I can't breathe or think clearly. My eyesight is fuzzy, and my hearing is muffled. My chest hurts from straining for air. I need air, oxygen. I need to breathe. Right now, water is the enemy. I'm soaked in it all over from my head to my toes. I'm drowning. Like two magnets of opposite charges, we're forced together.

My heart pounds with all the adrenaline pumping through my veins. It has a panicked, quick beat as it tries to distribute oxygen I no longer have. Water is taking over me.

Oxygen- it's what my lungs ache for. They need it so bad it feels like my chest will cave in any moment. My body is working overtime searching for something that just isn't there. Air isn't in my grasp; I can't give it to myself no matter how hard my lungs beg for it.

In, out, in out, breathe, that's what my brain is chanting in my head, screaming at me because it knows that if I don't get it soon, I might not live to see the outside of this old, concrete fountain. It tells my lungs to breathe, my heart to pump, my mouth to open and allow air in. What it doesn't know is that clean, heavenly air doesn't await outside my cold, blue lips, but rather dark, unforgiving water just waiting to be invited in for a place to stay.

My entire body is racking with shakes. I'm trembling from fear, shivering from the icy depths, and jerking with sobs. Tears won't fall, though, only blend in, unnoticed, with the murderous water surrounding me.

Suddenly, I can't take the pressure anymore. My mouth flies open, gasping for air even though I know what is coming. Filthy water enters my mouth and nose. Despite my efforts, I breathe in water, sputtering as it gushes down my throat headed straight for my lungs. I need desperately to get out of the water, to escape, but I can't. A force much greater than me holds me in. I'm trapped. I consider giving in and getting it all over and done with, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

All the sudden, I'm being shaken. As my eyes open wildly, I expect to find nothing but the same pitch black darkness, maybe the faint outline of the people holding me under, but all at once, I realize that I'm not drowning in the fountain at all; I'm at home, in bed, with my brothers eying me nervously. I still can't breathe. My panting and gasping bring a reaction quick; Soda tells Darry to do something in an alarmed voice that I hardly ever hear coming from him. He's too much like a kid to be worried about anything, normally. When Darry returns to my side, holding a brown, paper bag to my face, I don't question him. He rubs my arm trying to rid me of the goosebumps covering my skin.

Eventually, my heart calms and my breathing steadies.

I'm still shuddering with fear when Soda asks what I was dreaming about. They're both giving me funny looks like they're concerned but too wary to ask me anything further. In a soft, hoarse voice, I reply, "Drowning". A solemn silence poisons the air as I turn back over to avoid any more conversing. Soda climbs into bed behind me while Darry rises off of it, making the mattress shrink and bounce back to its full potential. A thought developed in my foggy head. I was never in any real danger. My brothers had saved me from the nightmare. It was over now.

I smirked to myself thinking, "They're protective even in my sleep". I fall asleep knowing that I don't have to be strong enough to take on death and win as long as I have my family around to wake me up when things get too rough.

I take a deep breath and savoir it- because I can.

One of my oldest stories that I tweaked some. Not my best , but it was short and I wanted to get something posted without the commitment of a 2,000 word chapter.