1 Drowning

ACT I Dum Spiro Spero - While I breathe I hope

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2018 ‖ Pismo Beach, CA

Kaz doesn't go to the surface very often.

His skin, which is used to the cooling temperatures at 200 meters under the horizon, immediately starts to itch and burn as soon as he pushes his upper body towards the sky. Every time he does, his sensitive skin fights back. A red rash covers his shoulders and throat, followed by his nose, ears and scalp already being sunburnt after only a few minutes up there.

But Kaz' curious brain often dismisses these consequences and so he sometimes finds his head over water, watching the people in the distance enjoying a beach holiday.

Later, when the sun sets and the waves are low, he usually is able to swim a bit closer and can spot the beach and the small bars, decorated with fairy lights and neon signs.

It is a curious world up there, much calmer than at home, yet so full of life.

A friend once told Kaz that humans stop rushing when they're at the coast because they find the waves and the endless horizon calming and grounding. He tried to understand that but couldn't because the sea is all he ever had and amidst its constant movement nothing is ever fully calm.

And so Kaz often wonders what it would feel like if he left and went to the places the humans fled from to escape everyday life.

Would this strange normality give him the same joy? Would he feel grounded up there, out there, between them? Or would it be scary and stressful because of the masses of humans rushing through their lives? And because of the cars driving so closely that you can feel the skin of your cheeks getting ripped off by the sound of wheels screeching and angry drivers honking?

Kaz has only ever seen a car twice. Usually, there aren't any cars at the beach but sometimes teenagers drive through the sand at night, playing loud music and laughing uncontrollably.

Both times it had been absolutely terrifying.

On this particular day, he decides once again to escape his parents and his duties for an hour or two and is now on his way to the surface to take a curious look at the colorful and weirdly shaped air mattresses and to breathe in the scent of fresh air which his lungs have grown to love over the past few years.

The water is very clear today and a swarm of small fish swims past him without taking much notice. In Kaz' mind he can already see the sunny sky, he imagines seagulls restlessly flying their circles over the sea and sand, always calling for each other, making sure nobody is being left behind.

But what he sees next rips him out of this fantasy.

Kaz notices a shadow above him. Carefully swimming closer, his brain is slowly processing the shape of the black shape. His heart skips a beat.

It is the body of a teenager, slowly floating towards him. He isn't moving and he can't see the boy's face, as the stranger is sinking back down. But he knows immediately that this human is unconscious.

Unconscious and drowning.

Kaz' heart starts to race and he can barely hear his own thoughts. The shock paralyzes him for a second or two, he is not sure what to do. The only thing he does know is that he has to act quickly.

He takes all of his body's strengths, shoots up like a bullet and grabs the boy's waist.