⚠️ Content Warning: This Chapter contains scenes involving near-drowning, physical distress, and ntions of blood. Reader discretion is advised.
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The next thing that went wrong happened during the hydrotherapy.
It was supposed to be peaceful. Warm oxygenated water. Soft lights. A weightless float cocooned in a pod like so futuristic hug from a cloud.
The hydrotherapy pool was magnificent – a vast expanse of warm, mineral-infused water, dotted with various jet stations and underwater loungers. Soft, shifting blue lights pulsed beneath the surface, giving the impression of swimming in a tranquil, ethereal lake.
The therapist gave a gentle overview, ntioned it was pre-set to "relaxation mode"—low jets, slow pressure—and promised I’d float like I was in space.
Elise had opted for a private mineral bath, leaving Clara and to explore the main pool. I still felt a little light-headed from the sauna incident, but the warm water was incredibly inviting. Clara led to a section with gentle bubble jets, promising it was the most relaxing spot.
I sank into the water, letting the gentle effervescence soothe my muscles. Clara was nearby, lounging on an underwater bench a few feet away, her eyes closed in apparent bliss.
I closed my own eyes, drifting for a mont, trying to forget the scorching heat and burning eyes.
Then—
WHAM.
The gentle bubbles beneath exploded into a violent surge.
"Ah—!" I jerked upright.
A hard jet slamd into my lower back. Another snapped against my ribs.
"Hello?" I tried to sit up properly, but water crashed over my shoulders.
Another burst—directly to my abdon. Then behind my knee. Sharp.Blunt. My body jerked. Limbs flailing.
"Sothing’s wrong!" I cried, hitting the ergency button.
Nothing happened.
The pressure intensified.
A sudden vortex dragged at my legs, pulling downward. I gasped—sucking in water. My eyes flew open.
The pool was churning, wild and frothing like sothing was trying to swallow whole. The jets weren’t just malfunctioning—they were targeting .
I tried to push away—*
CRACK.*
My head slamd against the pool wall, white light bursting behind my eyes. My vision blurred. The sound went muffled. My arms flailed—but everything moved sluggishly now. My body was sinking.
The water, once warm and comforting, now felt like a thousand tiny needles, the jets hitting from every angle, pushing down. My lungs burned. I’d inhaled water, a sickening, tallic taste filling my mouth. Panic, cold and sharp, cut through the haze of pain.
Through the distorted ripple of the water, I saw Clara jerk awake. Her eyes, wide with alarm, t mine for a split second. She tried to push herself up from her underwater lounger, but the water around her was also beginning to churn, albeit less violently than my section. She was caught in a sudden, insistent current that spun her in place.
"Clara!" I tried to scream, but only a gurgle escaped.
My vision was darkening at the edges. My limbs felt heavy, unresponsive. The jets were relentless, pounding my chest, my legs, my head.
Too strong.
Too fast.
Too deep
****.
The last thing I rembered was the blinding ache in my skull and the roar of water.
Then silence.
Not peaceful silence—just a terrifying, empty hush, like the world had clicked to mute. My limbs felt like driftwood. Heavy. Uncoordinated. My lungs scread for air, but I couldn’t make my body obey.
Everything was... floating. Tilting.
Then—
Light.
I heard voices before I saw them.
They sounded distant—sharp, layered, like I was under water and trying to piece together an argunt from the surface.
I surfaced briefly—not through water, but through sothing heavier. Like I was wading through thick sleep.
My eyelids fluttered open, the brightness above sharp and unforgiving. My vision swam, shapes moving in chaotic patterns.
Elise.
Pale. Furious.
Phone pressed to her ear, barking rapid instructions into it. "—you promised full safety protocols—where is your manager?! Get the paradics now!"
Clara stood beside her, eyes wide and frantic, gripping a damp towel in both hands.
There was sothing red on it.
A smudge. A streak.
Blood.
Was she hurt?
I blinked slowly, trying to focus.
Clara’s hand shook. Her mouth was moving—maybe calling my na? Maybe asking the spa attendant sothing. Her ponytail was slightly undone.
The towel dropped a little lower.
There was more blood on it.
My throat tightened. I tried to speak, to ask what happened. "Elise..." I rasped—or maybe just thought I did.
No sound ca.
I tried to move. Just a twitch. Just lift my hand. But nothing responded. I could feel everything. Everything. But my body was lead. My head lolled, eyes barely holding focus.
My head throbbed, a dull, insistent ache that resonated with every beat of my heart. It felt like my skull was a cracked bell, ringing silently. I tried again to move, to lift my hand, to make a sound, but my body felt like a foreign object, heavy and unresponsive, a dead weight on whatever surface I was resting on. The bright ceiling lights above seed to pulsate, mirroring the pain.
I watched Clara kneel beside .
Watched her reach for my hand with shaking fingers.
Watched her flinch when Elise shouted at soone again.
"She’s still not responding," Elise’s voice cracked, filled with barely restrained panic. "You better pray she’s okay—because if she isn’t—"
I tried to blink. To breathe. To say I was here. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy, glued shut. Each attempted breath was shallow, painful, a desperate gasp that barely pulled air into my burning lungs. The words were stuck sowhere in my throat, a thick, tallic clench that wouldn’t allow a sound to pass.
Clara leaned closer. Her lips moved. I think she said, "You’re okay. Just hold on."
But all I could do was fall down into darkness, swallowed by the silence that echoed around . The world spun, and I was lost in the void, waiting for the light to return. For the pain to subside. For soone to pull back to the surface.
But as the darkness closed in, I realized that I was alone in the abyss, adrift in a sea of uncertainty and fear.
My mind raced with questions, each one a wave crashing against the shore of my consciousness: What had happened? Why couldn’t I move? Why was I drowning in air? And most importantly, would I ever see the light of day again?
Is this... how I die?
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