Chapter 4 - Sinking into the Frozen Deep
The shock of the frigid water slammed the remaining breath from Clara’s lungs like a physical blow.
A deafening roar filled her ears as thousands of silver bubbles surged violently toward the ceiling of light.
The motorized wheelchair proved far heavier than the buoyant displacement of water, dragging her like a stone.
Pale-blue maternity silk ballooned around her swollen belly before plastering heavily against her skin.
Clara opened her eyes beneath the stinging chlorine, squinting up through the shimmering, distorted surface.
High above, through the undulating ripples, Victoria’s red silhouette stood motionless like a bloodstain on the sky.
Clara’s hands scrambled desperately against the nylon seatbelt buckle locked tight across her waist.
Her waterlogged fingers slipped against the smooth plastic latch, lacking the leverage to release the mechanism.
The deep end of the infinity pool yawned beneath her, a tiled abyss dropping ten feet down.
The baby inside her kicked with violent distress, responding to the mother’s surging adrenaline and terror.
Clara clenched her jaw tight, fighting the overwhelming biological impulse to inhale the surrounding fluid.
Pressure built relentlessly behind her eardrums as the heavy frame settled against the pool bottom.
The wheelchair landed with a muffled metallic thud against the blue mosaic tiles.
Silvery clouds of oxygen drifted from the corners of her lips as her chest burned with searing fire.
She pulled frantically at the shoulder straps, but the soaked webbing tightened like a noose.
Her brunette hair spread out around her face in an undulating halo of absolute helplessness.
Darkness began to creep into the edges of her vision, speckled with cold pinpoint stars of hypoxia.
Every second under the water felt like an eternity carved into her failing consciousness.
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She pressed both palms firmly against her belly, willing her baby to hold onto life for just a moment longer.
She looked up through the watery glass one last time, watching her life slip away into total stillness.
