O.C. Writers

The water was abnormally cold that day. Summer was not quite here, but the weather was starting to warm up. The waves were the perfect size, so as soon as we set our stuff down and unpacked our belongings. My friends and I headed towards the water with our boogey boards. I stood on the cold wet sand waiting for a wave to run over my feet to feel the temperature of the water. I watched a small wave coming towards me and roll over my feet, the water sent chills up my spine. I looked at my friends and we headed into the water together.

After a long day at the beach, the day was coming to an end. I was sad because I did not want to go back to school tomorrow. There was something about this day and the feeling of wanting it to last forever. My friend Travis got a phone call from his mom saying that she was on her way to pick us up. My friends and I decided to go in the water one last time together. We had about one hour until she would be at the beach. With determination in our hearts, we all stood up and starting running towards the water as I have done many times before. I had no idea, in that moment, that it would be the last time I would ever run or feel the sand between my toes again.

I remembered from earlier that the water was cold. Having grown up going to the beach. I learned that the best way to get used to cold water is to just jump in. I was going to run into the water and dive into a wave so I could get my body used to the cold water as fast as possible. As my feet hit the water and Travis running next to me, I saw a wave ahead. I decided this was the wave I was going to dive into. I closed my eyes, tucked my head down, and dove headfirst into the wave.

I heard a loud crack! and then felt nothing. I hit a sandbar underneath the wave breaking my neck and instantly becoming paralyzed. After the impact, I knew something was wrong, but had no idea the severity of what just happened. In a split second, my entire body was completely numb. I could not move a single muscle in my body. I tried to get up but nothing was happening. I tried again to move but my body wouldn’t work. I was floating face down in the ocean, fully conscious, and unable to even lift my head above the water to take a breath of air. I was face down in the water trying to understand what just happened to me. Then the conversation my dad had with me right before he dropped me off at Travis’s house popped in my head. I remembered him telling me to be careful about diving and that I could break my neck and become paralyzed.

I knew I had just broken my neck and paralyzed myself, but did not want to believe it. I told myself this cannot be happening, this is not real. I must be in a bad dream and can’t wake up. How could something like this happen to me. However, deep down I knew this was really happening. The best way I can describe how my entire body felt was, imagine what it feels like when your arm or foot falls asleep. Not the tingling feeling of ants when the blood starts to rush back, but the numbness and lack of sensation. That is what my entire body felt like in a split second.

After what felt like an eternity and millions of thoughts running through my head. I started to panic, but there was absolutely nothing I could do. My only option was to lay there fully conscious, face down in the water until I could no longer hold my breath. All I was thinking about was that I did not get to say goodbye to my family and the conversation I just had with my dad. I kept telling myself. I am only fifteen years old, this can’t be it. I cannot die today. I still have so much life to live. Did I do something to deserve this? God why is this happening to me? Please save me. I don’t want to die.

I started to think that maybe one of the friends I was with would notice me not getting up. Then I thought they would just think I was playing a joke on them and by the time they realized something was seriously wrong it would have been too late for me. I was always the jokester in the group and playing pranks on my friends. I figured they thought I was messing around. With these thoughts going through my head. I accepted that I was going to drown that day. It is a scary feeling realizing you are going to die as it is happening. I felt so helpless, but did not want to give up. I decided to hold my breath as long as I could until my body couldn’t hold it any longer. I prayed to God begging him to save my life.

All of the sudden, I felt this weird tingling feeling on my back. It felt like someone poked me but very lightly. I could not see but it was Travis checking on me to see if I was okay. He saw me face down in the water and wanted to mess with me. He ran over to my body and slapped me on my back as hard as he could with his hand. When he did this and saw that I didn’t even flinch or move a muscle in my body, he knew something was wrong. It was strange to him that I showed no reaction after he smacked me like that.

My body started to float out with the tide as it went back out to the ocean and that was when Travis knew something was wrong. He ran over to me and flipped my body over so my face was out of the water. I took a huge breath of air. Then he grabbed me by my arms and starts pulling me out of the wards towards the sand. My body was completely paralyzed. I was one hundred and sixty pounds of dead weight. Floating in the water my body was not heavy, but as I started to get closer to land and was not fully in water anymore my body became heavier for Travis to pull. I saw out of the corner of my eye my arms above my head as Travis was struggling to pull me all the way out of the water and onto the sand. I remember watching as Travis let go of my arms. What I saw next is something I will never forget. As he let go of my arms, I watched them fall to the ground as if they were not a part of my body. My arms looked like wet, lifeless noodles. I knew they were my arms, I saw them attached to me, but I no longer had control over them.