Colors at the bottom of the sea

It was a bright, dry Saturday morning in the town of Conistone. Too hot to fight the burning sun by hiding indoors, so it was only natural that my family decided to visit the nearby beach.

So, we hopped in the car and off we went, driving carelessly on the bumpy roads. As we were driving, I began to think about all the things I had left behind. I had plenty to do at home; the oven needed to be fixed since it was broken; a part of the wooden fence has shattered and needs replacing; but I still went, ignoring everything and being slightly stressed out.

When we got there, little Timmy jumped out of the car with joy, undressing as he ran. His mother went after him and told him to wait for us, the slower ones. When I was in the water, I tried to relax, but after remembering the 35.000 dollar debt I was in, my heart sank. I thought that if I went into deeper waters, I would start to enjoy this trip, so I went ahead. The water went from my torso to my elbows. I waved back at Timmy. He was already building a glorious sandcastle, but when I rotated my body again, my feet stumbled and I fell off a rock into the water, so deep that my foot didn't touch the ground for almost two seconds.

I don't know how to swim. I never learned, even though I lived near a beach and had plenty of opportunities. I should have panicked, but I wanted to try something. Because I never swam, I also never opened my eyes underwater. So when I touched the ground, I got on my knees. I was thinking about how it would be painful to open my eyes, but after something like ten to twenty seconds, I finally mustered up the courage and opened them. They stung, but only for a little bit, and then it felt incredibly natural. When I opened my eyes, I saw the most gorgeous, breathtaking shade of sapphire blue I have ever seen. I stood there on my knees, as if I was praying, and just admired it. Then, out of nowhere, a violet line stroked my vision. It was almost like the aurora borealis. It looked like too much paint had fallen on the canvas and it is now dripping. Then more colors appeared, like a bright yellow, green, and a shy stain of red. I realized that after so much time looking, I was probably already drowning. I didn't feel any air in my chest and I couldn't breathe, but that didn't seem to bother me so much.

I felt a weird sense of peace. I have never seen such a beautiful sight in my existence and the only thing I wanted to do was stare at it. I didn't think about anything, I didn't care about anything above the water. After a while, I forgot my name. I forgot who I was. In the following seconds after that I forgot that I was there, I forgot that I was existing. The only things that existed were the colors. It was a blissful state. Then, out of nowhere, my world was invaded and destroyed in a couple of seconds. A hand, I don't know who's, jerked me by the arm and pulled me back where I was standing before. As I was being pulled up, the colors were rapidly eaten by a dark blue void. I felt outraged, angry that someone would destroy such a thing.

When my head reached above the water, I felt even more outraged as I began to cough water. After a while, I heard: "Are you OK?", and then came the question, who am I? At that moment, all my life came flooding back to me. I responded, between coughs, with a quiet "yes". After reason came back to me as well, I realized that I may have died right there, if I wasn't saved. I felt really thankful for that. My savior helped me back to shore. After resting a bit, I went to help Timmy with the sandcastle. I stopped caring, even if just for a while, of all my problems and started enjoying myself, if it hadn't been for the colors I might have never been able to do such a thing.