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H o l l o w s   I n
T    I    M    E
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They say that the instinct not to breathe underwater is so strong that it overcomes the agony of running out of air. No matter how desperate the drowning person is, they don't inhale until they're on the verge of losing consciousness. After a while, the brain knows that holding our breath is killing us, and breathing in might not kill us, so we might as well breathe in.

When this first involuntary breath occurs, most people are still conscious. Apparently, it's horrid, because the only thing more unpleasant than running out of air is breathing in water.

The clock is running down now; you're about to die. The person, half-conscious and weakened by the amount of oxygen lost, is in no position to fight their way back up to the surface. The very process of drowning makes it harder and harder not to drown.

It's either brutal or euphoric. But either way, unless someone comes to save you, you die. Your lungs fill up with water and your limp body falls down into the depths of the lonely waters. Shadows break out from all around you, and there really is no escape. You may remember the sun being out before you started to drown, but you can no longer see it anymore. In fact, you can't see anything. You're looking, searching, but there's nothing to be found. Because you're trapped in a prison of water.

And then you're gone.

It's funny, though, because your oxygen deprived mind plays all kinds of tricks on you. And that's what mine did.

I was fifteen again.

Alexi thrusted an ice cream into my hands, but what she said to me didn't sound coherent. I frowned but accepted the ice cream nonetheless and started to eat from it.

Carter stood on the top of a ladder, pulling string lights across the top of our barbecue tent. Alexi seemed to shout something over to Carter, and he appeared to be laughing in response. But I couldn't hear very well. It's like someone stuck clumps of tissue in my ears and left them there.

So I told Alexi and Carter this. But nothing came out. My lips parted, but nothing happened.

Everyone around me was laughing. But I wasn't where I was supposed to be. I was at my house. But that felt odd, and I didn't know why. It was as if I was missing someone's presence.

And then I started to swim upwards. I had found the light.

The oxygen hit me like a truck. But I couldn't comprehend it properly. I felt something pumping into my chest repeatedly, then a firm push onto what I assumed were my numb lips. Then I felt it. I coughed and spluttered for what seemed like hours. The feeling of water shooting up from my lungs being the worst pain I have ever experienced. It felt like someone was carving out my insides with a shiv.

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by two blurry faces. I closed my eyes again and listened to the incoherent voices for a while. Someone was shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to be blinded by the sunlight, until someone moved their head to block it.

At first, the figures above me looked like blurred shadows. The water that had found its way into my lungs started to burn, and I started to cough it up. Someone supported me as I rolled onto my side, beginning to cough and splutter water everywhere again. When I was done, I squeezed my eyes shut as the pain of the sharp water still struck me.

I laid back down and kept my eyes shut for a few moments. Then, when I opened them, I was most surprised by the faces that I had recognised. I frowned up at them.

"Hey, Sky." The girl smiled down at me and squeezed my shoulder. "Looks like you aren't waterproof." She joked, peeling strands of wet hair off my forehead.

"What happened?" The boy asked, not interested in any conversations. Because he is a Guardian. It's in his nature.

And who are the two people who saved my life?

Bria and Jonah. Dream team.

I pushed myself up, with Bria's help, and stared at the pond as if it were the culprit. As if it had reached up and grabbed onto my ankles, it's fingers tight around my bones as it yanked me into it's body of water.

But then I couldn't grasp onto my thoughts. I knew that the water didn't have hands. I just didn't know how I ended up in the water. Did I jump? Did I slip? Was I trying to reach something?

I groaned aloud. Why can't I remember? What the hell?

"It's all fuzzy. I have no idea what happened." I told them, closing my eyes to try to grasp onto my thoughts.

"That's okay." Bria said, running her hand over my head to smooth my hair down. "We don't know what happened either." She told me. Jonah tutted as if annoyed by her comment. I didn't really register it until a few moments later.

"Then how did you know that I was drowning?" I asked them, peering through my eyelashes. Bria smiled and rubbed her hands down my arms, which were covered in goosebumps. I didn't even realise that I was cold.

"We didn't see what happened," She explained, "but Jonah thought he heard something from afar." She pulled my hair to one side and started to squeeze out the water.

"He was so persistent about it, even if he was supposed to guarding me," Bria gave Jonah a pointed look, which he didn't see as he stared at the pond, as if he would be shown on a Microsoft PowerPoint what caused my near-death experience.

Bria brushed my hair past my shoulders, gazing at me. "So we went over to investigate. Jonah—with his unnatural eagle eyes—immediately spotted a skid mark. And then we saw a flash of yellow in the water." She described the scene but I frowned.

"It was your hair, just blurred and covered by shadows of the murky water." She explained and I nodded, switching my attention to the pond. I exhaled. That was real close, Sky.

"Anyway, so Jonah did a real life superman swan dive, whilst I stood on the bank utterly confused. He was under for far too long than I liked, and as I started to freak out, he came back up. With you." I stared. I hadn't swam to the surface. Jonah and been pulling me upwards, but in my oxygen deprived state, I had confused it all in my brain.

I turned to look up at the Guardian who had saved my life. But it wasn't mine.

"Thank you." I told him, and he turned around to give me a earnest nod and a small smile. I grasped Bria's hand as I turned to look at her.

"Both of you." She grinned in response, a pink tinge on her cheeks, which I expected to be from today's adventures. In a not so stark contrast, I shivered. Bria's grin faltered and she leaned over me and practically forced Jonah out of his jacket. He started to protest, until he saw her blanket the item of clothing over my shoulders.

I smiled gratefully up at her, and she ducked her head in response. Jonah got into his feet and leaned down to haul me up. I stumbled into him and he caught me with ease. Bria was by my side in a flash.

"She needs to go to the hospital." She said. Jonah rolled his eyes and muttered something that I couldn't hear.

"Can you walk?" He asked me. I frowned, looking between my hand that clutched onto his arm and his face. He smiled, and then swooped me off my feet. I was mildly surprised by his strength, but I probably shouldn't have been.

And so he took me to the hospital. But it was the wrong Guardian.

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Many thanks and credit to Sebastian Junger, 'The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea'

Bc I ain't never drowned before

So Sky survived wow who would've known

Definitely not me

How did it take me like 10-20 minutes to edit it this chapter wow

Maybe I should bulk edit chapters more often

-it's a no from me

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Next update: Sunday-Funday
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CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR SPOILER:

It's not about the incidence, it's about the aftermath.

And the most important question:
What happened?

But if that's not answered, I can assure you that at least your hearts will be satisfied after reading this chapter.