The waves smashed against the rocks, and the silence swept across the air as the wind billowed Sarah's hair, who stood up at the edge of the cliff, with Richard standing beside her. His face was expressionless, like that of a guard. They observed the wave below, embracing nature's perfection.
Sarah clutched her life jacket as tight as ever. "Richard, you said you were going to teach me step by step how to swim."
Image generated by Meta Ai
"How many times will I keep showing you? Sometimes you just gotta take that bold step, a leap of faith, you know."
Sarah glanced at his face to assess if he was being serious or it was another of his random jokes. "But I'm not yet ready."
"You don't need to be ready. In life, we either swim above our fears or sink in them. So you have two choices: Swim or sink."
Richard placed his warm palms on her shoulders. "Do you remember when you tried swimming for the first time? You panicked, thinking you were going to die, but you didn't."
"Of course I didn't, definitely because of the fact that you saved me." Her tone wielded a lot of emotions.
Richard sensed his baby sister about to do what she does best—panic! He turned to her. "And what advice did I give you after pulling you out?"
"You said I should believe more in myself."
"So?" he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"It's about you, not the water. You control your body while swimming, the water doesn't." His voice was as soothing as the warm sunlight.
He then turned to her and whispered softly into her ear, "Don't feed your fears, rise above it like the waves you see below you."
She took a deep breath and had one more glance at the waters. "I don't want to sink, Richard."
"You won't," he reassured.
"What if I do?" she asked again, the almost evaporating fear seeming to creep back in.
"You can never know if you don't try and hey!..." He softly cupped her face between his palms, his eyes meeting with hers in the most assuring way ever. "I'm here for you."
She summoned up courage, took in a deep breath, and dived off the rough rocky edge into the ocean. The cold ocean gave way, as she navigated beneath its surface, striving to break free from the surface. She swung her hands and legs in a certain fashion, hoping she would see the surface again.
"My God!" she said, panting as she finally broke into the ocean's surface. She turned around, her gaze fixed upwards at the cliff.
"Looking for me?" he voiced out, his arms outstretched.
She then shifted her gaze downwards, and there he was at the bottom of the cliff just at the ocean borders.
She took in a deep breath. "Alright, pray for me." She delved deeper into the waters, fighting her fears. Her eyes were wide open as she swam against the ocean's current—you could see the determination in them.
Her thoughts suddenly went back in time, when she sank deep into the water. She recalled her brother's voice as though it were tomorrow. "Sarah, is anything wrong?"
She tried talking, but as the words were about leaving, she got swallowed by the water—a cycle that kept repeating till she found herself on the seashore with Richard leaning over her.
"Are you okay? Please stay with me," he frantically shouted as he slapped both sides of her cheeks in an attempt to revive her unconscious state.
"Sarah, hope nothing's wrong?" Richard voiced out in an alarming tone, pulling Sarah away from her thoughts as she fought herself within the ocean's depth.
Richard was starting to worry—it had been over five minutes, and he hadn't seen her face above the water surface. Meanwhile, deep in the waters, Sarah had given up to the ocean's power. As she slowly faded into its depth, her hands pointed upwards as though Richard would grab them just as he did many years ago. She gulped lots of salty water, and her eyes eventually stared blankly into oblivion as she lifelessly sank deeper and deeper into the ends of the Earth.
Richard's words reverberated through the walls of the silent ocean:
"You have two choices: swim or sink."
And just when all life seemed to have disappeared, these words brought life back to her soul. She gasped and struggled till she broke free into the surface.
"Sarah! Sarah!!" Richard called her name as he swam closer to her.
He hugged her. "It's okay," he said, tapping her back to relieve her from the massive cough which seemed to compromise her breath and speech.
"I'm okay, you can leave me now," she tried convincing her brother.
"Really?" he asked with a lot of concern in his eyes.
He let go of his sister, the only family he had left, and watched as she flawlessly navigated through the ocean as though nothing had happened.
Richard watched in awe, and just as he was about to utter a word, she cut in.
"Are you surprised?"
"No, I'm not... I..."
"Remember what you said..." she gently interjected.
"In life, we either swim above our fears or sink in them," she continued. Her face lightened up with courage and boldness.
"I chose to swim, Richard." Her face then transitioned into a smile, a smile he hadn't seen in really long time—It was the smile of hope, the smile of courage, and of freedom.
He watched intently as his baby girl splashed droplets of water on him.
"What are you thinking about?" she playfully asked.
"Did you just splash water on your big brother? I'm coming for you, girl," he said, swimming aggressively towards her as they both laughed while the sun had begun setting, gradually permitting darkness to seize the horizon.
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@ij-vic, this story appears to have been largely influenced by AI. We do not accept stories that were developed by AI, or heavily assisted by AI, in The Ink Well community.
Most times when we face our fears we overcome our challenges. Nice write-up👍