Darkness Everywhere

Darkness everywhere. My nostrils aflame and my mouth gasping for air. I push, push, push myself to reach the surface. To breathe. To live. I cannot…My legs going numb. My arms failing me. My eyelids flutter. Something tugs at my arm. Some creature looking for a snack no doubt. Something pulls me up, up, up until I burst forth from the dark bottomless abyss. “ We got her , we got her!” I gasp in gulps of air as someone covers me with something soft that warms me up immediately. I manage to open my eyes and recognize my dad though my sight is still blurry. He holds me in his arms and I feel warm tears dropping on my cheeks. They are not mine. They are his. “ will she live?” The other person I cannot make out because my vision is fuzzy replies. “ yes but she will most likely not have her arm.”
“ Somebody should do something about these shark attacks. They are increasing by the second.” I blink a few times and then look down at my arm….or what is now left of my arm. A stump of flesh and blood. Pulsing and stinging. I will never go to the ocean again. I got lucky.