The Switch (l.s)

6. What Is Going On In This Kids Brain?

Drowning was always depicted as a slow and agonising death. Louis had seen it countless amounts of times on television and in films but there was no way to accurately depict what it felt like when it came to the real-life experience. The sound of roaring water hitting a crescendo as his body is uselessly thrown about with each harsh push from a wave, and his body completely enveloped by the dark indigo body of water. The insurmountable pressure compressed inside his chest, forcing the physiological reaction to gasp for more air to replace the burning fire within. Louis' heart is hammering loudly against his ribcage but completely drowned out by the deafening relentlessness of the unpredictable forces around him. His heart acting like a bird trapped in a cage, begging to break free from confinement and shattering against the entrapments of his bones. His throat seared in a fiery agony and rising pressure from within his chest making its way upwards.

It's happening so fast that even with the slight delay in reaction (thanks to the level of intoxication), Louis' head is still pounding with an astronomical amount of panic; threatening to combust at any given second. Louis tries to hold in the pressure, already having inhaled a large gulp of the salty water but the pressure takes over. It doesn't take much more to give in and Louis' mouth and lungs open desperate for oxygen, but only to become engulfed with another mouthful of water. He could taste the ocean, and he had countless times beforehand. He was used to the feeling of the water not being fresh, used to it being polluted and foul. This water was untouched by the carelessness of human's and remained fresh. It was a type of fresh that stung more than the pollution left behind from others. If his body wasn't in desperate need for oxygen and his vision shrinking with every millisecond, the water would have been refreshing. Refreshing if it was not being inhaled.

Louis' brain finally connects with his weak body, forcing his limbs to start moving and ultimately looking like a ragdoll against the sheer force around him. The fear that entraps him causes his mind to lose focus faster than a child at a candy store. Except in comparison, there is no excitement. No fun. All Louis knows is the fear that pulses through his veins and explodes in every nerve ending. It's the type of fear that forces his own movements to be stronger and desperate to swim upwards. Although in the surrounding darkness and the absence of sun, he doesn't know which way is up. Everything above water doesn't exist when below. There's no concept of which ways up or down. It's an endless vortex of death. He knows he needs his movements to be calculated, but his primitive reaction has overcome his logic and he finds himself thrashing.

Louis' eyes are stinging, and it's from both the salt concentration of the ocean but also the tears that are escaping his eyes. Tears that don't even get the blessing of kissing his still-warm skin. Tears that instantly blend in with raging waters. Opening his mouth again, desperate for a cry for help. It was useless. No one was going to hear his pixie voice because there was no one around. The closest person was the arrogant piss-poor excuse of a human in the villa and he had no idea Louis was here in the first place. A string of bubbles escapes his parted lips, despair filling his existence with every struggling gulp as his hands furiously reach for a break in the surface. The temperature of the water is no longer invitingly warm, but instead icy cold. And it's thrust up his nostrils, leaving a constant stream cascading into the back of his throat and nose. Louis screws his eyes shut as there are jets of pain sent through every portion of his body.

It's when Louis' head breaks the surface and his face is suddenly met with clear air that he lets out the loudest gasp of air. Desperate to breathe life back into his body that he starts to feel that he might have a chance. He might have a chance at getting out and surviving this ordeal. The air is warm, thick with the scent of salt and sand. It's the scent that usually Louis would find comfort in, except now it instils the roughest wave of terror he's ever felt in his life. Louis' whole body reacts to the abrupt change from water to air, causing his lungs to constrict and a loud spluttering cough escapes his lips. His body's natural reaction to eject the water that is filling his lungs and drowning him from the inside out.