Submerged

“What happened and why are my feet wet?” Monica thought to herself as she slowly opened her eyes in the driver seat of her car, her head resting against the steering wheel. The haze in her vision was beginning to clear but the haze in her mind was not.

“What happened and why are my feet wet?” she continued to ask herself until she realized she couldn’t see anything out of the windows except dark, murky water lit up by the dying headlights of her car.

Panic began to sink in as Monica realized why her feet were wet.

“I’m sinking! The car is sinking! What happened?!” Monica’s thoughts raced frantically as she tried to evaluate the situation she now found herself in.

Instinct and panic led her to grab the door handle and push but with no luck. The door was locked. After realizing the door was locked, and that she had not fully found her way out of the haze, she unlocked the door. Even after the door was unlocked it wouldn’t budge. It was impossible to open with the pressure of the water bearing down on the car.

The panic started to rise inside Monica faster than the water level in the car. Hyperventilating, Monica screamed for help, only no one could hear her. Tears ran down her face as she looked for an option out of the sinking car.

As she glanced in the rear-view mirror she saw blood streaming from a gash in her brow, coloring her tears an unnatural red. “I’m bleeding?” she thought. In this thought, she noticed the blood on the steering wheel as well. “Great, now I’m going to have to clean the blood out of my car.” Monica thought before realizing that was the least of her problems. Panic set in once again.

She needed to find a way out of the car and her panic and jumbled thoughts were sealing her fate inside this sinking tomb.

A single deep breath was all she could spare to collect her thoughts and it worked, for now.

“The window, I’ll break the window!” Monica thought. Looking around the car, there was nothing except her purse on the floor. Monica had always been a particularly tidy person, and thus never left anything superfluous in her car. There wasn’t even trash in the cupholder, let alone something big and heavy to break a window with. Even her purse only had her wallet, a couple bits of makeup, and her phone.

“Phone!” Monica exclaimed.

Monica lunged at her feet for her purse to grab her cell phone from it. She fished the bag out of the rising water and grabbed her waterlogged cell phone. Panic and desperation blocked her mind from even registering the phone was unusable. Frantically she tapped on the screen and pushed every button before throwing it in a tantrum.

Then the thought of using the car keys came to mind.

“I can put the keys between my fingers!” Monica thought. “That should be sharp enough to break the glass.”

Monica reached for the ignition and pulled out the keys. This created a problem when the headlights turned off and suddenly Monica was thrust into darkness. Blindly, she reached up for the dome light and flipped it on. It was flickering and dim, but it would work for now.

With the keys between her fingers now, Monica reared back her right fist and swung it as hard as she could at the driver’s side window. Thud. Nothing came of the swing but a horrible pain in her hand. Once more she cocked back and gave it her all at the window. Thud. Bloody knuckles and even more pain was the only thing this swing accomplished. With tears streaming down her face, Monica leaned back and put her entire body into her final attempt. Thud.

Monica sat and looked at her blood on the window and dropped the keys as the crimson tears came in greater volume.

It felt like a lifetime, but it had barely been 30 seconds since Monica had come to.

With her hand throbbing and bloody, Monica decided it was time to use her legs to kick the window open. While trying to position herself, she realized she was still buckled in. Monica clicked in the seat belt and went to take it off when she realized it was stuck.

Her stomach dropped as she realized not only was she trapped in a sinking car, but she was trapped in the driver's seat as well. She began to tug and pull on the seatbelt with her bloody hand realizing it was causing her too much pain and her grip wasn’t strong enough. Down to a single hand, she grasped at the buckle and in desperation tugged at it with increasing force as she let out a scream that took all the oxygen out of her lungs. The seat belt gave way as she struggled for air and she was free, yet still trapped.

She laid down across the front seats and cocked her legs back ready to kick the window out and free herself. Thud. Just like the first punch, the first kick resulted in pain. Using both heels on the second attempt, Monica kicked the window. Thud. It felt like the bones in her feet were starting to crack but the window stayed completely intact. Again, out of desperation, she kicked the window with everything inside of her. Thud. This window wasn’t going to break before her foot.

Out of options, Monica watched as the water rose steadily in the car. It was up to the bottom of the steering wheel now and it was cold. It was so cold. “It’s the middle of summer, why is the water so damn cold?” she thought to herself.

The car was tilting forward as the weight of the engine pulled it down into the abyss. Monica had no clue how deep the water was, she just knew it was dark, cold, and rising faster with every second she hesitated. She didn’t even know which body of water she was in; she could barely remember driving. Was she drunk? No, she hadn’t had a drink in months. Why hadn’t she had a drink in months? She thought to herself. I always go out with my friends and have a good time on the weekends and that can hardly be done stone-cold sober, thought Monica. Then finally, the realization kicked in.

This was no longer a fight just for her life, this was a fight for the lives of those in the car. The lives of the two people occupying Monica’s body. Monica was solely responsible for them both. Her failure meant the death of two now, not one. She became more frantic as the water moved past her waist.

She clambered into the backseat as the water started to engulf the front of the car.

With no success, she tried to open the back doors and windows. Her hand was still bloodied from punching the driver-side window, she knew that wasn’t an option.

Monica screamed as she laid down across the backseat and tried kicking the windows again. Thud. Her feet were hurting, and the glass wasn’t budging. She couldn’t muster another kick as the pain became too much in her fragile feet.

The front seats were underwater, and the backseat was starting to submerge. At this moment, Monica heard what sounded like the crack of glass giving way. She looked at the window nearest her and saw nothing but marks from her shoes.

Monica dove under the water, pulling herself towards the front to find the source of the cracking glass. She touched the driver’s side window and felt a newly formed blemish. All the pain she was in seemed to be worth it with this discovery. This was it. This was the way out.

At this point, the dome light was underwater and giving Monica a minor sense of direction in the murky water. She came back to the backseat for air and quickly dove down again to the driver’s side. She was determined to kick this window out and free herself and her child.

However, being underwater made her kicks more worthless than they had been before. It was like fighting in a dream. The kicks were so weak they weren’t even causing her feet pain. Monica screamed with the last attempt, muffled by the water as the air bubbles rose.

Monica swam to the back and resurfaced to find herself near the rear window clinging to what little air was left in the car. The water was soon to take over the whole car and leave her with no air. Leave her with nothing but water to breathe into her lungs.

With her head pressed against the back window, fighting for each breath, Monica was scared, not only for her life but the life of the child she was carrying as well. Monica had never been a religious person, but in moments of desperation, any god is a god worth pleading to.

“Please God, please, let me out of this car and I swear I will do anything! I need a miracle!” Monica begged. “I need to live not for me, but for my baby! Please let the window shatter so I can swim to safety! Please do anything! Do you hear me! Help!”

Monica pleaded as the water took her head underneath and she took her last breath of fresh air. The dome light faded and left darkness.

God never answered.