Conquering+Fear

The Fall, by Angelina “Come on,” said Amanda. I was excited but I was scared too. I had only been tubing a few times before and this time the tube would be spinning.

The river we were going to tube in led to the ocean so it was saltwater and on both sides of it was some marsh. There were snakes, fish, and stingrays in the water but no alligators. Snakes and fish usually stayed away from people and stingrays were at the bottom of the river, but alligators were not always afraid of humans so I was glad that alligators did not like saltwater.

"Are you ready?” asked Amanda, interrupting my thoughts. As her father placed the tube in the river, the water current pushed it around gently. We put on our life jackets securing them so they would not fall off.

“Yes,” I said but I knew that wasn’t true. I was scared that I would fall off and Amanda’s family would not notice. I was scared that I would get really dizzy and throw up. I kept on thinking about what bad things could happen but I forced myself to step of the boat and onto the tube. We lay down on our stomach, I faced the front and she faced the back. Of course, it didn’t matter though since we would be spinning the whole time. The boat started moving and the tube started spinning. As the boat got faster, I held the two handles tighter. At first, I thought it wasn’t that scary and it was actually really fun. Then it got really fast. //This must be much faster than our speed coming here I thought//. I didn’t know what direction we were going anymore. I could barely see with all the salt water splashing into my eyes but that was nothing. The boat was turning and was about to go in a circle. The waves made me bounce up on the tube spraying even more saltwater onto my face and making my eyes burn.

I held on as much as I could and closed my eyes but it was no use. In less than a second, I flew off the tube and landed in the dark water. I tried to swim to the surface but it seemed as if there was no surface. I felt as if I had been trapped in the water forever with no way to escape. //I cant breathe, I thought. I have to get out of the water, but how?//

All of a sudden I remembered that I was wearing a life jacket. I shouldn’t have to swim to the surface. I should be at the surface. I stopped trying to swim and turned myself. I felt my head come out of the water into the air. //I had been at the surface the whole time - I was just upside-down.// I coughed up some saltwater and breathed in the nice fresh air. I scanned the clearing for the boat and found that it was not that far away. As the boat got closer I waved and saw someone wave back.

“Are you okay?” yelled Amanda.

“Yes!” I yelled back.

I still felt a bit dizzy and I had saltwater in my throat but I was okay. When the boat was closer she helped me get on and we ate some watermelon and strawberries and after resting a bit and recovering, I went on the tube again, only this time we went a bit slower.

After a while we decided to go back to the marina. I looked back at the river and it looked different. I did not see the darkness anymore. I saw the sunshine dancing on the surface of the water.

You Got it on Camera, Right? By, Joel I heard a loud sound as I fell down and the bike landed on top of me. Then I was in a faraway land.

When I woke up I was in the hospital. I felt dizzy and I could barely see. I recognized Philip, but there were more people there. I couldn’t make out who they were though.

‘Ph, Philip, wh, where are we?’ I asked, disoriented.

‘Haha, hey there, good to see you around again! We’re at the hospital. You tried to do a backflip, but fell...’ Philip said with a happy voice, as always.

‘What? what are you talking about, what skatepark??’ I was confused.

‘Eh, bro. don’t you remember? You tried a backflip with your BMX. The first one you landed, the second one you fell and got the bike on top of you. First we all laughed, then we realized you were unconscious and we called 112. The ambulance came in like 3 minutes. They told us you should be okay soon, and that it wasn’t anything major."

I didn’t really know what to say. ‘You got it on camera, right?’ I asked.

Everyone laughed. I started seeing faces now. Jacob, Edvin, Jack, Hugo and I think it was Oscar. I must say that I felt pretty awesome. From a crash that bad, my only injuries were a little fracture and a couple of bruises.

‘So, what are your thoughts on the backflip for today, Joel?’ Jacob said, mimicking a TV reporter, 4 days after I was released from the hospital.Everyone had a laugh in the car as I told them that I was going to try it again today.

I stood at the top of the big-air drop with Hugo. ‘Just take it easy eh? There’s no point of doing it if you don’t think you can.’ he said. Hugo doesn’t say much so I had to think about it for a while.

‘Remember the first time I tried that small one? I fell and…I didn’t try it again until weeks later...I think it even was a month later. My biggest fear is that the same will happen right now with the backflip, I can’t take the risk. I have to do it now! I can do it!’

"Oh, I remember, you wanted to try it every day for weeks, but chickened out every time right before going down. You go, Joel! You can do this!’

I went down and it felt as if I accelerated from 1-50 km/h in 2 seconds. I was closing in on the ramp. I knew it. this time I would do it. and I would land it. It felt as if everything went in slow motion. I saw how all of them cheered for me.

I wish I could have stopped life right at the moment when I came down because I didn’t fall. I didn’t lose balance. I had done it. I had landed my second backflip and overcome my fear.

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