The Waterfall

I am travelling along a lazy river...it is calm and my floaty gently bumps the banks. I am at peace, tilting my chin up to the warm lazy sun. Everything is as it should be.

The pace quickens. I am gaining speed. Clouds mask the sun and I prop myself up to see roiling, tumultuous rapids as I start slamming into rocks that appear out of nowhere, ricocheting like a pinball until my ears are full of the deafening drop ahead.

I hold my breath.

I am in a freefall, water battering down on me as I am pushed downwards, surrendering but struggling.

The fall is finally broken and I hold my breath, my lungs bursting as I frantically swim to the dim light shining above me, my vision almost fading.

I burst for air, gulping down lungfuls of sweet oxygen, sanity, revival, hope. I breathe deeply. Calmly. I have been reborn. I am steady. I am at peace.

I am travelling along a lazy river...