PART 13 – I Kept Looking Beyond the Strawberry Hair Tie, Because I Refused to Believe That Small Piece of Plastic Was All I Would Find

I was still searching when I looked back toward the dock.

I couldn't see everything clearly from where I was.

The distance made it difficult to distinguish people.

But I could tell there was activity.

The lake was no longer just a place where families were spending their holiday.

People were moving.

Boats were leaving the shore.

And somewhere behind me, my nephew had my phone.

I hoped he had reached emergency services.

I hoped he had explained exactly what happened.

I hoped nobody had softened the details to protect Trey.

I had been very specific with him.

A child had fallen.

She had no life jacket.

The driver had been drinking.

I wanted those facts understood.

I turned back toward the water.

The pink hair tie was still the clearest thing I had found.

I could picture the little strawberry attached to it.

I remembered Cassie wearing it.

I remembered seeing it before I went inside.

Now it was floating where she had fallen.

I tried to focus on the search rather than what that object might mean.

I couldn't afford to let my mind move too far ahead.

I called her name again.

I waited.

Nothing.

I moved my attention across the surface.

I looked near the area where the wake had rolled beneath me.

I looked farther out.

Then I looked back toward the place where I had first noticed the hair tie.

I was afraid of missing something.

I was afraid of looking in the wrong direction.

Most of all, I was afraid that every second mattered and I didn't know how many I had left.

I had taught lifeguards.

I knew how emergencies were supposed to be handled.

But I was not standing beside a training pool.

I was not watching someone else's family.

This was my daughter.

I kept moving.

Click here to continue reading: PART 14: My Father’s Voice Was Still in My Head, but I No Longer Had Any Reason to Obey What He Wanted