Older kids were jumping
and splashing at
the deep end of
the pool.
I decided being four years old
made me
a big kid as well.
I wanted to have fun making
cannonballs too.

I took a running start.
At the last moment
I slipped,
falling into the water.
In surprise,
I gasped
right before I went under.

The water looked so innocent,
as I struggled to
get to the surface.
Calm and blue.
Everything was
deafening yet soundless.
With head and arms
aching,
and chest about to burst,
I breathed in.

The feeling of
soreness multiplied.
Liquid fire
invaded my lungs.
Everything prickled and burned.
My vision started to tunnel
as I began,
to sink.

Suddenly
something was
pulling me up.
As I broke the surface,
I started
taking large gulps of air,
coughing up all the
water I had
breathed in.
My mom,
terrified as she was,
held me as I regained my breath.