Chapter Eleven

Drowning

Thud. Thud. Thud.

my heartbeat rings in my ears, as I look down at the river. The only thing keeping me from the rapids below, is a log descending across a gap in the cliffs.

Stop. Breathe. Go.

Over and over, I repeat those words in my head. My feet are slick against the cold slippery wood. My mind focused on one thing. The other side of the log. I can’t feel anything. My fingers are numb against my sides, my breath shaky, and quick.

Focus.

But I can’t help my mind wander to the river, imagining my body crashing down into the ice cold-

Stop. Breathe. Go.

Its becoming hard to pick my feet up. My body is slowly shutting down, but I need to get across. I’m going to get across.

*Snap* comes the sound of the log from beneath me. I whip my head up. My feet start to tremble, but I realize it’s the log that’s making them do that.

“No, no no please,” I whisper shakily. ” Glow help me, Glow where are you?” I frantically search the log in desperation and panic. It’s like he disappeared. He’s gone.

No, not this time, please.

One move that’s all it takes. Slowly, I raise my left foot up in front of me, gently stepping down again.

I knew I was dead even before my feet left the log.

I yelp as I slip, my legs giving out beneath me.  All the air leaves my body as my stomach lands on the log, my legs dangling off. Gasping, clawing, using all the strength I have left in my body, trying to find a handhold.  But its too late. As my hands start slipping, my eyes stop at the other side of the cliff, a small silhouette standing, watching me.

Glow.

Then I’m falling. Crashing into the water.

 

Water fills my lungs.

I try to breathe in but choke, my body tangled, and trapped. I swing my arms around rapidly, kicking my feet, and pushing with my legs.  My eyes make out the tiniest bit of light, I’m getting closer.

My lungs feel as if they might explode, and I frantically push faster and faster. My head reaches the surface and I gasp in fresh air. but as soon as I get a breath in, it pulls me under again, and I’m frantically trying to stay on the surface. Crashing, and freezing, the river twists, and pulls me around. I get thrashed around, and pulled under. I try to stay afloat as best as I can, trying to find something to grab a hold of. My vision is blurry, but I see a branch up ahead, sticking out from the ground by the river.

I get pulled down again, this time I feel something dig into my left calf, and the sharp sting makes me suck in water. I reach the surface again, choking, and coughing. I try kicking both legs, but the pain in my left calf is almost unbearable. I can barely move it. The branch is close, and I reach my hands out it. I grab a hold, expecting to stop, but the branch moves with me. It crashes into the water, the end of it slamming down on my head.

Darkness.

---

I feel it first. The pain, engulfing my body. I don’t dare move my head, because that’s whats in the most pain. I open my eyes. It’s nearly night, almost completely dark. I survey my surroundings as much as I can without moving my head. I think I might have washed up onto a rock bed along side the river. I move my finger around, feeling the cold stones beneath me. Slowly, I wiggle the fingers on my right hand, and cautiously raise it up to the top of my head. Tenderly I feel around. I don’t feel any gash or cut, but I feel the giant lump. I try to sit up, and slowly raise my head. Immediately the dizziness reaches me and I’m overcome with an intense feeling of nausea. Putting my hand to my mouth, i try pushing the feeling away. If I vomit I’ll lose any bit of nutrients I still have in me from before the log. I look myself down, my eyes rest on the gash along the side of my left calf.

It’s really bad.

I can’t see any bone, but the skin is torn up terribly. The blood has started to slowly seep down my ankle, and I see the pool of blood beneath me. I need to stand up. I need to keep moving. being out in the open like this, with so much blood, is dangerous. I scoot over to a tree near me and brace against it with both of my hands. Slowly, I raise my right leg, and shakily stand up on it. The dizzy feeling still sits in my stomach, but it’s not as bad. I looking down at my legs, and nasty scrapes encase them. I gently set my left foot onto the ground and put a small amount of weight on it. Immediately a sharp pain shoots up my leg all the way up to the top of my thigh, and I wince, biting my lip. There’s no way I can walk like this. I need a stick.

I need my mother.

My eyes start to cloud up, but I ball my fists and push them into my eyes, hard.

You need to be strong.

Frantically I search around. It’s getting darker by the minute, and I still need to find a safe place to stay for the night. I’m freezing, and every bit of my clothing is sopping wet. I shiver, putting my arms around my body. I start limping gently and slowly over to another tree. It’s getting so dark that I don’t see the rock. As I trip, my injured calf slamming onto the ground. I scream out in pain, and soon start wailing.

I’ve tried to be as strong as possible through this journey. Through everything. It’s too much now. I won’t find civilization.

I won’t find my family.

I don’t care how loudly I’m crying, I don’t care anymore. I just want to die.

” I can’t do this anymore,” I sob. ” I just want my family, why did this happen, why.” I scream out the words, and my body convulses with each sob. My fingers are completely numb, and I feel my body locking up. I lay there numb, cold, and alone. And I cry. For my family, for myself. And I think about my mother.

” Mom, help me.” I whisper those words so softly, so quietly, and in that moment, as I feel myself start to drift off, I hear something. Something so faint. Like a whisper. As my eyes clothes, and my brain starts to fog up, I see something. A small figure standing over me.

Glow.