The dark blue seemed to swirl beneath him as he peered into the depths. He bent down, his face now only inches from the water as he tried to find assurance from the deep blue expanse. Would he be swallowed up by the water, or terrorized by some creature, hiding out of sight? But the water offered no promise of safety, no immunity from danger.
He let his arm dangle in to the water, and he closed his eyes and concentrated on the cool, exhilarating feelings rising from his fingers, and up his arm to his shoulder. He moved his arm back and forth, feeling the water move around his skin. He opened one eye and peered down at his arm. It was still there. No monster from the deep had been roused. He closed his eyes again and felt the hot, sweltering sun on his face, drying the water he had so recently refreshed himself with. The sun felt heavy, like a weight on his soul. Yet even now he could feel the cool water radiating around his arm as it lay off the side of the raft.
The man let out a long breath, and at the end painstakingly rolled himself over and off of the raft, splashing into the cold water. His body quickly submersed in the water, the man let out a short yelp as the cold shocked his dried out and overheated skin. But very quickly, the water seemed to wash away his weariness as pain like so much dirt and filth. He kicked his now rejuvenated legs and propelled himself to the surface. As his head broke the surface of the water, he let out a long shout of joy.
The agony was gone, the pain was gone, the oppressiveness of his prison was gone, all washed away by the miracle of this cold, clear water. He glanced back at the raft to make sure that it was close enough that he could pull himself back on when he got too tired to swim, and seeing that it was only a few feet behind him, drew a long breath and dove under the water again.
Down and down he swam, into the deep blue. With every foot deeper that he swam, the water was colder, and clearer. And with every kick of his legs and stroke of his arms, his body felt renewed again. He paused and look around. He was so deep under the surface it was hard to see. Perhaps there were creatures down here. The sunlight was hard to see above him as the water reflected the light and displaced it in so many directions. Even though he was below the surface of the water, he felt free. Here there was no sun, no raft, no endless expanse of hopelessness.
He wished he could journey farther down into the darkness, but his lungs began to ache and he knew that he needed a breath of air soon. He kicked his legs and shot himself back towards the surface.
