Ariel

The sun was a warm, comforting blanket as my friends and I swam, our laughter echoing across the water. But a sudden, fierce current snatched at my legs, pulling me away from the safety of the shore. Panic clawed at my throat as I fought the powerful rip, but it was a losing battle. My friends' distant shouts faded into the roar of the waves, and the coastline became a faint line on the horizon. My lungs burned, my limbs turned to lead, and just as the world began to close in, I saw it—a brilliant flash of fiery red hair against the endless blue. Then, everything went black.