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A loud splash sounded. A body fell down into the water, swirls and swishes sounding as water filled the space where the body fell, a hole soon to be covered. Not a dead body, mind you, but someone who was alive. Someone who may have been taking a leisurely stroll. Someone who may have been laughing, having fun. Someone who may have been doing anything in the world, and then they slipped. With a sickening realization they could feel their body drifting back. Slowly, oh so slowly, agonizingly it seemed as they fell. Their mind whirled, their heart jerked. They fell into the water, swirling and spilling into their mouth as a useless cry was uttered.

Hands groped and grabbed for the surface, touching air but soon submerging again. Too much movement, too much thrashing to grab a hold on reality. No chance to swim, no chance to survive. The water sucked them deeper in, choking them as they gagged with effort. Water scorched their lungs and they coughed, coughed, only making it worse. Hands grabbed uselessly at the water again and again, desperately hoping, praying something would save them. They couldn't do it on their own.

I can't breathe, I can't breathe.

They thought it over and over, chanting it, clinging to the only sane thought in their brain. With less and less effort they were reaching up, staring at the blurry sun reflecting off the water. Despair, hopelessness, frustration. It curled inside them, boiling and cooking as they struggled less and less. Slowly the water was choking them, pulling them down, further and further, deeper and deeper. In only seconds, their life had changed. It was at stake, now. They pushed and pushed and pushed, but the water continued to squeeze and pulll at their life, filling their lungs as they opened their mouth to scream. Desperation spiked as they sunk, brain growing fuzzy with light-headedness. If only they could live, if only they could live. As if a voice from the heavens, a thought arises.

There is a strong will in every person to live.

When we realize that, only then will we survive.

Something fills them, spilling down and down, slowly giving them strength, purpose. It fills and fills until it spills over around them, simmering under their skin. With new strength they surge for the surface, their will making them fight. They fight and fight and fight these invisible enemies, pushing and pushing, faster and faster, with no breath, and choking inside, the light growing bright and brighter. They surge forward and reach the surface, bursting up to take in a breath of pure, fresh air. They choke and gag, cough and retch. Slowly, slowly their mind clears. Glancing up at the sun, soaked to the bone, they wonder if it's true. The will to live, to breath, to simple be, can it really be so powerful?

Standing up, shivering under the warm sun, one can wonder.