Undertow (Based upon a prompt from MMWG)

It was a spring fed lake, manmade less than a hundred years ago. There shouldn’t have been a current, let alone an undertow. All of these thoughts raced through her mind even as Katrina felt herself pulled underneath the murky waters of Lake Manitoba. She knew not to fight, that water always won, deceptive in it’s calm exterior appearance while beneath the mirror smooth top hid deadly pulls. 

Instead, Katrina closed her eyes and let her body go easily where the drag pulled her. She allowed her arms to go limp, dancing overhead, an unwitting, yet easy partner to the undertow’s guidance. As her lungs realized there would be no more air, Katrina saw images from her life pass through her brain. Who would care for her animals, once she was gone? Who would miss her? Would her body be found for burial, or would the depths of Lake Manitoba become her watery grave?


As she felt her body fade, her arms floated to her sides and she realized she had stopped moving. Tipping her head back, she opened her eyes and saw white clouds and blue sky somewhere above her. Somehow, she managed a scissor kick, bringing her hands overhead like a diver and swanning them back to her sides. With a gasp, her head broke free of the lake, and her lungs savored the gulps of air she coughed into her body.



She noticed the swimming dock, anchored less than ten feet away and tentatively began to swim to it. For a moment, the undertow’s possible reappearance crossed her mind, but there was nothing she could do about it either way. Instead, she concentrated on her simple strokes as they cut through the water, and breathed in and out, knowing she would either reach the safety of the dock or not. 

 

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