The Last Swimming Pool

I've been on leave for ten days and soon my leave will end. I work at a logistics company. Two days ago my two children invited me to go to a tourist spot.

This is the day we will visit the biggest Waterbom water ride in this area. Throughout the journey, I just kept quiet, occasionally turning my eyes out the window to enjoy the beautiful view. If I could choose, I would not agree to go to the water ride, not because the place is not good enough, but I have my own story which you could say is not a happy story.

Finally, we arrived after traveling for approximately three hours. I could see my two children were very enthusiastic about swimming. I closed my eyes and leaned against one of the pillars supporting the hut, images of two years ago suddenly appeared in my memory.

At that time, in a swimming pool, on October 30 2022 to be precise.

Finally, this is the third place we visited just to swim. After the two previous places which I think are very suitable for swimming, but because it is a holiday or better known as a weekend, these two places have lots of visitors. As soon as we arrived at the third place, the man beside me was very enthusiastic because he saw the rides we were visiting. The view is very beautiful, the swimming pool is quite large, several huts are provided around the pool for visitors who might want to eat or drink, and most importantly there are not too many visitors.

With a happy face, he jumped into the swimming pool like a swimming athlete. It cannot be denied that he is good at swimming because it is one of his hobbies. Using several styles, he seemed to show me that he was very good at swimming.

"Come on darling, come down quickly!" smiling, he invited me to come down into the pool and swim with him.

"Is the water cold?" I asked because even though it was midday, the area where we swam was quite cool because it was still a peak area and I was sure the pool water would be cold.

"No darling." Finally, I fell for his advances and joined in swimming, even though I was just dipping my body.

My eyes started to sting and become red, maybe due to irritation from the pool water or because I wasn't used to swimming for long.

"Honey, put this on!" he handed me the swimming goggles he was currently wearing.

"No, I just want to stop swimming," I refused because soon I would climb up and head to the hut to look for food or drink. My energy is really drained because of this sport.

"In a moment," then he took both of my hands and led me to the edge of the pool. His treatment is always like this, very sweet. How can I not melt down with his always caring attitude and his voice is so soft when he talks to me.

Suddenly I saw a change in his face which was always smiling before, but why did his face look tense as if he was holding back something painful? My eyes were focused on his hand which was holding his left chest. "Does his chest hurt?" I asked, wondering why his hand was pressing so hard on his left chest.

"It's okay, just a little pain darling, maybe I didn't warm up enough," he answered.

"Let's stop now!" I asked him to stop our current activities. He pulled me upstairs. Finally he headed to the changing room.

"Someone's fainted!" I heard someone scream and I felt bad. I ran towards where the sound came from and it was true, the man who had lived with me for fifteen years was lying down. I was very surprised, this was the first time I saw him faint.

"Please lift my husband!" my voice was very quiet and almost inaudible. My body trembled as I watched several people lift and carry him, but just a few steps later, I saw that smile again. He smiled at me.

I touched his shoulder, and at that moment my breathing suddenly stopped. He smiled, but his body was stiff and cold. I screamed, but my voice felt blocked in my throat. Like losing consciousness, I just stared at his smile. That smile is so sweet. Am I dreaming? Why did it seem as if everything had stopped, but the smile was still visible on his face.