She had been snorkeling in the Colorado River for years. The red rocks and canyons framed the smooth water, and it was almost unbelievable how surreal it seemed at times. Today had been more surreal than usual though, after everything was said and done.
         It was early morning as she stepped out onto the rocks and into the rush of the water, disturbing the silt and sand on the river bottom. It rushed up in a flurry around her feet as she waded deeper into the current and pulled the goggles and snorkel on. Then she dove. Bubbles bloomed around her face as she breathed in, trying to get used to the mouthpiece. A kick, and she was rocketing through the water, eyes locked on a bend in the sand where reeds bloomed and shook in the wash of the water. The thought of finding an otter or school of bright fish among the seaweed quickened her strokes. Soon, all she could see was the sickly green of the grass, a whole forest of it strung along the bank.
A flash of pink caught her eye - and then another. Her fingers brushed the weeds aside to see a school of rainbow trout pass through. The speckles along their sides gleamed in the murky sunlight that filtered through the water, and she swam in closer, smiling.
The quick flick of her leg sent them scattering, though, and she was left alone again. The glimmer of their scales had left - but something else was shining down below. Moving slowly now, she paddled deeper, squinting down at the shining mass of white that had caught her attention. Another one dissolved into view too, fading in out of the gloom.
Her brow furrowed as she hesitated, a sudden shiver traveling through her body. The hazy shape of a body had appeared, and another beside it. The skull contrasted against the black pits that were the eye sockets - algae growing out of them and disturbing the ghostly white. Her own eyes traced down the figure - shoulders, arms, a torso seated upon a strikingly white plastic chair.
The shadows of the shifting grass made everything blurry, but this was unmistakable - a human body - an entire human skeleton, sitting here on the floor of the Colorado River. Another sat beside it, eerily perched on an identical lawn chair, as if they were sitting around drinking and chatting. Her first instinct was to scream, but she held her breath and backpedaled furiously. Bubbles swirled around her, a whirlpool of them. So many that, for a moment, the creepy scene was hidden from her view, and the world was bubbles. They floated to the surface though, and she was again left with the gruesome tea party, albeit several feet farther away.
Yet as she peered down again, it almost looked like a dream. The seaweed swirled around the figures, making everything look hazy and unclear. The skulls grinned up at her, algae creeping into their perfect white smiles. The river had begun to consume them - shells and barnacles had made their way up the chair legs, where small schools of fish floated lazily about. They accepted the party as just another part of the land. Others darted in and out of the ribcages. Her outburst had evidently disturbed a turtle, and it came sliding out of the muck, its red belly flashing, and wiggled in between the two figures. She was mesmerized, so frozen that she forgot even to breathe. Instead of six feet under dirt, here they were 15 feet under the Colorado River, peacefully sitting as if they had been waiting for her.
Another shiver went up her spine and she turned away before she got sucked back into it all. Her feet pumped furiously as she made for the surface, her call to 911 already flashing through her mind as her head broke through the water.