“Fighting the Waves”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: “I can’t swim!”

The waves rushed around me, crashing over me, pulling me down, clawing at my legs. My hand reached up to grasp for the surface, but the current was too strong.

Fish floated past, taunting me, boastingly flashing their brightly-coloured scales at me. They eyed me, winking at me as if I was at the butt of some joke of theirs. I glared back as best I could while still in a haze of panic.

My foot hit something hard. That was it: my chance of escaping this wretched, wet trap.

I pushed with all my might, using my hands to split the water in my path. It worked!

My head burst through the surface and I took a big gulp of air just to be dragged back under a second later.

My panic returned. As I fought for my freedom, something hit my back.

A bucket.

A shovel followed shortly after. I watched them both bob along the surface. I was so impossibly jealous of that bucket and shovel, of the ease with which they floated across the turbulent waves.

Suddenly, something grabbed my arm. A hand whose long fingers tightly gripped me.

I was wrenched from the grasp of the kiddie pool and into my mother’s arms.

As her screams fell upon my ears–something about ‘what were you thinking’ and ‘do you know how reckless that was’–all I could think was how life was just a series of unpleasant events, one after the other.

Final Comments: I’m not sure why the voice of the narrator was so mature considering I was writing from the perspective of a kid… At the same time, it was kind of fun to think about it that way though.

Overall Rating: 😝