“Ok Ash, Truth or Dare,” they all shouted at me. I was the smallest so they like forcing me to do things they know I can't.

“Dare,” I replied after much consideration.

“Ok...Your dare if you wish to accept is to go climb that tree and jump into the water. The catch is you can't check how deep the water is and you can't check for snakes,” they answered.

Oh No. Why did I agree to this? Why did I choose dare? Why didn't I just suck it up and chose truth regardless of the question? I swim over to the crooked, fallen tree. The water rushes around me pushing me back. I half want to let the water consume me and pull me down the creek, but I can't. I climb up the slippery, grimy tree. I'm standing ten feet in the air above water that I have no idea how deep it is. My feet slide on the bark, the moss squishing between my toes. I was scared I would slip and fall before I was ready. I stand there shaking and sweating nervously. My hands gripping the hard bark, letting it make its mark on me. My nails are bitten down to the skin, blood seeping through the skin.

I see a ripple in the water. WAIT! Is that a snake? Please don't let it be a snake. Please just be a stick or a weed. Just please not a snake, I hate snakes. Will I die? Will I jump? Will I wimp out and face the punishment? The second youngest stands on the shore recording my every move the others stand in the water it looks deep enough there. Here I go, 1…..2…..3.Then I jump through the warm July air. Taking in the air right before I hit the ice cold water, Will anyone save me if I start drowning? I feel in my gut that something is wrong. Is that the bottom or a reflection? SPLOOOSH!!!!!

My head hit the rock bottom. Suddenly it all went black what had happened, I was afraid I was dead. They said I was underwater for almost a minute. My head was cracked open and they saw a small cloud of red forming around me. They threw my limp body on a raft.

The next thing I knew I was in the hospital. At least I think it's a hospital, all I see is black all I hear is the constant beeping. I can't believe my cousins were so mean as to make me do something that I would get hurt doing. Occasionally, someone comes in and sticks a new needle in my arm, or a family member comes into talk to me(or at me). The pain was unbearable I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. I could feel a rough bandage pressed against my forehead. A plastic mask was strapped to my mouth and nose, helping oxygen come in and out of my body. I felt so alone and helpless.

Suddenly my eyes flew open and light flooded into my head. I took in the scene around me. White sheets, white walls, a stench of chemicals, a bundle of colorful balloons and a bouquet of purple flowers. People started rushing in the room, doctors, nurses, and family. The doctors and nurses quickly pushed my family out. They took away the plastic from my mouth and replaced it with a tube being shoved down my throat forcing in liquids. They replaced my bandage. They showed me the electric blue stitches, woven through my skin, there was a small bald spot where they had to put the stitches. When I saw them I instantly felt ugly, and unwanted, like a slug stuck to the bottom of a shoe. They wouldn't let me do anything in fear that I would hurt my brain worse. So I mostly sit here staring at the white walls. They come in and tell me three more days to go to then I can leave and go home, but for now I’m stuck in this uncomfortable hospital bed, with disgusting food being shoved down my throat, and a super boring room.

Five days after the incident, I get to leave the hospital. I was so relieved that I could finally do things in my own without a grumpy, old nurse watching me like prey.

Seven stitches and one concussion later, I realized how bad of a decision it was to take that dare, just to prove a point. Do not succumb to peer pressure. If someone tries to make you do something wrong or harmful say no and do something else instead. Never do something wrong when someone else tells you to because you will get a worse punishment than them.