Makai - Rescue

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Kai

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"OCEAN!" I called his name as I ran after him. The whole thing happened in slow motion as I watched it but in reality it only took a few seconds for Ocean to fall, hit his head, and go under the water. I had been all the way across the large room when I saw that something was wrong. I shouldn't have left him alone over there at all.

"OCEAN!" I screamed his name again as I got closer to the edge of the pool. I didn't hesitate at all, I just acted on instinct.

I leapt into the pool and dove straight down. Ocean had fallen into the deeper end of the pool where diving was allowed. He was laying on the bottom of the pool, twelve feet down.

It took me longer to reach him than it would to swim normally because I was going straight down and the buoyancy was working against me.

Finally, I reached him. He wasn't moving and his eyes were closed. Most likely he had passed out and fell after he was already unconscious but I don't know for sure.

I hooked my hands under his arms and kicked off from the floor of the pool. I kicked as hard as I could to get him to the surface and out of the water. I could feel my heart racing as I thought about what was actually happening.

When I broke the surface of the water I saw our team and the other team coming out of the locker rooms. The two coaches looked as if they couldn't believe their eyes. The teams took one look at what was going on and froze.

Why? Why didn't they come to help? Couldn't they see that their friend and teammate was hurt. The water around me at the surface of the pool was dyed pink from the blood that had spilled from Ocean's head. Couldn't they see that he needed help?

I had grabbed the ladder, the same one that Ocean hit his head on, and used it to climb out of the water. I had my left arm wrapped around Ocean's chest, my hand tucked under his armpit. I was using my right hand to steady myself as I moved higher.

"Someone needs to call for help." I yelled at them as they all just watched me.

My yell seemed to have woken Coach Dickson from his stupor as he grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialed while he ran. With his phone at his ear the coach slid to a stop, falling to his knees next to where I was laying Ocean on the tiled floor.

The volume on the coach's phone was turned up high and it echoed in the silence of the large room.

"Nine one one emergency response, what is your emergency?" A woman's alert voice came over the line.

"My name is Richard Dickson, I am a swim coach with Jasper High. We are at the Denivers Community Pool. One of my swimmers appears to have fallen and hit his head. He was in the water unconscious. His name is Ocean Shores."

"Is he breathing?" I heard the woman ask as I was already checking to see if he was breathing. He wasn't.

I shook my head to answer the coach and started the chest compressions required for CPR.

"No, he's not breathing. We're performing CPR now."

"How badly did he hit his head?" I tried not to focus on her words as I counted the compression in my head.

'Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.' After having finished the recommended count of thirty I tipped Ocean's head back and breathed for him twice.

"Come on, breath." I whispered the words quietly as the coach started to answer the operator.

"His head is bleeding and there is a lot of blood."

"Head wounds bleed a lot more than others, Sir. Don't worry, I have alerted EMTs and police units in your area, they will be there soon."

I blocked out the conversation again as counted once more. When I got to thirty I breathed for Ocean again. Two breaths that lasted about a second each.

This time, after I breathed for him, Ocean coughed and I saw the water gurgling from his mouth. He was alive. He was breathing again. I felt so relieved.

"He's breathing again. Oh thank God." The coach sounded so relieved. Probably because he would be held responsible for what had happened since he left his student out here.

"Ocean? Ocean are you alright?" Coach Dickson was calling for him while Ocean's friends, finally unfrozen, ran toward him.

The space was suddenly crowded and a little overwhelming for me so I stepped back and watched as everyone finally started doing something. I was a little angry with them. They stood around while their friend could have died but was acting all relieved and worried now that he was going to be OK.

Within a minute or two the police and paramedics had arrived and Ocean was more alert. They were all asking him what happened and if he was OK. I was just relieved to see that he was awake and not seriously hurt. His head looked bad but I didn't know how bad it really was yet.

During the commotion I snuck away to the locker room, but I felt Ocean looking at me while I walked. When I turned to look at him he was glaring at me. Why? What was wrong? He didn't think that I did this to him did he? I just wanted to get out of here and go home for now.