p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She stood in line waiting, watching, shivering. All she wanted was to get on the diving board and jump into the cold water once more. Underwater she was free, free to drift off into her own mind. The coldness of water all around her was relaxing. However she was a diver, she gets in and gets out as fast as humanly possible. She had to maximize dives per practice but with so many new divers, so many lingerers, she would be shocked if she ever dove again, with only twenty minutes left. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" The heaters that hung over her head were broken and only reminded her that she was cold and how she could do nothing about it. She shivered. The boy who stood behind her in line just finished his dive and walked past her to get to the end of the line. Not only did he bring his awful body odor, he also brought a gust of frigid air. Every cell in her body screamed for warmth. Her wet hair dripped freezing water down her already cold back. The same boy was breathing down her back. His cold breath crystalized the water droplets on her neck./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" With every splash a second or so later came a wind storm from the person traveling to the back of the line. She shivered each time someone passed. She watched one by one, each person getting onto the board and splashing down into the water a second later. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Cold, cold, cold. Coldness filled her head, clogged her brain so when she was next in line she blindly climbed the stairs. Up, up, up. Five meters up, she felt powerful, on top of the world… terrified. She strode over to the edge of the board and looked down at her coach. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" He smiled up at her. He knew all to well that she loved looking down from high heights but when you ask her to jump she is suddenly struck with fear and gasping for breath. Last time he asked her to do a complex dive from this height she passed out and fell straight down. That was four months ago. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She saw he was thinking the same thing. It was written all over his face, and his eyes were projectors, replaying the incident over and over again. All she remembered was climbing the ladder, standing on the edge, than, nothing. She remembered a rushing sound in her ears. Remembered water folding all around her body accepting her as a part of the pool water community. When she had finally opened her eyes she was in a hospital emergency room. White walls, covered in white sheets, wearing a white nightgown (over her bathing suit), surrounded by people in white uniforms. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She looked down, she felt dizzy. Coldness was replaced by fear. emYou'll die. You'll fail and hurt yourself. This time you won't be so lucky, your eyes won't open afterwards. /emShe closed her eyes, trying to ignore the voices. She couldn't get rid of them. emFall again and you won't be so lucky. You aren't good enough to dive from the high dive. /emShe looked straight ahead. A white brick wall that was more than a pool length away. She stared. Looked at and studied the pattern. emJump and you die./em/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"So she jumped./p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" The heaters that hung over her head were broken and only reminded her that she was cold and how she could do nothing about it. She shivered. The boy who stood behind her in line just finished his dive and walked past her to get to the end of the line. Not only did he bring his awful body odor, he also brought a gust of frigid air. Every cell in her body screamed for warmth. Her wet hair dripped freezing water down her already cold back. The same boy was breathing down her back. His cold breath crystalized the water droplets on her neck./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" With every splash a second or so later came a wind storm from the person traveling to the back of the line. She shivered each time someone passed. She watched one by one, each person getting onto the board and splashing down into the water a second later. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" Cold, cold, cold. Coldness filled her head, clogged her brain so when she was next in line she blindly climbed the stairs. Up, up, up. Five meters up, she felt powerful, on top of the world… terrified. She strode over to the edge of the board and looked down at her coach. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" He smiled up at her. He knew all to well that she loved looking down from high heights but when you ask her to jump she is suddenly struck with fear and gasping for breath. Last time he asked her to do a complex dive from this height she passed out and fell straight down. That was four months ago. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She saw he was thinking the same thing. It was written all over his face, and his eyes were projectors, replaying the incident over and over again. All she remembered was climbing the ladder, standing on the edge, than, nothing. She remembered a rushing sound in her ears. Remembered water folding all around her body accepting her as a part of the pool water community. When she had finally opened her eyes she was in a hospital emergency room. White walls, covered in white sheets, wearing a white nightgown (over her bathing suit), surrounded by people in white uniforms. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;" She looked down, she felt dizzy. Coldness was replaced by fear. emYou'll die. You'll fail and hurt yourself. This time you won't be so lucky, your eyes won't open afterwards. /emShe closed her eyes, trying to ignore the voices. She couldn't get rid of them. emFall again and you won't be so lucky. You aren't good enough to dive from the high dive. /emShe looked straight ahead. A white brick wall that was more than a pool length away. She stared. Looked at and studied the pattern. emJump and you die./em/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; font-family: Helvetica;"So she jumped./p