30 People Share Their Close Calls With Death

30.

“I was on a Youth Trip in Florida the day I nearly died. I was 12 and had made friends, at least I thought I had, with another girl in the group. Now, I don’t remember the exact beach we all went to, but I do remember that the hotel was literally *right there*, and there was AMPLE signage warning about rip currents. That night, the girl (henceforth named ‘Ann’) kept on talking about going out to the sandbars, but I said that I couldn’t as I couldn’t really swim. She insisted that she’d swim and I could use her donut floaty — problem solved! I said OK and off we went the next day. At first, the water was very calm, and everybody had a great time playing about. But then, Ann left me alone on the first sandbar the moment we arrived and took the floaty with her. I was confused, but didn’t think anything of it at first — Ann probably just forgot something.”

“Well, I had been out there for a few minutes when the waves started growing…and pushing me toward where all those signs said the rip current started. I called for Ann. I could see her and a group of other girls on the beach, but they did nothing. The waves grew stronger, and I started screaming for her and my older brother, who I could also see on the beach. 

By now, I’m fully panicking — the waves are high enough that I can barely break the surface of the water no matter how much I try to launch myself out of the water, and I’m continuously pushed toward the current. I could feel the rip current pulling on me now, and I thought that I was going to die. I could feel myself drowning. … I could feel the last of the air being stolen from my lungs, my heart thundering for life, my limbs growing heavier, my lungs simultaneously convulsing and burning, and my vision started fading… I was alone and was going to die that way. 

I gathered everything I had left and gave myself one last launch to the surface to scream — and suddenly, there was this guy from another youth group there. He got us to shore. I don’t know who he was, but he sat with me while I cried, and I never saw him again. Ann and I never spoke again (she ditched me for that group of girls she was with on the beach).”

—Anonymous