BY STANDER EFFECT

                                 A near drowning experience.
I have tried to block out this experience for as long as I can remember. Each time I thought about the incident in the past years, I shivered, I got scarred. Just imagining I wouldn't be alive today but for luck ,  scares me although I think I have gotten over it somehow. This is the story.

When I was about eight years old, I went to the river with my aunt Theo. The river had a beatiful water fall, and down below was a pool. I remember, it was so silent down there and the water did not seem to flow down the river that much. It looked like a whirl pool. The water below the fall  whirled around and seemed to invite us in. My aunt knew how to swim but I didn't. However, the water felt good. At the edge of the water, it was deep so we could play around safely, but as I ventured a little further into the enticing water, it became deep and I felt myself being pulled towards the whirpool. My feet no longer touched the floor of the river. Suddenly, I realized that I was drowning. My aunt  ran out of the water and stood at the edge watching me go. She just stood there, staring, hands on her head. I fought hard to save myself, but I couldn't. The currents were pulling me further into the deep water, and I remember swallowing a lot of water and fighting to get my head above the water. I was scared. I thought I was dead. Suddenly, a good samaritan, who happened to be walking by at that time jumped into the water and pulled me out. It was not an easy pull because I was being pulled deeper by the current of the water also.

I was saved and carried home by the good samaritan who was going to his farm not far from the river.  Theo told my parents she'd been so scared , she thought if she tried to get me, we would both drown. She also said she was scared to leave the river banks in case I drowned and she couldn't find the voice to call out for help. The farmer also told us the gods of the river would have taken me to the world beyond  if he hadn't shown up on time to save me. I got really scared.  I never wanted to go to the river any more. I have not been there since the incident.