A Search For Ida

It all happened so fast; one minute everything was fine and the next, chaos. I wasn't sure what had happened at first, I heard the voices, saw the faces, and I'd never forget the screams, but everything started to fade away. I was fighting whatever was trying to pull me under but my struggle wasn't enough. The darkness kept creeping back, as if I were a gazelle and it a cheetah, no matter how hard I fought to see the light again. I was weakening with every forced stroke and excruciating kick. I could feel myself sinking. I was barely keeping enough of my mouth over the vigorous waves to continue the short, deep breaths before going back under and struggling to find my way back to the surface again. I thought that I could feel my lungs slowly filling up with that salty, sea water until someone, or something hoisted me out of the water and onto what felt like scrap metal. The faces were drifting away, the panicked voice, the pain