Free Vanished by Callie Colors

jaggedly at one end like it was ripped apart.  
                  Zayn, Collin and Jasmine are looking a little uncomfortable but Maddie is staring right up at Trin, that dangerously sweet smile on her face.
                  Trin’s back is to me.  She slowly leans over and tosses the remaining purple shreds into Maddie’s face and proceeds to pull her t-shirt off, revealing her naked body underneath. I inhale sharply.  She lifts her arms above her head in a V shape, her hands barely overlapping each other, rises up slightly on the tips of her toes and dives gracefully into the pool, barely making a ripple as her lithe body glides into the water.  I realize I’m holding my breath and release it in a gush.
                  It takes me a minute to process what just happened. 
    It takes Maddie longer.
                  The others are cheering and hollering when Trin emerges.  She smiles at them, splashes Maddie – who is still staring, her mouth hanging open - right in the face, says something I can’t hear and swims over to the edge.   I brace myself a second time, as she steps gracefully out of the pool and over to where she dropped her t-shirt.  
                  Collin and Zayn’s eyes are glued on her, Maddie still has a stunned look on her face and Jaz is watching Maddie as if she is waiting for some cue on how to react.
                  A small chuckle escapes my lips as Trin puts her t-shirt back on, wrings out her hair and walks away from the pool, and back up the path, her wet body sticking to the t-shirt in a way that causes me slight discomfort.  She stops in front of me, looks back at Maddie ensuring she is watching then looks back at me, her forest green eyes burning with defiant anger.  She’s brave, fearless Trin again.  
                  She doesn’t say anything and she doesn’t have to.  She simply stands before me in all her glory, her eyes intense and the silent statement is clear: you were scared to be seen with this?   “You know I had nothing to do with the swim-suit thing, right?”
                  She doesn’t answer. She just turns slowly and starts walking away, “Trin, you know that, right?” I call after her but she ducks into the tent and zips it up behind her.  
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven

Trin
     
    Something is following us. 
                  We hear it behind us consuming everything it touches; peeling back the earth’s crust and mantle like layers of an onion, devouring them, until all that’s left is nothingness, and the edge of the earth is falling away behind us faster and faster. One by one, our feet slip out from under us and we fall.
                  Down.
                                Down.
                                              Down.
                  Until everything is dark and the only sound left, when the screaming stops, is a high-pitched ringing sound, pulsing like a heartbeat, vibrating through me. 
                  “Trin”
                  I cover my ears.
                  “Trin” I blink and see light and feel someone’s hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me.
                  I’m awake but still hear the ringing sound from my dream.  It’s so loud I think it might burst my eardrums, “What is that sound?” I yell, recognizing Logan behind the flashlight, looking down at me.  I can see another flashlight behind him and assume the sound woke the others also.
                  “I don’t know,” he yells over the sound, “It started about three minutes ago.”
                  “Is it coming from up there?” I point towards the surface.
                  He shrugs, “Probably.”
                  I glance at my watch.  It’s three