The Struggle Is Real

♤twenty : alive♤

♤twenty : alive♤

The excited laughs and giggles I had been holding in escaped my mouth with a frightnening amplitude. The sun shone brightly and we set up the camera to catch the amazing day. The water reflected the baby blue sky, not a cloud to be found. Pink roses sprouted out of bushes right in our line of sight as we got ready. The teal wrapped chairs looked shiny as the hot sun shone down on them. Our hands were clasped together as we leaped from the wet pavement. Time stood still, and I looked over to see them frozen in the jump. Our hair spread in all different directions, without any help of the cool breeze coming off of the big lake where all of the docks stood. Tall metal posts rose up from the many sizes of boats. Sam's swim trunks were blue, brown and yellow, criscrossed stripes all up and down. His 8-year-old body was more tan than all of us girls combined. Karlie and Jessica's legs were bent and thrown backwards towards the camera just like the rest of us. Our bare feet and bikini tan lines capture the moment of pure happiness as time speeds up, and I quickly gulp a huge breath of air before the chlorine-water mix swallows me gracefully, no pain here. I open my eyes under the surface and see the bubbles blow out of my nose as the oxygen raises to the surface. I go to come up, and I realize that I can't. I let out a scream that is actually bubbles just rising to the top of the water. Sam gets out of the water cluelessly and Karlie and Jess stare down at me, looking like they wish they could help, but don't know what to do. Karlie grabs a deep breath of air at the surface and swims powerfully down, but I am being pulled faster and faster. As my oxygen level rapidly decreased, I stretched my arm out as long as I could up to her. She swims and swims, her face getting red as we both lose the last bits of our oxygen. "GO BACK!" I scream in protest, using up the last of my oxygen, and right as I am about to close my eyes, she rips my hand upwards, and we go up and up and up, leaving me to wonder what kind of pool is this deep.

I stand up, getting out of the pool. Taking a deep breath I look around, telling Jess and Sam that I'm okay. Constantly, I repeat this.

"Guys, I'm okay. It's okay. I'm okay. Really. I'm okay."

No reply.

I take one more deep breath and I open my eyes, and they reveal that I am not at a pier in Holland. I am not getting out of a pool. I am pulling myself out of an enclosed hospital bed.

"Oh. My. God."

I turn around just as Dr. Palmera faints and falls at my feet.