This is stupid, why can't I jump?
It's just a lake, come on. Just do it. Come on just jump.
No one is looking. Well, not yet. Get on with it. Get into the lake!
...
Sarah put on her sandals and got ready to leave. Why was it that every time she came to the lake she chickened out? It frustrated her, putting lines on her forehead as she clasped the left one. The red coloring had faded but these were by far her favorite pair of summer sandals, having never found a replacement for eight years running. Her style was a little different when not at the lake. She could usually be found in blazers, pencil skirts, and crisp button ups at her job downtown. But she turned into a boho-hippy whenever summertime hit. She just couldn't get enough flowy skirts and loose fitting tanks. Once she clocked out she changed into her off duty uniform. It was her summer alter ego. All she needed now was to convince it that jumping off the short wood pier into the lake was a good idea. One day.
After collecting her things she trekked inside her family's lake house and opened her laptop. She had promised not to work while on vacation here, but no one was currently in the small bungalow, so she decided to take a peek at the chaos of emails. Scanning down the list, she clicked about two dozen that were clearly spam but for some reason in her "important" section. Those sneaky emails, she thought. They may have tricked gmail but they didn't trick me! She kept scanning, clicking on semi-interesting titles, moving some to a file marked REPLY BY FRIDAY, keeping her ears perked up for anyone coming into the house.
She worked in media, but her true passion had always been film. She learned that it was a lot tougher to make it in the film world than in the media world, and she had a knack for media that pleased her boss but not herself. So she decided to take the money over a happy career path, since let's be honest here, she got paid quite well. Much better than when she was a PA on film sets. Fetching people coffee and moving apple boxes for twelve hours a day got her around $120. Sitting at a desk and analyzing analytics for her boss paid her that amount every two hours. She had already paid off her student loans and she wasn't even thirty. Life was good, for the most part.
Suddenly one title grabbed her full attention: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO THE FILM STUDIES MFA PROGRAM AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.
WHAT?!?!
On a whim she had applied to Columbia. That alter ego, the lake house chick, she had applied. She had made a reel and sent it in, polished off her test scores, and crossed her fingers. She couldn't believe it. This was really happening. It didn't feel like reality.
She looked towards that short pier through the window, and quickly took off her bikini coverup. She ripped her sandals off and threw them without looking. She opened the old french doors that led outside and ran as fast as she could towards the lake. Without even thinking she jumped in.
She stayed under for a little bit, then emerged a new person. She was now her summer alter ego, living her true life again. And it felt good.
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