Help me. Help me. Help. Me. I am drowning and my flesh burns in the cold water. The frigidness of it all corrodes my nose and I inhale it as if it is oxygen. My hands flail wildly in the air waiting for someone to pull me from the freezing water. It seems to have replaced every drop of blood in my body with itself. All of my atoms shiver in response. I'm coughing up water stained red with my blood.
The feeling of drowning is already buried in my stomach along with a clenched up knot. My limbs freeze into a ball around me as I sink to the bottom of the ocean, too far from the surface for anyone to reach. There is no light and there is no air for my lungs. I am sans of feeling and the cold numbs it all. I am wet and cold. I am drowned.
___
I am startled awake by a noise I am too familiar with. With all the strength I could muster, my raw voice called out in response to my name. My uncle was only reminding me that it was the last day of my freshman year and I didn't want to be late. But I don't want to go at all, and I especially don't want to be on time. My arms and legs refuse to move and for a second, I'm convinced I've been blessed by sleep paralysis. But slowly, the feeling returns and I groan in response.
"Please let me get through the day without being noticed." Normally, this happened, but with my luck, I can see it going exactly the opposite of what I needed. And today, I needed quiet and calm to help me down from the height of my nightmare. Still shivering from the cold ocean I thought I'd drowned in, I pushed myself from the safety of my covers. My uncle was still calling my name from downstairs as I attempted to shake off the vivid cold. I wiped the mist from my eyes and looked at my mainly navy closet.
Once I selected my outfit for the day- a navy sweater vest and khakis- I grabbed my near-empty bookbag and opened the door. The window let in what little sunlight came through the clouds as I walked through the hallway towards the kitchen. My uncle looked up at me and sighed dramatically.
"Wit, I've been calling your name for decades. Now you're gonna be late." His gray hair was blown around. I silenlty blinked at him not understanding the point he was trying to make. He rolled his eyes, "You don't want to miss all your friends on the last day, do you?"
"Oh yeah. All the friends that I just made up so you'd leave me alone." I muttered low enough to be unheard. I remembered telling my uncle something about all the friends I wanted to hang out with just to go behind the house and sit in the woods for a while. The heavy trees were the farthest I could get from the ocean and the closest I wanted to be to it. My uncle gave a casual smile.
"Breakfast?" He asked, pulling bread from the toaster.
"No." I spoke quietly. He just looked at me as if he was still waiting for an answer.
"Well?" Uncle Levi asked me again.
"I said no." Repeating myself, I closed my eyes to glare back at the inside of my eyelids.
"Wit, you've got to learn to speak up. It sounds like you're ignoring me." The smell of the cooking bread fled my nostrils and warmed them from my frigid dreams. I shivered as my nightmare flashed again. The cold water, the cracks of lightning in the black sky. It all came flooding back to me as my eyes remained closed. Then, my uncle elbowed me. "You alright?"
My eyes shot open and I was snapped into reality. Not that that was any less nightmarish. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. Can we just go now?" I wanted to get the day over as quickly as possible so I could "hang out with all my friends" during the summer. My uncle dropped his toast on the counter and sighed heavily.
"Fine. Fine. Let's go. I'll just skip breakfast, too."
I shouldered my bookbag and left the smell of toast and the comforts of home behind. On my way to school, I had to face a fear much greater than the heathens that filled my school. The ocean the hit the shore with such force, I could feel it vibrate in my stomach. The road next the the shore was the fastest way to get to Sea Cliff High school. My uncle's truck appeared much lighter than the navy folds of the waters. A storm was making its way towards me and I could feel the rain before it fell. I could smell the rush of the water as it threatening me from below. I slipped my way into the truck and shut the door. My breathing was heavy and short as the waves of the ocean swirled violently with the thoughts in my head.
I could feel my insides unsettle and the feeling of warm vomit bubbled in my stomach. I was going to be sick, I knew it. The ocean was too close for me to handle. I could feel the coldness in my nightmare freeze the sweat on my neck as my teeth began to chatter. My uncle opened the driver's side door.
"Wit? Wit?" He put his hand on my knee and shook it slightly. "Wit, are you alright?" I could hear his words just fine, but I couldn't move my lips to respond. The ocean seemed to leak from my pores. I coughed violently as the ocean climbed the cliff side towards me. I pressed my back hard against against the seat as the sweat collected on my forehead. Finally my uncle came over to the other side, worry streaking his features, and pulled me from the car. I was like a rag doll slumped in his arms. He put me down in the small lawn and ran inside. I was choking on the fear in my head as my uncle came rushing out again. He poured fresh water on my face and I screamed.
"What are you doing?!" The splash of the water collided with my face as my thoughts raced with the sickening idea of the sea.
"You scared me to death! Are you alright? What happened?" So many questions.
"I'm fine." I lied. "It's nothing. I'm just... tired." A variation of an excuse that I hoped weren't too obviously a lie. My uncle pulled me up and tried again to make contact with me in a way my dad would by ruffling my hair. As if it was normal, I flinched back. His hand stopped and fell to his side in defeat.
"Why don't you go back inside and change your clothes. You're okay to go to school, right?"
The last thing I wanted was for my uncle to think there was something wrong with me. I nodded my head slightly. "Obviously." I couldn't help but add as I went back inside. A change of clothes would remove both the water from my skin and the coldness that it brought. My nightmare was right there laughing at me evilly as the waves kept jumping at me and I was terrified.
I opened my closet again and pulled out a similar outfit to before. I pulled my wet sweater off and threw it on the floor. A cold chill caused my bones to ice over and become brittle. I tugged at another navy sweater after I picked out a new pair of khakis.
A knock at my door clashed with the headache starting behind my eyelids. Of course, it was my impatient uncle urging me to hurry up. It was my last day of school and based on how the day had begun, I could tell there was going to be no smooth sailing.
