PASS-A-GRILLE BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — Brooke Stephens had just arrived home on April 23 when she saw her mom in a van she didn’t recognize.

“She rolled down the window and she told me we need to go to Pass-a-Grille,” Stephens recalled. “She looked very concerned, so I knew by her face, something wasn’t right.”

On the drive over, Brooke found out her sister, Isabella, and father, Michael, went swimming and were pulled out to sea by a rip current.

“We went out for a swim, not thinking of anything bad,” said Jessie Johnson. “The winds started to pick up. Water started to get choppy.”

Jessie Johnson was able to help pull his girlfriend, Brittany Stephens, out of the water.

“I did my best to get her to safety, and then when I got her to safety, I had went back out for Mike and Bella,” Johnson remembered. “I tried everything that I could do to do it. Everything in my power, and there was nothing I could do after that.”

Brooke said Mike was a very good swimmer, and even though Bella wasn’t, she had a floatie. But Brooke thinks a wave pulled the floatie away from Bella.

“She was an amazing sister,” Brooke said of Bella. “She always put a smile on your face, she was always in a good mood, she would always laugh.”

Eventually, police and water rescue found Bella and Mike and brought them to a local hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

“I had just broke down, I started screaming,” said Brooke. “It was just a lot at the time, and I really just didn’t know how to process it.”

Now, the 17-year-old is trying to figure out how to move forward.

“I’m just staying close with my family because I really don’t know how to cope,” Brooke said. “So I’m figuring it out as I go. I’m really just trying to be there for my mom and my sisters.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with Bella and Mike’s funeral and burial expenses. You can learn more and donate here. Though they’ve already raised nearly $10,000, they said they found out they need closer to $25,000 to cover everything.