It was a humid late afternoon, by myself in front of a huge body of water. Specifically Freeport River, at Garcia Ben.            

Normally when I’m there, it is to go running with my family. At the end of the run my dad and I would go down the river bank and I would play with the cold flowing water. But this it was different. This time I was with my sister and cousin at the time. They had left to go check to see if my parents were back yet, because we left before my parents did.                                                                

Before they left they told me, “Don’t do anything until we come back.”  The biggest mistake I made at that moment, was ignoring what they said. As they left, I went further down and started doing what i normally did, which was play with the water. Out of nowhere, I don’t know how it happened but it happened. At that moment I was fighting the worst thing ever, at the worst time ever.

In a split second, I was in the water fighting for my life. Trying to keep my head up above the water,  but it was quite difficult. Freaking out, frightened out of my mind. Thrashing around, “Help!” I yelled, but nobody came and help.

Seconds felt like hours, still stuck, no trapped in the cold powerful current. Thinking to myself, it’s all over. My vision went black, and I really thought it was over for me, that I was gonna die. But I caught a breath of air, and there it was… The light!
             

I was thinking to myself, “What just happened?” I turned around to see my cousin marvelously pulling me out of the water. I was in so much relief, knowing that I survived, all thanks to my cousin.                                                                                                                                                         

After getting rescued, we went back and rinse off the sand and whatever else was on me. Still in awe of what happened, I tried explaining to my sister and cousin about what happened. My parents came back to seeing me all wet and asked me “Ua cas es koj yuav ntub ua luag?” (why are you soaked in water -in Hmong) After all of what happened, we finally went home and I took a nice hot steamy shower. And ended the day with a warm delightful bowl of pho, and also a movie.              

Ever since that day, I never forgot about what happened. It was one of the scariest events in my life that I’ve learned from. It taught me not to do things without another person being there, because if something happens, they can help you out. Or possibly even save your life.