Drown

                                                                           Drown.

     It was the first week of summer. Laura and I wanted to go to red rock, a nice creek that you’d hike to at buck hill. Though it wasn’t just a plain creek; it has small waterfalls and rock slides you could ride down. We went in spite of the fact that it down poured the day before which meant the water would be rough. There are four rock slides, two small waterfalls and a small area to swim. We could hear the water roaring from a half mile away. We thought about turning around and going to the pool instead, but I quickly dismissed the idea and wanted to check out red rock. When we got there the water was just as bad as we imagined, the current was fast and strong, the water coming from the waterfall was beating down so fast it would  suck you right under if you got too close.

     Laura looked over at me. “I don’t think we should stay here.”

     I turned my head sharply “C’mon it’ll be fun. We’ll just be careful.” We walked over to the swimming area and I dipped my toe in, it was as cold as ice.

     “Let’s just jump in to get used to it before we go down any of the rock slides” I said right before I jumped in.

     When I popped my head back up Laura was still standing there “I don’t want to go in”

     I sighed and got out of the water. “Let me do the rock slide over there then we can leave, okay?”When she didn’t answer I started walking over to the rock slide of my choice.

     “Katie? Pick a different one. The waterfall at the end of that is too strong.”

     I smirked and looked over at her. “I’ve done it a million times before I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

     Before she could answer I ran over and went down the slide, but as soon as I hit the water I knew I landed in the wrong spot. The water pushed me further and further down. Panic hadn’t settled in yet so I just struggled up the top and took two deep breaths. I thought see I’m fine it wasn’t that bad. Suddenly, I felt the strong pounding of the water beating on the back of my head and I went back down. Not thinking clearly, I thrashed my arms in legs around instead of trying to shove myself to the top. Each time I got up it was only a matter of seconds before the water forced me down again only getting only half air half water into my lungs. My arms and legs were exhausted. I was exhausted. I tried feeling around for the rock wall to hold onto and pull myself up, but all my hands felt was more water. I remained under water for what seemed like hours, but was only a couple of minutes.

     They say there comes a time before you die that your family and loved ones come to mind.  When I gave up and couldn’t fight anymore that’s exactly what I thought of. I felt myself sink to the bottom apologizing to everyone as I went down. Just before I gave up for good I felt a stick jab my hand. It was almost like an alarm clock and I became fully aware of the situation. I grabbed on to the branch and Laura pulled me up, but I pulled to hard. I saw Laura fall in right where I had only she managed to get out. She tried to get me out again only this time held on to something and pulled me out using her hand. When I got to land I went into shock I couldn’t move or talk all I could do was breathe weak shallow breaths. After a few minutes of recovery I told Laura to not tell my mom for I didn’t want her to worry for no reason. So, to this day neither of us told my mom and we both just look back and laugh about how stupid we were being.