baby, you wouldn't last a minute on the creek.

I am breathing, I am burning.
I am knee deep in black icy water with darkness swallowing up my legs.
I reach down into what looks like nothing and pull my hand out, soaking, dripping. I twist my hair beneath these cold fingertips and allow the water to freeze upon its strands.
With a step farther from the shore, I fall deeper, my thighs engulfed by a frozen black abyss. Waist down, I am frozen, I am numb. I reach my hand down to my thight and pinch myself. But nothing. I am frozen, I am numb. A soft wave rises to my chest and falls, crashing at the coastline. For a moment, my chest stings with the impact. Then it is gone. I am frozen, I am numb.
With another step, I am taken under.
The water is cold against my lips. My eyes are wide, stinging with the salty concentration in the water. I am staring into nothing. I force the remaining energy in my body to bring me above the water lining. My arms flail about, searching for something to grab onto, but instead they continue to collapse through to the water. Waves ripple out from where I pound for stability.
Give me stability, I say.
But nothing. With numb legs, I'm kicking about the water looking for stability.
Give me shelter, I say.
Icy water runs swiftly into my mouth as I fall back under. I am breathing, I am burning. A wave pushes me back. I cannot feel the grains of sand beneath my numb feet, but I know it is there. I know it is there.
Give me hope, give me hope.
I feel a shadow's stare stab me in the shoulders. I whip my head toward the shore, my hair, strands of it covered in ice, lashes at my face. I reach to push it from my line of sight.
The shore, where is the shore.
I am stepping toward nothing, waves pushing me from behind. With numb feet, numb legs, numb chest, I collapse into the water. In shallow icy water I am sinking. I tumble beneath waves burying my body in the sand.
This is not my grave, this is not my grave.
I stumble onto sand. I am coughing up ice and a shadow hovers over me, watching. The waves are tugging at my feet. My hand reaches into the air.
Nothing is an illusion, save me from this imagination.
A hand intertwines in mine. I gasp. I am weak, I am strong.
Pull me from these depths, I scream.
I am nothing, I scream.
The warmth of a hand returns the color to this grey decaying corpse. I am drained, I am full. I am pulled from the water.
I am a corpse, I tell him.
I am nothing, I tell him.
An arm wraps around to my back, pulling me up, straightening me out. The warmth on my spine triggers adrenaline throughout my body. I am alert, I am alert.
I am cold against his overwhelming warmth. My cheeks are flushed with color. I am drained, I am full.
Make me something, I tell him, you can make me something.
You make me something I scream, make something out of me.
He does not respond.
Hear my speaking, hear me screaming.
I watch as my hand crawls up to his face, searching for meaning, craving definition. As a forced action, I tilt my head up towards his. Arms are wrapped tightly around me, gesturing my safety.
The waves pound against the shore. My head presses cold against the warmth of his chest. Against the crashing, ruthless waves, a heartbeat rings in my ears.
You are my stability, I scream.
You are my shelter, I scream.
You are my hope, Iscream, you are my hope.
I am breathing, I am burning.