It happens every blazing hot, summer afternoon. All of us kids who live on Maple Grove Drive go to the grassy area between the giant, swamp-like pond that all of our parents are trying to make look half-decent, (even though the overgrown bushes and cattails keep them from doing anything) and the enormous mountains of dirt that pile up 10 feet high that we love climbing. We've been doing this dare competition for about a month now. So far, I've probably done the toughest dares of all of us. I am one of the older kids, almost twelve, so the others usually give me the hardest. I've done everything from eat a spider, to climb onto the roof of my 2-story house ' without a ladder. But I have a feeling they're going to give me a dare I might actually regret doing today.

As I walk over, the older kids of the bunch were jumping from one foot to the other, looking as if they had already peed their pants, while the younger ones had a mixed look of worry and panic in their eyes. I got there, and one of the older kids, Trevor, said to me, ' We've got a scary dare for you today Kasey! It's the toughest one yet!'

I wasn't that worried about it. I mean, seriously, what could these ten year olds come up with thats more difficult than having to climb your own roof? After several seconds of silence, I heard a tiny voice whisper so quietly you could have heard us blink.

' We dare you to jump into the Black Hole.' Angela, one of the younger children, said.

I wasn't sure I had heard her right.

' What did you say Angela?' I asked timidly, afraid of her response.

' I said, we all dare you to jump into the Black Hole.' Angela answered, much more timidly than I.

When she said that, I felt like my mouth was about to fall open, hanging by it's hinges, so I clenched my teeth and squinted my eyes so tight that I could barely see, thinking over my options.

'Well, I could not do it, but then what would happen if no one else would do any more dares, just because I refused to do the hardest of all. Then we wouldn't have anything to do for the rest of the summer and I would probably turn into a freak who's too bored out of her mind to even do anything for the rest of her life. Okay, well maybe not the rest of my life but still.'

'Kasey, are you going to say anything?' asked Trevor, I notice he said it worriedly.

'Yeah, I am, I was just thinking about it.' I answered, trying to speak in my normal voice, when instead I sounded like a 3 year old who was about to cry.

They returned to their quiet stances, most of them already impatient with the wait of my decision.

You see, the reason it was taking me so long to say anything, is because the Black Hole is literally a pitch black colored pool behind a rotting, century-old house that nobody has lived in for a long time. It never really is dirty in the Black Hole because it seems to me that all of the falling leaves and flying bugs that are about to hit the water, somehow make their way across the length of the pool to the safe edge of the concrete perimeter. I guess they're scared to touch that water too. But I wasn't about to chicken out.

'Okay, I'll do it.' I proclaimed, before I could change my mind.

Most of the kids are cheering for me, Trevor being one of the loudest, as I make my way towards the diving board, dressed in all of my clothing except for my socks and shoes.

I approach the diving board shivering, even though it is 96 degrees outside on this hot July day. I step onto the creaking board. Even Trevor is quiet now as I do a perfect dive into the terrifying water below me. I keep my eyes closed so tightly I feel they will crumble. I realize the pool is actually very warm, to my surprise. I try to come back up from the water so that I can let them know I survived the jump, but I bonk my head on what seems like a bizarre, invisible forcefield as I try to get a breath. I let my breath out quickly, forgetting that I am underwater, but as I do, I don't feel the urge to gasp for air.



'Okay so I can breathe underwater.' I think to myself. 'and thats not weird at all!' I finish in that sarcastic way of mine.


I lift my eyelids and take in the beautiful ocean-like scenery. Amazingly, the water doesn't have the slightest tint of black; it's not even just regular bluish looking clear water! The water is a bright, tangerine orange! I take a gulp of water, out of pure curiosity, thinking the water will taste like dirty dishwater, but instead, it tastes like orange soda!

'Oh my gosh! This is so cool!' I think to myself as I look down at the sparkling coral reef and odd plant-like animals stuck to the surface.

There are little creatures swimming around. Some of them look like a mix between a zebra and a giraffe, with long limbs and necks, and striped bodies! Some are even mermaids with long, glittery tails, each one of theirs a different color, and oddly, what look like shark teeth in their mouths as they laugh and socialize with one another.

'I can't believe this!' I say in my head. ' It's like a whole other world down here!'

But all of a sudden, I feel a lurking presence behind me. As I turn around, I see a shark, staring me down like I'm it's prey. My adrenaline kicks in as I cut through the water like I'm a mermaid myself! I turn a sharp corner, but the shark is right behind me. I come to a dark trench, where the shark corners me so that there is a jagged rock ready to stab me in the back if I try to move farther away from the beastly animal. Suddenly, the water isn't orange anymore...it turns pitch black! The only thing I can see now are the shark's pearly white teeth as they sink into my right shoulder --

'AHHHHH!!!'

I look around my room. No shark, no black water.

'Oh, it was just a dream.' I say to myself as I take about 5 minutes to catch my breath and think about what just happened. I finally throw my one crumpled sheet off of my sweaty body and stand up.
Then I say out loud, ' I can't wait to tell the neighbor kids!'