jellies. I broke through the surface and into the night. I gasped, my chest filling and burning all at once.
There was no escaping the cold. It was the same on the surface as it had been down in the ocean’s icy heart.
The row of lights along the pier finally gave me bearing. Logan was there, leaning over the rail, yelling something. He was fading, moving further and further away as the current pulled me out into the ocean infinite.
I panicked and started to swim toward him, but all it did was fix me to the spot. Each stroke became leaden with my clothes on. I knew I would soon be exhausted. The ocean, undulating and relentless, would not.
I focused on Logan and doubled my efforts, pushing through the pain, the cold. In the timid light I saw something spin through the air towards me, hitting the water a couple of feet out from my position. I didn’t care what it was, only that it might offer stability. I lashed out for it, but my fingers slipped on its surface and the ocean’s underbelly heaved me back. My entire body was convulsing, shivering, and spasming. The next burst would be my last.
I kicked as hard as my legs would allow, put my head down and powered for the object. Timing could be nothing but perfect, so I threw my fourth stroke out wide and it caught hold. I pulled my other arm up and over the lifebuoy.
I laid my head against its red and white body. I could feel myself being pulled slowly towards the pier. Pain faded to numbness. The sound of my breathing grew hollow and ragged in my ears. Finally, after what seemed like hours, my feet found footing, but I couldn’t move, simply lying limp across the buoy, waves and sand washing over me. I could see the school in the distance looking down, the arc of the shore in front of me and rocks below. Logan shouted from above.
The next thing I knew he was lifting me up under my legs, easily. He held me out in front of him.
My head fell back, bobbing up and down as he started running up the hill. The night was a blur around me. I shook uncontrollably. There was a hollow ‘thud, thud, thud’ next to my right ear. Only later would I realize it was his heart, pumping away with all it had to get me back to the school, to safety.
I vaguely saw us enter a door, the aged green and yellow carpet of the dorms below, and we were walking, Logan panting omnipresent above me.
My shoes hit something. My leg twisted slightly. I heard another door, echoes of feet, but the iciness was everywhere, bitter and bleak.
“I’m f-f-f-free–,” I stammered, but my mouth could not form the words.
I was being dumped into a shower stall. Logan pulled off my sweater and T-shirt, yet through the biting pain all I could think about was what bra I’d put on and how ghastly my skin must look being this white.
He was swearing, trying to unbutton my jeans, drawing them off over my legs, which fell limply back onto the tiles. I didn’t protest until the water hit me. At first I thought it was on full cold. I cried at the pain until I realized it was warmth flooding across me. I glanced at Logan, my eyes all I could move, and his face terrified me all the more.
He stepped into the shower, clothes and all, sat down beside me and pulled me into his body like a mother would a child.
We sat there together with the water flowing over us, the shakes easing and our breathing synchronizing together. Up and down, up and down.
I was too busy trying to keep warm to let my mind wander any more. I didn’t notice when Logan picked me off the floor as if a feather, cradling me down the hall.
I was on a stranger’s bed. A blanket was thrown around me. Logan wrapped it tight. It was grey and rough, wool probably, but it was warm. That was all that mattered.
Slowly, feeling returned. Stabbing, penetrating pain was replaced with mild pins and needles. Mental capacity restored somewhat, I began to become self-conscious, stupid considering I’d dived naked into a pool last night.
I brought my legs
There was no escaping the cold. It was the same on the surface as it had been down in the ocean’s icy heart.
The row of lights along the pier finally gave me bearing. Logan was there, leaning over the rail, yelling something. He was fading, moving further and further away as the current pulled me out into the ocean infinite.
I panicked and started to swim toward him, but all it did was fix me to the spot. Each stroke became leaden with my clothes on. I knew I would soon be exhausted. The ocean, undulating and relentless, would not.
I focused on Logan and doubled my efforts, pushing through the pain, the cold. In the timid light I saw something spin through the air towards me, hitting the water a couple of feet out from my position. I didn’t care what it was, only that it might offer stability. I lashed out for it, but my fingers slipped on its surface and the ocean’s underbelly heaved me back. My entire body was convulsing, shivering, and spasming. The next burst would be my last.
I kicked as hard as my legs would allow, put my head down and powered for the object. Timing could be nothing but perfect, so I threw my fourth stroke out wide and it caught hold. I pulled my other arm up and over the lifebuoy.
I laid my head against its red and white body. I could feel myself being pulled slowly towards the pier. Pain faded to numbness. The sound of my breathing grew hollow and ragged in my ears. Finally, after what seemed like hours, my feet found footing, but I couldn’t move, simply lying limp across the buoy, waves and sand washing over me. I could see the school in the distance looking down, the arc of the shore in front of me and rocks below. Logan shouted from above.
The next thing I knew he was lifting me up under my legs, easily. He held me out in front of him.
My head fell back, bobbing up and down as he started running up the hill. The night was a blur around me. I shook uncontrollably. There was a hollow ‘thud, thud, thud’ next to my right ear. Only later would I realize it was his heart, pumping away with all it had to get me back to the school, to safety.
I vaguely saw us enter a door, the aged green and yellow carpet of the dorms below, and we were walking, Logan panting omnipresent above me.
My shoes hit something. My leg twisted slightly. I heard another door, echoes of feet, but the iciness was everywhere, bitter and bleak.
“I’m f-f-f-free–,” I stammered, but my mouth could not form the words.
I was being dumped into a shower stall. Logan pulled off my sweater and T-shirt, yet through the biting pain all I could think about was what bra I’d put on and how ghastly my skin must look being this white.
He was swearing, trying to unbutton my jeans, drawing them off over my legs, which fell limply back onto the tiles. I didn’t protest until the water hit me. At first I thought it was on full cold. I cried at the pain until I realized it was warmth flooding across me. I glanced at Logan, my eyes all I could move, and his face terrified me all the more.
He stepped into the shower, clothes and all, sat down beside me and pulled me into his body like a mother would a child.
We sat there together with the water flowing over us, the shakes easing and our breathing synchronizing together. Up and down, up and down.
I was too busy trying to keep warm to let my mind wander any more. I didn’t notice when Logan picked me off the floor as if a feather, cradling me down the hall.
I was on a stranger’s bed. A blanket was thrown around me. Logan wrapped it tight. It was grey and rough, wool probably, but it was warm. That was all that mattered.
Slowly, feeling returned. Stabbing, penetrating pain was replaced with mild pins and needles. Mental capacity restored somewhat, I began to become self-conscious, stupid considering I’d dived naked into a pool last night.
I brought my legs
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