What I Did Last Summer Fact or Fiction Blog Hop! Part Deux

I am participating in the WHAT I DID LAST SUMMER FACT OR FICTION BLOG HOP! Hosted by Emily King and Melodie Wright.  So what is this? Basically I've written a short little story below and you need to determine if it is Fact or Fiction and leave your vote in the comments. On Wednesday September 5th I wrote another story that is either a fact or fiction story (the vice versa of my either fact or fiction posted below.) And commenters should make their best guess about which one is true and which is a dirty writer lie. On September 7th, I'll tell you which was which.

Give the Girl a Hand. 

When I was ten, my best friend on the planet was having her birthday at Raging Waters in Southern California. I had never been to a water park before so as my mom drove up the fifty seven freeway towards San Dimas, I sat in the passenger seat beside her with a mixture of thrill and fear that made my skin sweat beneath my new purple one-piece suit.

When my mother pulled our aging Datsun into the Raging Waters parking lot, I could see Alyson and her family gathered together with a group of girls--her older sister had invited some of her friends.


Inside, Alyson's sister and her bikini clad friends headed for the wave pool. I had no idea what a wave pool was but I, along with the other ten year olds, followed the older girls like baby ducks. Once there, I saw an enormous swimming pool and hundreds of people floating calmly on rubber tubes. All the older girls started leaping from the side wall that was five feet above the water's surface. Alyson jumped, Alicia jumped, Renee jumped, so I jumped too. We swam, we floated on our backs, we splashed each other, and then a loud buzzer sounded. I stopped and listened as a collective voice of excitement rose from the hundreds of other people securely ensconced in their doughnut floats. What was happening?

Slowly, the water began to move. Up, down, up, down. A little higher, the older girls began swimming for the ladder against the wall. Up, higher, down, deeper, Alyson was climbing up the ladder. I tried to swim towards the ladder, Up, up, up I rode but then down, down, pushed, sucked, deep, oh my God, I'm under the water. This happens again and again. Swim, struggle, gasp breath, I see Alyson and all the other girls standing on the wall watching, their bodies blur before my eyes as I'm sucked under again and again and again.

I'm tired.

The next time I come up, I see the life guard now standing there too. She also watches me get sucked back down. On the next up wave, I don't come up. The waves, powerful and fierce, are happening over my head. I'm very deep now.

I'm very alone now.

And then, I feel it. I am at the bottom, fifteen feet of water pressing me down, and I feel a single hand on my purple clad butt. Pushing me, up, up, up, halfway now, I'm coming up, my lungs are bursting, I kick and kick and kick. The hand disappears. Kick, kick, pull, drag. Finally, I break the surface and gulp air. The ladder is right in front of me.

Shaking, crying, I clutch at the rungs. The life guard, dry and holding a long red float she never used, is rushing to me. Everyone clusters by while she pulls me to the deck and makes me lie down.

To this day, I have no idea who, or what, saved my life that day.