Trust Me

BOBS POV.

****evening*****

"So, who's going first then?" asked Joe, excitement all over his face as he led us towards where the task was.

"Can we go last?" I asked and he nodded, Ray smiled and kissed me on the cheek.

"Nice hickey Bryar," said Frank as Gee and him walked alongside Ray and I.

"Thanks," I grinned, touching the spot on my neck that Ray had been so interested in last night.

"You two need to be quieter, really please never again," said Gee, shaking his head causing Frankie to laugh.

"It's not funny Frank, I'm fucking traumatized! 'Oh god, Bob right there!'" Moaned Mikey, taking the piss.

"Well at least I was gettin' some Mr. no action!" retaliated Ray quickly, although he was blushing a lot about Mikey's comment about the moaning.

"Hey I get a hell of a lot more then you!"

"Pfft, as if."

"Well I used to before Dan was born," said Mikey, accepting defeat.

"OK, we're here guys," said Joe, leading us round a corner. I stopped dead when I saw what we had to do.

In front of us was the biggest pool I had ever seen in my life but it wasn't only that, it was frozen too, with holes in the ice.

"At the bottom of this pool, there are five glow wands, pick them all up to win the task. But there's a catch, You have to bring them to the surface to give them to your partner, who then has to swim down and put them back. There is a number on each glow stick and numbers on the pool floor, place them all on the correct numbers to win."

"I can't do it," said Ray, backing away from the water.

"Yes you can!"

"I can't fucking swim!"

"Well, you don't have to, you only have to go down and then bring the glow sticks back up, please try, if we win this, we win the whole thing!" I said and he looked in thought for a moment.

"Alright, I'll give it a try, but only if we go last!"

"I already asked to go last anyway so it's OK, we'll watch the others."

"OK guys, suit up, wet suits over there!" said Joe, pointing to a pile of wet suits by the waters edge. I approached the side of the pool. Damn thats deep, I could see at least five layers of ice going down and tiny little specks of green at the bottom of the pool which I guessed were the glow wands.

We each pulled on a wet suit and waited by the side of the water.

"Frank and Gerard, your up first, how do you feel?"

"Well, this thing is chafing in... places... so not so great at the moment but lets just get it over with," said Gee and he and Frank were each handed a pair of swim goggles and they stepped out onto the ice.

"Alright guys, there are two safety divers down there, if you get into trouble, just make this signal," Joe demonstrated a hand signal, tracing one finger across his throat and Frank and Gee nodded.

"You ready?"

"GO!" Frank took a huge breath and leaped into the hole in the ice and instantly started to swim down through the layers of ice. He seemed to struggle to find the holes in the ice but I saw him reach the bottom.

"He's got it! Get ready Gerard!" called Joe from where we were stood at the side of the ice. Gee jumped into the water at one of the other holes and Frank broke the surface and took a big breath of air before clambering out of the water and running the glow stick over to Gee.

"It's s..so c..cold!" he gasped, handing over the small glowing object and then jumping back into the water to fetch the others.

Within ten minutes they had completed the task and were heaving themselves out of the water, shivering with cold.

"How was that guys?" asked Joe, the camera followed their every movement.

"It was... cold... and wet..." said Frankie, wrapped in a thermal blanket and still shivering.

"Guys, your time was eight minutes and fifty, this is pretty good, lets see how it holds up."

Mikey and Lauren beat their time by twelve seconds and then before I knew what was going on, I was lowering myself slowly into the freezing cold water.

"Ray, you'll be fine," I called as he tentatively dipped his foot into the water and then withdrew it again.

"It's cold!"

"Well how do you think I feel!" I was up to mid-thigh depth in the water and I knew the next bit would be the worst.

"Ah... motherfucker!" I cried as I dropped myself into the water and it was really cold.

RAYS POV.

I dropped myself into the water and Joe called tat he was starting the timer in ten seconds. I smiled across to Bob, about ten feet away and he smiled back. We both pulled on the swim goggles we had been given and I heard Joe yell 'GO'.

I took a deep breath and plunged under the water. It was so cold I lost half my breath just out of shock, but I forced myself to swim down, kicking with my legs with as much strength as I could muster. I reached the next layer of ice and found a hole to squeeze through, they seemed to be getting smaller and my shoulders hardly fitted through.

I felt my lungs start to give in and scream for oxygen so I quickly forced myself down further towards the little glowing green object I had to obtain. My numb fingers closed around it and I kicked off the bottom of the pool, but cracked my head on the first layer of ice. Rubbing my head I found the first hole and squashed through it, my shoulders scraping on the sides. The holes in the ice were definitely getting smaller, what if they were freezing shut?

My lungs telling me to get the hell to the surface took the thought from my mind, I reached the surface as fast as I could. I took a huge breath and heaved myself up out of the water, sprinting across and giving the glow stick to Bob who dived down instantly. I dived in after him and made my way back to the bottom to collect another glow-stick.

The holes in the ice were smaller again and I felt my skin break as I forced myself down to the bottom of the pool. I took the glow-stick and struggled back up to the surface, my chest burning and my head spinning from lack of oxygen.

I broke the surface and gulped down the air.

"RAY!" Yelled Joe from the edge of the pool. I heaved myself out again and took the glow stick to Bob, who was now shivering.

"Its so cold," he gasped as I passed him the glow stick.

"You can do it, we can do this," I dropped to my knees and pulled him into a kiss, the guys whooped loudly from the side of the pool. I pulled away after a few seconds and sprinted over to go back into the water.

It was definitely getting colder in here. Even with the wet suit I still felt the full cold of the water pressing down on me from all sides. The holes in the ice were getting smaller too, each time I had to pass through one it grew more difficult. The light was fading too, the glow sticks were glowing brighter with each dive and I realized I could no longer see the safety divers through the gloom of the water.

I closed my now completely numb fingers around the third glow stick and forced myself off the bottom of the pool towards the surface, my air already very low. I hit the layer of ice and let out some more air unintentionally as I gasped in pain, I pushed at the ice with my hands, trying to find the hole.

With a huge relief I found the gap and quickly slipped through it, forcing myself towards the surface. Just two more to go. Once again I handed Bob the glow stick and then got back in the water, taking a deep breath before I headed back down to the deepest part of the pool.

The water was inky black now, the pool lights were all off so we could see the glow sticks and I really didn't like being in this black water.

I reached the glow stick and tried to pick it up but the little tie it was on that was keeping it in place on the bottom of the pool was stuck. I pulled at it but it wouldn't come undone. I took a better grip and ripped the whole thing off the bottom of the pool, plastic tie and all. It took me a long time to do that and I could feel the water getting colder around me.

I made to swim back up but I missed the gap in the ice again, I fumbled around but couldn't find it. Shit. It froze shut. The hole was just big enough to get my arm through but no more then that and I was running out of air.

I hammered my fist against the ice desperately, panic setting in. I'm trapped in freezing cold water with no way to get me out and nobody can even see. I tried to break at the ice but it was sharp and cut my hands, I broke off more and more until I could just get my arm and head through the gap.

I pounded on the thickening ice in desperation, my lungs screaming for more air and my head spinning with lack of oxygen going to my brain. I pounded harder on the ice, my hands both scratched and bleeding from snapping the ice with my fingers.

Where the fuck are the safety divers? They cant see me anyway, the water is pitch black. I struggled, trying to fit myself through the hole I had created in the ice but it was no use. This was it, I was going to die here, from lack of air in the freezing cold pitch darkness.

I was still holding the glow stick in one hand, I don't know why but I was, I dropped it onto the layer of ice and let out a little more air. I had to breathe and I had to breathe now. I yelled out with my last breath but nobody could hear me, I stuck half in and half out of the ice, I thought of Bob, all the things we would never get to do. We would never be married, I would never see my child, I would never see Bob's amazing blue eyes again.

But there they were through the darkness, right in front of me. It was Bob, he was getting me out of here. But was it too little too late?