Drowning

Prologue

I'm drowning.

Surrounding me is nothing but the salty water of the ocean, reminding me of an inescapable, invisible prison, and my attempts to survive keeps pushing me down even deeper. I look towards the light above me, If I can only reach it...

No matter the strokes I take to reach the surface, it's futile. My limbs are getting heavier and heavier, the last breaths in my lungs are burning, and all I can think now is, I'm dying.

My eyes fight to stay open, my arms try to move, my legs try to kick but against my instincts to keep on fighting, moving, surviving, they stop against my will and I drift off, eyes closing, knowing that this will be my last time seeing that light above my head.

Or so I thought...

Chapter 1

I hear the beeping sound of a heart monitor close by, I regain feeling in my body slowly but surely, from my fingers and toes to the rest of my limbs. I feel something on my face, probably a respirator, I think.

"She's waking up!" I hear an excited, familiar voice exclaim from my left side and a scuffle from a different part of the room, "Get the doctor!"

I try to open my eyes but it's difficult.

"Come on honey, open your eyes," the familiar voice encourages. My thoughts are scrambled, I try to open them but they feel as though they've been stuck together by super glue.

I want to tell her that I can't open my eyes, but my throat is like the Sahara desert, dry and in serious need of water. All I can make is a hoarse sound.

Someone removes the oxygen mask attached to my face and places a straw to my mouth and I hear the familiar and soft voice say, "Drink!"

I do as she says, and barely a sip later it was taken away.

'It's not enough, I need more...' I want to say but barely have enough energy to do so.

"M...more", I rasp out.

"I'm sorry honey, but I'm afraid we can only give you a small sip. You'll be sick if we give you more."

My eyes slowly open, the weight of my eyelids feeling lesser and lesser by the minute as my awareness fully kicks in.

My eyes are blurry for a minute as I blink away the haziness.

"There we go darling, that's it," I not only hear the familiar voice, but I also see the face the voice belongs to: My mother.

"Mom?" I rasp out, lips dry and cracked as I try to speak.

"Oh honey, it's so good to see you awake, we were so worried. I thought I was never going to see you again" my mother sobs out.

"What?" I ask confused.

"Where have you been all this time? You know what? You don't need to tell me right now. We'll wait until you're all better, okay?"

I nod, feeling uncertain and still confused.

What did happen? I think, trying to recall the last thing I remember.

I was on the beach, sometime in the afternoon, and then everything else is blurred after that. I can't make heads or tails from my memory.

I want to reach for the water on my bedside but my limbs still feel heavy.

"We'll have to wait till the doctor gets here. Your father went to get him. They'll be here hopefully soon," my mother says.

My eyelids are becoming heavier again and I close my eyes, wanting to go back into the peaceful abyss sleep has to offer.