Breaking Boulders
2:22 AM
When you are young, you think you’re infinite
and indestructible. Life seems to stretch out like an endless road. However,
what we fail to notice is that there will always be a dead end and sometimes we
don't have the option of taking a U-turn.
Summer
2014, the break wherein my guardian angels had to work double time since I was
at my clumsiest. One sunny afternoon, my friend and I went to the beach. It was
located below a cliff so it took us a while to get there. It was the perfect
beach day, the sun was out and the sky was as blue as the ocean. The sun’s rays
made the ocean glimmer. Huge waves rolled across the surface, making the sea so
alluring. The scorching heat made the water so inviting; I wanted to take a dip
right away. The warmth of the sun engulfed us.
(Notice: the pictures here are not the exact spots on where we almost died)
The weird thing about this area is that what
lies beneath it are rocks and broken corals. If you wanted to swim, you have to
jump off a rock to get to the ocean. The waves were huge, but not big enough to
scare us away. We were fond of
snorkeling and free diving so the waves were not a big deal at all. We were
both so giddy because it has been a while since we hit the beach. The smell of
salt and sand enveloped us and triggered our thirst for swimming. The ocean
was drawing us in with its illusion of depth.
We jumped into the water without even
thinking about what might possibly happen. It was all fun and games until we
were trapped. It was so hard to get out because the boulders were slippery and
the waves were purely violent. I never
thought the current was strong until I swam. I think I might’ve lost five
pounds by just balancing and trying not to get swallowed by the waves. It
seemed like there were thousands of tiny hands pulling me down. It was like
being stuck inside a deep well. We didn’t even bother to scream and ask for
help because obviously, nothing was going to happen considering that we were
below the cliff, who would hear us?
For the first few minutes (which felt like
hours already), I was trying to keep my cool and pretended like nothing was
wrong because I didn’t want my friend to panic. The waves shoved us, pinning me
to an enormous boulder. I tried holding on to it and pushing myself out but it
was to no avail. My nails were about to fall off, my fingers were bleeding and
I could feel the fire in my chest. Tears of hopelessness welled up and it made
breathing even harder.
After a few more minutes, I was able to
muster up all the remaining strength I had and pulled myself up. I scrambled
out, choking and spitting sea water. I dragged my friend and we laid on top of
the rock, she gave out a huge sigh of relief. We talked about “what-ifs” and
asked each other random hypothetical questions. We laid down there for what
seems to be like hours, appreciating what we had, and being thankful for the
opportunity to continue with our lives. We made it, we were winners. Maybe all
it took were 50 seconds of insane courage to be able to pull ourselves
together. Long live the reckless and the brave.
I have come to realize that some of my
beliefs were false. There are no flashbacks and premonitions, like the ones exaggerated
in movies, just the plain situation right before your eyes. You can either
freeze or swim from it and I did the latter.
Death, like a thief in the night, tried to kidnap me but the walls were too high, he was unsuccessful.
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