I had no idea how, but my accidental concoction had somehow made its way into the water. Was that why my family was acting... weird? Was there anything in my mixture that had triggered this? But....what? Right now, I had no idea. But I also couldn't ignore the evidence I had just found.
OK, keep it together....
There must be a logical explanation for this. For all of this.
I walked back to the pool's edge, my mind racing. When I looked up, I froze up. My sister was now standing in front of me, far too close for comfort. Sneakily I tried to put the stirring rods in my pocket. If she caught me holding them, surely she would ask questions. And right now, I had too many questions of my own. I did not need her to question me, challenge me, or worse, tell mom and dad... She looked... well, different. Her smile was more mischievous than ever, and there was a certain gleam in her eyes I hadn't seen before.
"Everything okay?" she asked, almost too innocently, but she had a mischievous smile on her face. Like...she knew, and...enjoyed it. I could feel my heart thudding in my chest. It was hard to focus, especially when my sister was standing there, looking at me with that look. Something was definitely off. I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. "Uh, yeah. I just... I think I need to go inside for a minute."
My sister's expression faltered for a brief second, but she quickly recovered. "Sure, no problem."
I rushed inside to my den. After I closed the door, I just stood there for a few moments, gripping the stirring rods like they were some kind of damning evidence. My mind was spinning, trying to process the fact that my concoction, the very thing I'd been toiling over for months, had somehow ended up in the pool. That pool. The one my family had been happily using. The one I had been swimming in, too.
OK, think...think...
I closed my eyes, wondering how I could find the answers to the questions I had. Well, I had a million questions, how would I know I had answered them? I'll make a list. A list of my questions. Start with the burning ones, and just...start finding answers, one by one. Yeah, that sounded like a solid approach.
I started to write down my list. Was my mixture actually mixed with the pool water? And at what concentration? How did it get there, instead of down the drain? What did my mixture actually do in detail? Which ingredients would do what exactly? Is there anything known how (some of) these ingredients cause side-effects? And if so, which ones? Was my family's behavior changed by it? Assuming they would, would these side effects be permanent or only temporary? What options would I have to do damage control? What's the worst case scenario I'm looking at? Should I tell anyone?
That last question made me stop and think. Fuck, should I tell anyone? The fall-out could be bad, really bad... OK, answers first. If I know more, then I can decide. And...I can't let anyone notice anything until that moment. Act normal. Yes, that did mean spending time in the pool too. I hoped that wasn't a bad idea, but if I deemed it safe enough for them, it was safe enough for me.
I looked at the first question -- was the pool contaminated? That was easy enough, just take a sample of the water and test it. I would just take a vial, get some water -- without anyone getting suspicious. Easy, just put a vial in my swimming trunks, hit the water, and bring a little cap to close it off.
I returned to the pool area, lazed a bit poolside, then executed my plan. And sure, a minute later I had my sample, and no-one would be any wiser.
Back in my little lab, I ran the test,. Shit, it's positive. I ran it two more times, until I was absolutely certain. A part of me wanted to throw up. This wasn't just a small mistake. This wasn't a harmless slip-up. My "fat-burning potion," had found its way into the water, and had been simmering for months, absorbing each and every drop of what I had flushed down the drain. Who knew how concentrated it had been in there? Well, I did, after the test, and -- yeah, the concentration was pretty high. The water was definitely contaminated.
I looked at the next question on my list -- how did it get there? How indeed...
I couldn't get over how the water from my basement lab had somehow connected to the pool's filtration system. Why on earth would someone design it that way? Who built this house? I never really thought much about the infrastructure before, but now it seemed like a glaring mistake. I could only assume it was some weird, cost-cutting measure, but whoever did it was clearly out of their mind, or knew shit-all about plumbing. I tried to follow the piping, but it went into the wall and from there underground, so no way to check. Well, as I couldn't change anything about it anyway, I decided not to bother more about it.
Time to look into the mixture in detail. I listed all the ingredients I had used -- all of them. And started to investigate.