Splash.
The freezing cold embraces my entire body as I enter the pool, a single step spreading its frost throughout my blood. Time seems to stop, and moving appears impossible.
Splash.
I take another step. It’s up to my ankles now. The ice burns like fire. The bones and muscles that are submerged seem incomprehensibly distant, entirely out of control, and yet-
Splash.
Another step. The word “cold” feels worthless by now. My shins feel as though they have splintered into thousands of infinitesimal pieces, yet my legs stand intact; I am reminded of a window that has cracked in a brilliant spiderweb pattern, but has yet to shatter.
Splash.
My knees rest just above the pool now. It’s euphoric. My legs are being wrested from my control, a war of attrition- and yet I’m simply giving them up.
Splash.
My knees buckle, lost beneath the ways. They are no longer mine.
Splash.
I’ve fallen beneath. I can feel my heart slowing, stopping. My blood does not flow. My muscles become harder than rock.
I leave it behind. I expected some sort of flight, elevation; or a descent below. Instead, I merely linger. I try to look and examine myself, but I have no eyes. I try to turn to the shore, but I have no neck. I try to walk back, but my legs have long succumbed to the waves.
Centuries pass. Millenia. Eons. Milliseconds. I’m still. Patient. Waiting for another chance.
But it never comes.