You ask if someone can cap you. One person replied. You ask them how they know how to cap. They don't respond. They can't.
You are apart of the away team. You don't know the team you're facing. The only thing tying you to reality is the beep that starts the races.
There is a dirt path at your pool. It leads somewhere into the trees. You have seen nameless children disappear on the path. You attempt to follow them during a meet. Your swim coach stops you, telling you your swim is coming up soon, and that you shouldn't get out of earshot. Your coach has seen people disappear on that path and never come back.
The opposing team starts a chant during their warmups. One of your teammates walks over to that side of the pool. They are one of Them now.
You have friends on the team that you haven't seen since time trials. They are written into all of the race packets. They never show up for their swim.
Your swim is coming up soon. You stand near the person calling out racers for the swim before you. An hour passes. Your swim is coming up. Soon.
You ask about a swimmer who aged out of swim team. No one remembers them. You see fear in your teammates' eyes. They aren't supposed to remember.
Practice started at 8:00 am. That was an hour ago. It is 8:01.
The coach at your swim lane asks what you want to do for practice. You say sidestroke. You are never heard from again.
You overslept practice. It starts in an hour.
The opposing team is on the opposite side of the pool. They never come to this side. Those who have tried are frozen on the boundary line until the end of the meet. They are never the same.
You missed the morning practices. You have to go to the night practice. You never go there again. It's better to just miss that day's practice all together than to go to the night practice.
Your group of friends gets together during a meet. There are always some people missing. There is one person who you never seen, yet still call your friend. They do not exist. Not anymore.
There were 6 people, each in their own lane. The whistle blows. They dive in the pool. Only 5 get out.
All of the swimmers are standing before their respective lanes. "Take your mark," a voice says. You do not know this voice. You never do.
They play music in between heats sometimes. No one knows why. It is always the same songs. You know the songs. You do not know their names. They keep playing.
Your friend is wearing their cap inside out. It is the cap of another team. Every time one of your coaches pass by, they cover it with their towel. While teammates are usually forgiving about such atrocities, the coaches are not. The last person to be caught wearing an opposing team's cap was Erased.
You dive into the pool. You cannot see those you are racing against. You cannot see anything. The world is red. You need air, but you cannot breath. You need to beat your old time. You will die if it gets you a better time.
During halftime, your team does the chants. Who made these chants? Where did they come from? How does everyone know the words? Why are we yelling "Chomp!" at the other team. No one needs to know. No one does know.
Butterfly is called. Only ten people from your team can do butterfly. The rest have never done it or have died trying. Those ten people must be feared, as they have made a deal with the devil, and are capable of anything.
