The chlorine stings the whites of my eyes, but it’s nothing like the icy burn of a glacial lake. It’s familiar. Normal. Everything is blurred but somehow heightened. The little girl with pink goggles grins at me, then kicks her way to the surface.
Colin’s eyes are open, too, but he doesn’t go anywhere. He grasps both my hands, holding on to them as he promised he would. We sit on the bottom of the pool, our legs stretched in front of us, bubbles rising to the surface.
Thank you, I say, mouthing the words so he can understand.
As we float to the surface, everything suddenly comes into focus. Our story isn’t about two star-crossed lovers who survived five days in the wilderness.
It’s about two people who found their way home.