Hey guys, wait up!

Swimming out to the center of the river I reach down and notice my cell phone is still in my pocket. “Fuck!”

I swam back to shore to place my, somehow still working, cell phone on the ground. At this point, my friends are already half way across the river. I run out into the water until the tide reaches my waist and then I dive in, submerging myself and practicing the breast stroke under the dark chilling surface.

            I am about a third of the way across and my legs begin to feel weak. I stop from swimming and begin treading water while moving the hair away from the sight of my eyes to reveal how far ahead my friends are. They are nearly to the other side. Mustering up my remaining strength I plunge myself forward, trying to catch up once again, feeling like a race dog chasing the rabbit.

            At this point, I am in the center of the river and feel the minute current against my chest, slowly moving my body downstream. I am out of breath and completely out of energy, even treading water is excruciating. I bob up for a gulp of air, but mostly swallow water. I can’t go on any longer. I yell out for help, “Help! Guys, I can’t do it! Help!” I look back to the shore, it seems impossibly far away. I yell back at my friends one last time as tears begin rolling down my face and merging with the gloomy merciless water. My mind begins racing, thoughts of Clarion Call headlines flashing before my eyes, “Clarion Student Drowns in River,” or “An Afternoon Dip, Turned Deadly.” I began thinking, this is it, this is the way I’m gonna go out. I think of my family and how devastated they would be, and all the goals I never accomplished.

30 Compressions for Every 2 Breaths

I saw him splashing around a few hundred yards away from me, and heard him yell for help. I turned to mark and asked, “Is he joking?”

Then mark exclaimed, “oh, fuck!” as we both watched his head go under gasping for air.