Some happenings tend to leave us in a state of perturbation thus expressing in words those events does not give a fair shake to the actual turn of events. Drowning happens when we least expect it. I was a victim of it. It’s my near-death experience or better called out-of-body experience.
It was in the dazzling light of a shockingly dry afternoon where the sun beat down with unrestrained brutality, with the air like breathing liquid fire causing everyone to sweat profusely and nobody dared walk barefoot for fear of blistering.
The sun was indeed scorching. It was in these setting that Samuel, my roommate in college, suggested that we go swimming in a pool just few kilometers from our hostel. It was a nice suggestion considering the weather condition and how cozy the water would be but, checking the other side of the dice, I can’t swim, “it’s an unwise decision” I thought. I’ve read and heard of people that met their unexpected and unintentional death by drowning. I was geared up to join the adventure as some other roommates who could swim bought the idea. We were altogether eight.
We started toward the pool and reached afterwards. Walking down to the pool was fun as everyone except me tends to say something about their first experience in swimming. I was soaked in fear by Samuel’s testimony on the subject of drowning. He said on his attempt to helping his drowning girlfriend, he was being drowned but for the proactive lifeguard who was timely alerted of the incident, he was saved though his girlfriend didn’t make it out alive. My spirit was exhilarated by the other guys who talked about the felicity they get whiles swimming. “I would learn to swim, this’s an opportunity” I mumbled to myself while nodding in agreement.
Blurring away every ounce of doubt I had about swimming at the sight of the pool and, in my euphoria, I had become convinced that I would enjoy swimming without even me knowing how to swim.
As the scorching sun was terribly hitting its rays on me plus my intense urge to jump into the light blue pool, I hurriedly removed my clothes without checking for any floaters and my friends which were going to take a quick shower before entering the water. I had the whole pool that seemed shallow to myself.
I jumped into the pool which was very cozy as I earlier thought. I never knew seconds later I would be fighting for my life. I was allowing my whole body feel the coziness when suddenly, I started sinking. Then I realized the pool wasn’t as shallow as I thought. I tried shouting for help and swimming but couldn’t as water entered my mouth and nose. I started flailing as the water went over my head. I was fighting the water to stay afloat but the water wouldn’t let me, it would grab me, pull me and stuff me under water. My head was barraged over and over again with questions as “is this how I’m going to die?, isn’t someone there to help me?”. I realized I was dying much earlier. I could see my death coming as no one seemed to see me being drowned. I was afraid of my life, I was only twenty and haven’t had enough good time. “How would my mom react to hearing I’m dead”, I thought “she would kill herself owing to the fact that I’m her only child”. I was now gasping for air and swallowing copious amount of water though still hoping and praying for my savior to come. My whole body was now in the water. “My roommates, even Samuel my best friend wasn’t so concerned about me” I thought. After a short time of struggling, and too exhausted to continue, I was submersed. It was a surrender.
The piercing, crushing inevitability of my death was now on me so grisly as I was about taking my last breath. I had lost hope and accepted the fact of me dying. I was losing my consciousness intermittently. Finally, I went blackout. I lost external sensations.
Immediately I totally lost consciousness, I saw myself leaving my body. Yes, it was my soul leaving my body. I saw a bright, pure beaming of extreme light. The light so bright that I squinted. It was a body and soul dissolution. Everything was utterly calm, My mind was cleared, I only thought of meeting my Creator.
I really lack words to describe what I experienced outside my body. Behind me was a field, a field with white flowers that were luminous. I could hear someone calling out my name in the field. I was about going for search of the voice before I saw Samuel towards my body. I knew I was dead as my body was floating in water with my face down. Just after then, I saw Samuel grabbing my body by hand and hauling it out of the water after he had let out a blood-curdling scream when he saw my body floating. I went to Samuel and tried touching him but couldn’t and I said to him “stop worrying, call my mother” but he seemed not to hear. Philip, my roommate came close to my body, put his left ear close to my mouth and nose and shouted “he is not breathing!”. Samuel has started shouting for help as Philip placed the heel of his hand on my chest and started pressing down on my chest. He did that for some seconds and checked if I was breathing. He later started to prep me for mouth-to-mouth when Samuel pushed him away and started pounding my chest with his hands. He was pounding and hollering. About a minute later, just after he left his last pound on me and sobbed loudly, an enigmatic force field as of magnets compelled my body and soul together. I noticed some resistances as the process was ongoing. It was my soul refusing to fit in my body. It was compelled to my body nevertheless.
I was resuscitated. I came back to life and began coughing up a lot of water out of my lungs. As I entered my body, I felt extremely heavy and couldn’t bear the amount of noise that flooded my ears. I took it strange as I covered up my ears with my hands, not knowing at that moment in time, it was a normalcy to humans. It was circa ten minutes; the time I began pulling off my clothes to swim to the time I resuscitated. I was later taken to the hospital to be checked up.
I always have this cold feeling that creeps up in me that would set me in chronic anxiety as I would be telling others all that happened. Some normally thought my story was a charade. I personally thought it wasn’t in my destiny to die that day. I was impossibly lucky. I’m still alive for a reason I still don’t know.
Photo credits to STS-FIRSTAID