That Makes The Two Of Us

Chapter 16

Have you ever felt like your life is slowly slipping out of your grasp and you're just letting it go because you are not capable enough to hold on to it? That's exactly how I feel as I plunge deeper into the water. There were multiple occasions in which someone or the other had volunteered to teach me how to swim, but being the stupid kid that I was, I didn't take the offers seriously. I used to train for 3-4 days and then gave up. While my cousins and friends swam in deep waters, I would be more than content staying in the shallows, where the water reached my chest at most. Now, as I'm drowning in my school's swimming pool, I feel like going back in time and drowning the kid version of me. How ironic!

I thrash my hands wildly all around in an effort to keep myself afloat. I try to kick out of the water but my limbs don't seem to work anymore. In my state of panic when I fell into the pool, I gulped in large amounts of water. I can feel my body slowly shutting down. Seconds seem to stretch into minutes but no one comes to my aid.

Am I really going to die by drowning in my school's swimming pool? How pathetic!

My body almost stops working when I hear a splash nearby me. A pair of strong arms wrap around me and pull me out of the water. Some other students help to pull me out of the pool and lay me down. I can make out the blurry edges of someone's face and then the world around me sinks into oblivion.

**************

A headache hits me as I slowly try to open my eyes. As soon as my eyes open, I realize that I'm no longer in school but in my bedroom. Then I remember Brittany pushing me into the pool, and me almost drowning.

I try to get up when a warm and soft hand grasps mine.

"Hold up, honey. Don't move so fast. Get up slowly."

I turn to my left to see my mom's worry laced face. She holds my hands and helps me to sit up on my bed.

"Water," I rasp out.

She immediately fills a glass with water from a jug and hands it to me. I greedily gulp it down and it gives some sort of relief to my throat.

Just then the door opens and Andrew walks into my room. When he sees me, he immediately marches up to my bed and hugs me to his chest.

"Gods, baby elephant, you scared us to death. What were you thinking, standing so close to the edge of the pool? If you hadn't been saved in time, you could've...drowned," he whispers the last part.

I pat his back and say,"I'm fine, aren't I?  Now, let me go. You're cutting off my air supply."

He immediately leaves me and says,"I'll go and call your friends and tell them that you're awake."

He exits the room and I turn to my mom,"Who saved me?"

"We don't know, honey. I got a phone call from Alissa and she informed me of your...accident. She said that the person who had saved you had taken you to the nurse and asked her to call Alissa, Phoebe and your brother. They never got to know who exactly it was. After the nurse confirmed that you are fine, Andrew brought you back home."

"Oh."

She gives my hand a squeeze and says,"Your friends said they'll be coming to see you once school ends. You rest till then."

After hugging me tightly, mom exits the room and I nestle back into the pillows. After an hour of useless staring at the walls, there are footsteps outside my room. The door opens to reveal my friends and by friends, I mean all of them. I smile at them and Alissa and Phoebe immediately come running to sweep me into a bonecrushing hug.