chances are it would come out of their pay since they were responsible for keeping an eye on the kids. That was reason enough to find the damned thing.
She swam further along before heading back to the surface and the warmth above. When she came up she realized she had been deeper than she’d expected… deeper and colder. What’s more, she’d drifted away from the dock. There was virtually no chance they had thrown it this far out.
She looked over and saw Billy pop up and gasp for breath. He didn’t act like he’d found it. She took a deep breath and went back down, swimming closer to the dock. Chances are they merely dropped it right over the side. There was no need to get too far away. But since this was a floating dock she would have to work on staying close enough to make sure she could run into the bed frame if it was down on her side.
A few moments later Danica came up. She was away from the dock, her wet hair in its ponytail. Both her hands came up right away and rubbed at her eyes.
“Heather, couldn’t you find a least one more damn mask?” she yelled at her friend. Even with her eyesight a bit blurry, she saw Heather shrug.
“Did anybody find at least a trace of anything?” Billy asked.
Both girls shook their heads no. “All I found was that it drops off quickly once you get far enough out. The lake doesn’t go off on a gentle slope.”
“I never went that far,” Billy said. “I just did more of a side to side thing and went slowly away. I didn’t think I’d have to go that far out.”
“Same here,” Danica said.
“Well,” Heather said, adjusting her mask. “I guess we just have to try again.” Nobody answered, but all three could see the clear irritation on the faces of the other two.
A deep breath and Billy and Heather both went under. Danica tried to clear her eyes a bit. Then she drew a few deep breaths and dropped under. From the shore nobody would have even known that anyone was down there.
Heather knew about the drop off and, unlike her friends, had a better idea about where to begin. Billy and Danica, though not visible to anyone, did the same.
After a minute Billy came up. He was a little embarrassed that he had come up first while the two girls outlasted him. But he hadn’t taken a deep breath before he went under. Oh well.
30 more seconds and then, way to the other side, he saw Heather come up, her red hair trailing behind her. “Not a fucking thing!” she called over to him. Then they tread water, looking straight away from the end of the dock and waited for Danica. Each of them had a good feeling that she was going to come up empty as well.
More time, maybe 30 seconds passed, and no Danica. Each of the two of them started looking around. “Danica?” Billy called out. Then another 15 seconds and they moved closer to each other.
“Danica!” Heather called out. “This isn’t fucking funny anymore!”
There was a burst of water as Danica suddenly shot up out of the water. She gasped loudly for breath as though she’d been under forever. “What the hell took you so long?” Heather called out. “You damn near scared the crap out of us!”
“I think I found it!”
“You did??”
Billy and Heather swam out to the end of the dock. Danica came back and was holding on, panting like crazy. Heather asked, “So is it down there?”
“I found some metal and though I had it. Then I stumbled on a couple of broken canoes.”
“Broken canoes??” Billy replied in surprise.
“I don’t know what happened or how they got there. It looks like they broke up and went down. The bed frame was right there mixed in with all those weeds.”
“Weeds? What weeds?”
Danica looked at Heather and scowled. “There’s a bunch of weeds down there… and it’s deeper than shit. I tried pulling on the frame and then tried pulling on one of the canoes. It looks like it’s down there all right.”
“They threw it off the end of the dock?” Heather asked in disbelief.
“It’s right down there.”
“Show me.”
“Fine.”
Heather and Danica took deep breaths. Then they asked Billy, “Are you coming?”
“I’ll wait for the movie to come out.”
“Asshole.” And with that both women jackknifed downward.
Billy watched as the surface calmed down. A few bubbles came up, followed by a few more. But it certainly seemed to be taking a long time.
More bubbles came up, causing him to squirm uncomfortably. Maybe something had gone wrong. A moment later they both burst up together, coughing and sputtering.
“Danica, I thought you said it was right there!!”
“It is; I saw it… well, I saw some sort of metal. But it’s so fucking deep! We must have missed it because I didn’t see the frames of those canoes. I think we missed ‘em!” Then she glared at Heather as she told her, “You’re the one who should go down; you have the damn dive mask!”
“Fine – fine; I’ll go back down.”
“When you find it, come straight up so we’ll have an idea how far out it is.”
“Whatever.” And with that Heather filled her lungs and took a deep breath, jackknifing and diving downward.
Billy quietly observed, “You two were certainly down there a long time.”
“It’s a lot deeper than I thought it would be. There’s a bit of a drop-off. But it’s right there; I’m sure of it.”
“What about the canoes?”
“We’re leaving them. Besides, they look damaged and unusable. All we want is that bed frame.”
They watched quietly as the surface settled down again. A few bubbles burst up, followed by a few more a half minute later. They were alarmed to see a big burst come up. Then Heather burst up out of the water about ten or twelve feet away from the end of the dock.
“Well?”
“I found it! It’s right down here! It’s deep as fuck, but I think we can get it up!” She tread water for a few seconds before swimming to the dock and hanging on to the edge with the other two.
“I tried pulling on it, but it looks like it’s tangled up in some of that stuff on the bottom. I found a length of swimming rope and a couple tires, but I couldn’t move the tires and the rope was all tangled up as well.”
“So how do we get it up?” Billy wanted to know.
“I would have tried using the rope, but I couldn’t get it free.”
“Rope is a good idea,” Danica piped up. “There should be some back in that equipment shed, right? Billy, why don’t you go back and get it?”
“What are you two going to do?”
“Maybe we can go back down and make sure it’s not tangled up in anything… see where to tie off one end of the rope.”
“Fine with me.”
Billy grabbed the edge of the dock and lifted himself up out of the water. He stood up, took one last look at them and declared, “I’ll be right back.” Then he headed off along the dock back to shore.
“Make sure it’s long enough!” Danica called after him.
Danica and Heather treaded water for a bit and exchanged conversation. Then Billy was back. He tied the rope to the edge of the pier and threw the other end to the two girls.
Heather took in and submerged. Danica followed. Since they knew where it was, this time they had no trouble finding it. Between them – pushing and lifting – they were able to slip enough of it under the frame to tie it off. It was hard work and when the girls surfaced, they were both breathing heavily.
Billy pulled on the rope until it was taut. “That’s all I’m going to get. You two need to free it from the weeds or whatever the hell is trapping it.”
Danica and Heather shot each other an annoyed look and then went under. Billy couldn’t see them. But he pulled and each time he was able to get it back a bit more.
Both girls surfaced. “Well?” he asked.
“Well?” Danica said in a mocking voice. “If you think it’s so easy then why don’t you trade places? This thing is stuck and we can only stay under for so long at a time.”
Heather didn’t speak, but flipped Billy the bird. Billy shot it back. Then both girls went under again.
He waited for about 30 seconds and then started pulling again. It was taut, but then something gave and he fell backwards onto the dock. Something had obviously given way down there.
He waited for his two helpers to come up, but they didn’t. Billy waited some more and then, 30 seconds later, they still weren’t there. Something was wrong, he thought.
He jumped in and followed the rope downwards. He paused, shocked at what he saw. The frame had moved suddenly when it broke free from the weeds. Danica was pinned at the chest, fighting desperately but not able to find any sort of angle. Heather was stuck at the ankle and, as he drew near, she was able to free herself.
Heather shot up to the surface, but obviously weakly and without much strength. Billy thought that she’d make it on her own but, just in case, he put his hand under her elbow. They both came up, Heather coughing and spitting out water.
“Danica’s trapped!” she said.
Billy nodded as they both filled their lungs. Then they dove toward the bottom, following the rope down. It was deep and murky, getting colder the farther down they went.
They found Danica bubbling as she struggled to get out from under the bed frame. They both grabbed on and lifted up one end. Danica wriggled out and shot up to the surface, the other two following right behind.
They all burst up panting loudly for breath as they grabbed onto the end of the dock. “You left me down there!” Danica finally panted, angry at her friend.
“I ran out of breath!” Heather protested. “I had to come up, all right? Drowning myself wasn’t going to do anyone any favors, ok?”
“Let’s just get it up, ok?” Billy panted in exasperation. “At least we’ve got it out of the weeds.”
They all climbed out of the water onto the dock. Billy grabbed onto the rope and pulled. But it wasn’t coming up.
“I thought you two said it was out of the weeds.”
“What… can’t you bring it up??”
“It’s hanging up on something!”
“It can’t be the weeds, can it?”
“Here,” he said as he started to hand the rope over. “I’ll go down and see what’s hanging it up.”
“I’ll go back down,” Heather said, waving the rope away. “We’ll need you up here to haul it in. It’s kind of heavy.”
“Better let me go back down, ok?”
“Danica, didn’t you nearly drown a couple minutes ago?”
“I can hold my breath better than you two. I just proved it, didn’t I?”
“I better go down with you. Besides, Billy might need the two of us to help get it up. Stupid, dumb-ass kids for throwing it off in the first place! It’s a fucking mess down there!”
Heather angrily tossed her dive mask away, took a deep breath and then dove off the dock head first. Danica almost went for the dive mask before changing her mind. “Fucking show-off,” she muttered as she jumped off the dock as well, going in head first with her arms outstretched.
She pulled with her arms, kicking with her legs as she swam toward the bottom. She could just make out Heather’s legs kicking a few feet ahead of her. It would have been a hell of a lot easier were it not so deep out here at the end of the fucking dock!
She could just make out Heather grabbing the end of the frame while trying to lift it up off the bottom of the lake. The rope was taut; Billy was trying to haul it up. But for some reason it just wasn’t going up.
She motioned at Heather… “Hang on; I’m going to check!” Then she felt around the edge of the frame. That’s when she detected some sort of thin line or wire.
What the hell?? It looked like some sort of fishing line. She could see one of the damaged canoes hung up on some of it as more entangled around the leg of the bed frame.
She heard Heather grunt as she tried to lift it upward. But it was pulling loose fishing line up with it. Danica grunted and bubbled as she tried to claw all the line off the leg of the bed.
She tapped Heather’s leg and then tried to show her… “It’s hung up on this line! Give me a sec!” Heather nodded as she bubbled again. A moment later the line came free. With a bubbly grunt Heather lifted the bed frame upward, watching as Billy hauled it away.
Good… finally! Now she could head up and get out of this dirty, murky lake. She kicked off the bottom, only to get hung up as some loose fishing line tightly entangled her ankle.
She grunted in alarm as she tried pulling herself upward. Some of the weeds and the line tried to go up with her. But somehow it was tethered to the bottom.
Danica saw the problem and tried to grab her foot… “Wait; I see it! Let me get it off you!” But Heather was starting to panic as she kicked with her feet. Danica got a glancing blow from a kicking foot before her own lungs began to heave.
Shit! It was time to go up and get Billy again! But as she pushed off the bottom, some wayward line snagged her wrist, the line clinging tightly as it cut lines into her flesh… “SHIT!”
Up at the surface Billy was pulling the bed up. It was coming up now; they must have loosened it. He saw a few bubbles as he pulled on the rope. But weren’t they staying down longer than necessary? Danica wasn’t trying to show off her breath-holding skills again, was she??
The frame came into view, and he pulled harder. He grabbed on and managed to work over half of it onto the dock. But neither girl was coming up yet. What the hell?? Then he saw another couple bursts of bubbles erupt up at the surface.
He paused a second or two, waiting for the girls to come back up. There were more bubbles, but neither one surfaced. Something had to be wrong down there.
He dove into the water head first, wondering what he was going to find. This wasn’t like last time was it? They weren’t playing a joke on him, were they? It was possible, but for some reason he didn’t think so.
Danica’s legs came into the view as he reached the bottom. For some reason she looked tethered to the weeds by her wrist. Next to her Heather was pulling with her arms and spewing bubbles as though something had hold of her ankle.
He grabbed Danica by her legs and tried to pull, causing her to cry out thinking she was being attacked. She started to come up, only to promptly come to a halt as part of the weeds came up with her amongst a tangle of what looked like a snarl of fishing line. He got her attention where she motioned… “My wrist is caught in the line!” Then she pointed over at Heather’s foot… “And her ankle is caught!”
Billy struggled to pull the fishing line off Danica’s wrist. But it was wrapped pretty good. He tried to loosen it, but she had it pulled too tight, and it was cutting into her wrist.
Heather was freaking out, so he tried to get her attention. She looked like she was panicking. He reached for her ankle, noticing how tight the line was digging into her flesh.
He tried pulling hard in an effort to pull it down off her foot. She kicked instinctively, catching his head with a glancing blow. His lungs heaved; he was running out of breath.
He tried one last time, but her ankle was too tightly snagged. He turned back to Danica who now had a hand over her mouth as she jerked against the line tethering her to the bottom. He tried to pull on it, only to cut a red line into her wrist.
Bubbles spewed out through the fingers covering her mouth. He was close enough to see her eyes wide in growing desperation. Then he heard a grunt as Heather started spasming and convulsing, coughing up bubbles.
Billy pulled hard; maybe he could get Danica back up. His lungs heaved again; he had to go up now. He finally motioned… “I’m sorry; I’ve got to go back up!” Then he broke away and shot up for the surface that now seemed so far away.
Danica waved at him… “DON’T GO; DON’T LEAVE ME DOWN HERE!” But he swam up to the surface anyway, leaving them behind.
Her friend was grunting and bubbling, and it scared the shit out of her. Danica saw Heather cover her mouth as though she couldn’t hold her breath much longer. Then she saw her cough up bubbles as she started to spasm.
Danica jerked hard on the line entangling her wrist. But it was too tight; she couldn’t pull it free. There was so much fishing line it was hard to know where to start!
Not wanting to watch Heather drown, she reached out and tried one last time to free her friend’s snagged ankle. But there was too much line wrapped around it. The poor girl was coughing and spasming, each convulsion appearing to double her over.
She cried out a froth of bubbles as she yanked on the fishing line tethering her wrist to the bottom. Her lungs were burning; she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold her breath. Then she looked up to see Billy returning.
She anxiously waved him down, bubbles leaking out of her mouth and nose as her chest began to heave. But he swam over to Heather, grunting in alarm over the way she appeared to be lifeless as her body swayed back and forth. He tried pulling her up, only for part of the fishing line caught up in the weeds below to give a little. But it wasn’t nearly enough to pull her free.
Danica cried out, waving at him to help her instead. Billy swam down to try to assist. But she could already tell he was running out of breath.
He grabbed on and tried to pull her whole body upward. It pulled fishing line and weeds up, only to remain entangled among the debris on the bottom. Danica cried out in growing panic; she was almost out of breath.
She slashed a hand across her throat… “I’M OUT OF BREATH; YOU GOTTA HELP ME!” But Billy didn’t seem to know what to do. His chest heaved, and he lost another burst of air. Then she saw him turn around and swim back to the surface.
Her mind screamed, “DON’T LEAVE ME DOWN HERE!” She reached up for him with her free hand. Then she reflexively gulped water.
Her eyes flew open as she inhaled again. Instantly she started coughing and choking as she inhaled again and again, sucking lake water into her lungs. She grunted and gurgled as she jerked in vain against the fishing line. Then she shuddered hard before going limp, her body too exhausted to struggle anymore.
A few stray bubbles slipped out of her lips. She could just make out Heather tethered to the bottom by the fishing line around her ankle. She tried to reach out for her, but she couldn’t make her arm move.
She was dimly aware of someone trying to pull her up again. It must be Billy, trying to get her up. Didn’t he understand he needed to free her from the fishing line first? Then her consciousness faded away…
Billy grunted as he tried jerking her body upward. He saw the fishing line clinging to her wrist, and he tried to untangle the strands. But there were too many and he was out of breath again.
He turned to see Heather swaying softly, an occasional bubble slipping out past her parted lips. He let out a bubbly cry of frustration as he turned and headed back to the surface. He kicked hard until he burst up gasping for breath.
Billy let out a wail of frustration, feeling utterly helpless. He needed something to cut the fishing line with. But he hadn’t seen anything on the bottom to use.
He rushed back along the dock to shore where he screamed at the top of his lungs for help. Then he rushed to the equipment shed, looking for something sharp to use. He came across a camper who gave him a knife. Then he rushed back down to the dock, knowing he was already much too late.
He reached the dock, ran along the length and then dove off the end into the water with the knife in his hands. He swam down until he reached the two girls. He didn’t know who to work on first, so he started sawing on the line to Heather’s ankle.
The strands separated, causing her body to slowly ascend to the surface. He turned and frantically began sawing on the line tethering Danica to the bottom. It took several slices and a set of straining lungs before he cut her free. Then he wrapped an arm around her and began swimming her up to the surface.
Heather was slowly rising face down, still losing the occasional bubble out of her mouth. He got Danica up where others had gathered on the dock. They helped get her out of the water before he turned his attention to Heather. But his worst fears were confirmed after they got her out of the water as well. CPR proved futile as the two had been under too long… and all because of that damned bed frame…
© 2016 (written Nov 22 ’16 by Carolyn and Riwa)