Disclaimer: I own all characters you don't recognize.

- Laverne

Hi. My name Laverne Audrium, but people call me Verne, after Jules Verne, my favorite author. I live in Lowdown, California. Seriously. The place is called Lowdown.

And, boy, is it low down. But, fortunately, I don't live there.

My older brother, Tom, and I live out near the lake. Unfortunately, I still have to go to school with the scum who live in the town. That's not to say everyone in the town is scum. There's a very sweet old lady there named Mrs. Adams who I clean house for, but I'm going off topic.

Anyway. School had just gotten out, and I was trying to avoid Luke Terro and his buddies while getting to my self-defense class. I know that was sort of contradictory, but I had only been taking the class for two weeks. Luke was twice my size and had six other guys to back him up. I called him Luke Terror.

I had managed to get half way to the building where Ms. Carter held her self-defense class, when I spotted them up ahead. Luke Terror and three of his cronies were hanging around outside Treeble's General Store, smoking cigarettes and using lots of language that I will not repeat. It was like they were just waiting for some unsuspecting person, like me, to wander by so that they could ambush her.

So, I ducked down an alley.

I had gone around the back of Treeble's, and was just thinking that I was home free, when one of Luke Terror's goons, a nasty guy called Rot, stepped out and grabbed me. Rot was a really ugly fellow, with a face as pock-marked as the moon and a scraggly beard that looked like it housed a flea circus.

I admit it. I panicked, kicking him in a place we don't talk about before running off in the direction that led away from Luke Terror. Now, normally, I'm not much of a runner, but in this case I made an exception. I could hear Luke Terror shouting something and tried to put a bit more energy into my legs, especially when I heard them come after me.

I realized that I was going in totally the wrong direction for Ms. Carter's class, but at that point I didn't much care. I would rather be alive and late, then arrive on time and be beaten to death afterwards. I was beginning to become short of breath, and my lungs felt like they had been thrown on a bonfire. To top it off, I was developing a stitch in my side, and I knew I had to stop soon whether I wanted to or not.

Cutting down into another alley, I stopped short at the sight of a wooden fence blocking my way. Panting like a finisher in the Ironman triathlon, I tried to open the gate, but it had a huge lock hanging from it. However, there were trash cans nearby, so I grabbed one and shuffled it over to stand beside the fence as Luke Terror's voice cut through the air like a knife, calling me things that civilized people do not call each other.

I quickly scrambled up onto the trash can and grabbed the top of the fence. I barely managed to haul myself over the fence just as Luke Terror entered the alley. There was a look of pure hatred on his face as I flopped over the fence to the other side, though I wasn't sure why. After all, it was Rot I had kicked, not him.

There was a puddle directly below me, but I didn't think it was more than an inch deep. Hence, my shock when I hit the water and sunk like a rock below the surface...