I was too scared to even think. I knew it was irrational, knew I was safe, but I couldn’t help it. I forgot how to breathe. I was

suddenly all too painfully aware of the tube sticking from my mouth. My mask was fogging up. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t see! It

was getting heavier and heavier. I wanted to scream. But couldn’t. The snorkel was so heavy. I was so scared. But not alone.

The sharks were swimming all around me. Dozens, hundreds, thousands. Coming out from under my legs and going over my

arms. I felt their rubber tail fins slap across my body like a whipping. My brain was being crushed. The pressure squeezed me

down and I couldn’t struggle because my physical body was petrified with fright. Sharks! Sharks! Eerie and ugly they swarm

over me, preventing me from the surface. Heavier and heavier. Darker and darker. The old rules didn’t apply here. What was up?

What was down? Where was the light? I didn’t know. All I could see were sharks, sharks, and sharks. My hair went loose, and

rode in the currents. I felt strangely free and exposed. Deliriously happy, and irrationally fearful. Sharks swam through my hair. I

was part of the sea. I was gone from them. It was the end. It was the beginning. Water in mouth. In my nose. In my very

essence. My very soul was water. Aqua. No oxygen. My whole world was water, sharks, and irrational fear. I was in Limbo. And I

couldn’t leave…

Let me leave! God! God almighty help me! Why am I afraid? Pressure closing in on me. Inside I am tormented and the sharks

feed on it. Coming closer and closer and closer…

Such irrational fear. Knowing that I am truly safe does not stop anything. The sharks are on me. Pressure closing in. Can’t see

the surface. Only tail fins and eerie eyes. Such irrational fear…