The darkness surrounding you as you fall deeper and deeper. The sound of muffled talking. The feeling of not being able to breathe. The cold water around you. This is the story of when I, Roseana Wiggins, almost drowned.

It was my cousin Adriana’s birthday, and we decided to celebrate it at Madison Lake. I don’t know how to swim, so I’m on a floaty when I go in the water. When it is lunch we have some yummy hamburgers and disgusting hot dogs. After we eat, I get on a giant rainbow floaty with Adriana and her sister Mia pushing the floaty.

It’s around one pm and me and my two cousins were having fun. Then all of a sudden something or someone pushed over my floaty from the bottom. As I fall in the water all I see is darkness. My body feels cold, I can’t move, and my heart is racing at 100 mph! I can’t breathe. Then everything goes black.

Next thing I know, I wake up on the beach safe and sound. I found out that it was my older brother who pushed the floaty. He didn’t know I couldn’t swim, and he was only doing it for a joke. But I’m perfectly fine.

This was two years ago and yet I have never forgotten what happened. Because of what happened I now have a fear of big bodies of water. Me and my brother still talk about the incident when we’re bored. Nothing has changed in our sibling relationship. I have learned how to swim so this won’t happen again. Some good advice is if you don’t know how to swim, make sure to either have a floaty or just stay on the beach. If any of y’all want to go there, here’s some info about Madison Lake.