text: I sit in a cage above the sea. My only connection to the kingdom above is the rope that suspends me. My legs hang through the bars, free to swing along with the tempo of the waves below. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can feel the ocean air as it travels to my lungs, taking my problems away momentarily, sending me down to the beach below. My eyes suddenly sting from the salt water, my skin burns from the sun. The hustle and bustle of the lively kingdom above is not muffled, as if I’m much farther away, and I allow my brain to muffle it even more, ignoring it in lieu of the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore. I flex my toes, moving the sand below me. I take a step, letting my feet be submerged. Walking forward, I feel every cell in my skin rejoicing. I go to dip my hands in the cool water, splashing my face with it and momentarily relieving the pain of my sunburnt skin. I wander farther into the sea, giving no mind to the fact that my clothes were becoming drenched. I lean back, letting myself float aimlessly, not caring that I seemed to be meandering farther and farther from the shore, no, in fact, I welcomed the vast ocean as a father, a caretaker, a mother, a home. Breathing a sigh of contentment, I go to stand, finding that my feet can no longer reach the sand. For a second I begin to worry, and as I turn to see that the beach is miles away, a wave hits me. I go sprawling forward, breaking the surface of the ocean and sinking quickly, finding that it seems to be getting farther and farther away from me, not just at a normal rate, but almost as if someone is forcing me downward. Immediately I feel the burning of suffocation inside of me. My lungs scream from within and my chest threatens to collapse as my hands desperately attempt to grip the air that is long above me. Finally, I hit the ocean floor, and the impact is so fast that it forces the remaining air from my lungs. I desperately need to breathe, but I don’t want to. I lay on the empty, vast ocean floor, fighting against my body, clinging to the sand, vainly begging my lungs to accept the gift of water in lieu of air, pleading with them to *just let me have this, just let me drown*. Against my own will, I gasp, air filling my lungs. I open my eyes, and my heart sinks. My feet are not wet. My eyes do not burn. The sound of the kingdom above me fills my ears to an almost unbearable level of noise, and I cover my ears with my hands. I sigh and lean against the bars to catch my breath, so that I may soon return to the ocean below.