Float

Float

Jenny stepped off the edge and let her limp body crash into the water. She closed her
eyes and turned in the cool serenity that she could feel only underwater. Wrapped in
the comfort of soothing solitude she saw herself as a single point in a vast, deep ocean
that she had all to herself. As she sank deeper all her conscious worries and thoughts floated up to the surface. She curled at the bottom, only her core had not floated
up—only the important part without the labels, the judgments, and the disdain of a world much unlike this one. She let it all float up, and at last she could truly breathe. But just as soon as her mind was free from restraint, her body screamed for different air and demanded to rip her from the embrace of her gentle blue world. “Air! Air!” She reluctantly pushed off the bottom of the pool and rocketed back to the surface. Her eyes were immediately assaulted by the blinding summer sun, and already her face cooked in the sweltering heat. The roar of nearby traffic and the depth charges of adolescent cannon balls jerked her back to a harsh reality. Her eyes shut as she let her body drift. She floated at the surface of the water for a just moment longer, took a deep breath, and slowly sunk down to the depths again.