snapshot:

i believe it was the first and only time i ever went to this swimming pool. i can't really remember who i was with. dorian, jimi, maybe silas. we were 10, maybe 11. i recall there being two pools set perpendicular to each other.
we were swimming on the far end of the pool furthest from the entrance. suddenly there were whistles. lots and lots of whistles. people started scurrying, jumping out of the pool. lifeguards started yelling for everyone to get out of the water. it was chaotic, scary, strange. i had no idea what was happening. people were pointing, staring.

on the edge of the pool, opposite from where we now sat in the warm summer grass, lay the body of a small boy. one lifeguard knelt over him, pumping his chest and cyclicly breathing into his mouth. chills filled my entire body.

murmurs brought what little facts were known. he had dived into too shallow of water. he had hit his head on the bottom. he was unconscious. i don't know how long the lifeguards worked on the boy before the ambulance arrived. likely only a few minutes. paramedics surrounded the lifeless body, obscuring the view from our curious eyes. seconds later the announcement trickled through the crowd, the pool was closed, we had to leave. we were ushered on a route around the edge of the grounds away from the scene to the exit.

i don't know who this boy was. i never even saw his face. but his death that day impacted my life immensely. it was my first reality check of my own mortality.