THE DEVIL'S POOL

The air conditioner unit rattled the window that held it in place and whined with the raspy hiss of someone on their deathbed, but still it didn’t drown out the talk show on in the other room. My gran needed the tv blaring. It’s a wonder the neighbors never complained. I shoveled another spoon full of cereal into my mouth and scrolled on my phone.

“Elijah, be a dear and bring me that bag of Cheetos on the shelf!”

“Gran, you know the doctor said you need to watch your salt intake,” I reminded her. There were times I didn’t know who was babysitting whom. At 14, I didn’t need anyone to watch over me, but every day that summer my mom dropped me off at my grandmother's house in the city.

“I’m 82 years old. You can tell that doctor I’ll worry about my own salt intake, thank you very much. The plastic bowls are in the corner cabinet, if you’d please, honey?” she begged. “Maybe something sweet to drink to go along with those cheesy puffs too.”

The cabinet, filled with every reused plastic cup and container you could imagine, threatened to empty onto the floor. My phone buzzed on the counter with a text from Hannah. I typed out a reply twice and erased both before I gave up. Hannah and I had been friends since we were five. There was no reason for it to be this awkward, but something had changed after she held my hand at the movies a few nights before that day.

“Gran, you’re pushing it! No soda! Mom will ask me later and I can’t lie, can I?”

“Oh, Elijah, no, you shouldn’t lie to your mother.” She blinked her watery blue eyes. Pity made me want to bring her an icy cold Coke, her favorite, but instead I set her snack and glass of water on the tray table. “What are your plans for today?” she asked.

“Hannah’s older brother invited us to go swimming with him and his friends,” I replied and sank into the recliner across from her that belonged to my grandfather. The worn out flannel bristled against the back of my legs, and a spring threatened to poke through the cushion under my weight.

“Swimming? One of the public pools?” she questioned me.

“Hannah said we're going somewhere along Cresheim Creek.”

Gran stopped mid sip as her eyes went wide and alert. “Devil’s Pool.”

“Devil’s Pool? What’s that?”

“You’d better think twice before going down there,” she warned and clicked off the TV. Gran never went without the TV, so I knew she meant for me to listen. She smacked her knee. “Whoo wee! No, no, no, nothing good can come from it. Only trouble.”

“Is this one of your urban legends meant to scare me?” I laughed off her seriousness and expected her to join in, but no, she only sat up straighter.

“Oh no, Elijah, my dear, not one of my stories; this one belongs to the Lenni Lenape. You know their tribe inhabited these lands long before us? They gave the pool its name.”

“Gran, please—”

“As the legend goes, there was a battle there between the Great Spirit and the Devil. The Great Spirit threw the Devil into the murky water to drown, but the Devil still resides in the pool. He lurks beneath the surface, getting his revenge by luring swimmers into its depths, never to be seen again.” She sounded out each word for added emphasis. Gran would say anything to keep me home and out of trouble.

“That happened right here in Philadelphia? You’re lying,” I teased, and still hoped Gran would crack a smile, but no.

“I’d never lie to you, Elijah. That pool is the crossing point between good and evil. You watch yourself,” she insisted.

“Ok, Gran, sure. If we happen to end up there, I promise not to fall for any of the Devil’s tricks.”

#

“Where are we going?” Hannah asked again while she pulled her long auburn hair up into a bun.

“You’ll see,” Danny, her brother, shouted over the music and wind. He sped along the back roads, hugged turns, and slammed on his brakes at every stop. He looked at me in the rearview mirror. “You alright, E? You look a little green.” E no one called me by my full name except for my family and teachers.

“Yeah, yeah. All good.” I loosened my death grip on the door handle and dropped my shoulders away from my ears.

“Danny, did you tell mom where we were going? In case she—”

“Hannah, relax! Mom doesn’t need to know everything,” he answered and smirked at Seth, his friend, in the passenger seat before he glanced at me again. “Have you ever been to Devil’s Pool, E?”

Shit. My stomach churned, and not just from Danny’s driving.

“Devil’s Pool!” Hannah shrieked. “That’s where we're going? What the hell is it?”

Seth laughed. “Hell is right, kids!”

“Don’t scare them, Seth. It’s just a name!” Danny punched Seth in the arm and pulled off the road to a dirt outcropping. A tree branch brushed over the top of the jeep as it bounced to a stop in the shade. “Help me put the top on. It might rain later.” Danny and Seth attached the top while another car pulled up next to us with five more of their friends.

Hannah interlocked her fingers with mine and pulled me away. “I’m sorry I got us into this. We don’t have to go with them. I can call my mom for a ride,” she whispered and glanced back at Danny and his friends. “I saw your reaction and if you’re scared—"

“What? No!” I yanked my hand away from hers and wiped it on my shorts in disgust. “And stop doing that!”

“Let’s go, lovebirds!” Danny shouted, and his friends fell apart laughing. Mortified, I grabbed my backpack and left Hannah standing on her own.

We weaved through the woods along a littered and muddy trail made by other trespassers long before us. My slides stuck to the damp ground and made funny sucking noises with each step, but I refrained from laughing to avoid appearing childish. The sunlight that filtered through the trees gradually disappeared, and the thick air grew steadily cooler the deeper we hiked under the mystical green canopy. I did my best to ignore Hannah’s stomping and sulking behind me. There were several rusty, graffitied signs warning us of trespassing and forbidding us to swim, but nothing stopped us. Danny and his friends carried on dragging coolers and bright neon inflated tubes for floating down the creek. As they laughed and joked, I relaxed and joined in, delighted to be included in the older kid’s fun. 

When we reached the edge of the trees, the sun stung my skin, and the squishy ground turned into something solid. There had to be a hundred people spread out on the mossy boulders encircling the creek below. On the lowest level, a man in a Hawaiian shirt stood by a grill while people shouted out their orders. Music played and scantily clad people danced. Children waded and played tag through the running water of Cresheim Creek on the other side of the boulders. Above us was the highest point, where a few others mingled and teased one another. It wasn’t the fiery pit of hell I expected, but instead a party. 

Danny and his friends found a shaded area close to the tree line where they set up chairs, blankets, and coolers. While they stripped down to their swimsuits, I looked for Hannah. She stood peering over the edge of the boulder, where I had yet to venture.

“The water is black,” she said as I approached. She was right. The clearing was wide, and the sky was even bluer being on the outer limits of the city, but none of that reflected in the round pool below. It looked like a giant, black, lifeless eye. A bellow from above startled Hannah, and she fell into me. I steadied her with one hand, and she hissed. If looks could kill, I would have been dead.

“Hannah, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean it,” I muttered sheepishly.

“You didn’t?”

A man roared again as he cannon balled into the water. As soon as he sank beneath the surface, the onlookers stopped their merriment and peered into the depths, waiting for him to surface. After an endless moment, he did, gasping for air and swimming toward the closest rock. His friends cheered, and the music blasted louder.

“How deep is it?” I asked the woman next to me.

“15 feet, they say. Maybe more. No one would be crazy enough to find out.”

“Come on! We’re going higher!” Danny pointed to the boulder above us.

Hannah and I followed Danny and his friends to the highest point. We were so deep in the woods that even from the top you still couldn’t see the city. The pool below somehow seemed less menacing from up here. Maybe that’s how the devil convinced you to jump.

The onlookers encouraged the next jumper. A girl, not much older than me and Hannah, stepped up. She made a real show of it when she requested her favorite song and danced. The crowd ate it up and egged her on. Obviously, it wasn’t her first time. The adrenaline was contagious, and the urge to be a daredevil like the rest of them was irresistible.

Without notice, she took a running start and jumped pencil straight. Someone laughed, “Ha! That’s one way to do it! There’s no faster way to reach the bottom!”

She sank like a rock, swallowed whole. We waited. The bystanders inched closer to the pool and peered into the blackness. More time passed, and the water stilled. The quiet concern of her friends escalated into cries for help. A boy who was on the top beside us climbed down with impossible speed and called her name like she could hear it. Not a second later, she bobbed to the top as if she was shot out of a rocket, and everyone cheered as they did for the man before her, but all her cockiness was gone. Even from the top, I could see her face had lost all its color. Her friend embraced her as she buried her face into a towel, and her sobs caused every cell in my body to prickle with fear, but despite all of it, I grew more curious.

The music returned to full volume as if nothing had happened.

“People have died in there.”

“What?” I turned to Hannah. “How do you know that?”

“I know, E. I can feel it. Can’t you?”

“My grandmother told me about this place,” I whispered so the others couldn’t overhear us.

“What did she say?” Hannah asked. “Tell me, E.”

“I’m jumping in,” Danny announced.

Hannah spun around. “No, Danny, don’t! You’ll get hurt or worse. I’m calling mom!” she fumbled with her phone. “No signal! There’s no signal!”

“Hannah, would you relax! Look at E. He’s fine. He’s gonna jump in too. Aren’t you, E?”

“Ah—”

“He’s just as scared as I am,” Hannah said.

“No, I’m not!” I argued. We had everyone’s attention, even the strangers who were waiting their turn. 

“Why don’t you jump together?” Seth teased. “Or maybe you rather go splash around and play tag with the little kids?”

“I’m jumping!” I declared with a proud grin, even though I felt ridiculous for succumbing to peer pressure.

“E—”

“Danny’s right. Relax, Hannah.” I handed her my phone and backpack.

“Fine, we’ll jump together.” Hannah held out her hand, but I ignored her. I was too aware of everyone’s eyes on us. As we stepped to the edge, her red hair fluttered around her like a flame, the bass from the music matched my heartbeat and everyone and everything else melted away. It all seemed so simple. Just a jump. One jump and I could gain their respect.

“Are you sure?” I asked as waves of nervous energy crackled between us.

“Are you?” Hannah choked out the words as though her mouth had gone dry.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said.

She chewed on her bottom lip. “Oh yeah? You won’t think I’m a chicken?”

“No, not at all, Hannah, but I need to do this.”

“Jump! Jump! Jump!” The chant grew louder.

Hannah looked like she wanted to argue, but instead she squeezed my arm and said, “I’ll meet you at the bottom.”

I took a deep breath, thought twice about taking a running start, but I stayed pencil straight and jumped, holding my limbs tight against my body. There’s no faster way to reach the bottom. The words echoed in my head as my body plummeted. My time in the air was no more than a flash. My feet met the water’s surface with no splash that I can recall, just silence and sudden blackness. I kept plunging deeper, wanting to stop, but it was impossible to do so. The current whirled me around until I didn’t know which end was up. Bubbles escaped from my nose. I needed air and soon, but there was no urgency in me. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, but somehow Hannah appeared clearly with her hand outstretched like before, with her flaming red hair and glowing eyes. She must have changed her mind and jumped with me. I took her hand, and warmth spread through my body. Her grip was strong as she led me to the surface. “Elijah, it’s ok. Come with me,” she whispered. Her voice cut through the water like a sharp knife, and her words struck my chest just as sharply. Elijah? Hannah never called me that. She gave me my nickname in kindergarten because she had trouble pronouncing it. “Elijah, I have you now.”

“No!” I fought against her grip. Her face morphed into something sinister and dark. I kicked and pulled in the opposite direction and broke free to the surface. I gasped for air and searched for the nearest escape.

Danny pulled me out of the water. “Shit! I thought we had lost you. What the hell were you doing down there?”

“Hell! It was hell!”

“E!” Hannah offered me her hand, but I pushed it away and embraced her with all my strength. She sighed with relief.

“Come on, let’s go play tag.”

The End