Untitled Poem by Megan Russell

Confusion and fear washes over her,
like a tidal wave of daggers
continually slicing at every angle.
The temperature of the water is nearly immeasurable;
she is suddenly surrounded by a million pin needles stabbing her constantly throughout her entire body.
Her legs are numb.
Her arms are weighed down.
Sinking to the bottom
She struggles to swim toward the surface
but a piece of coral has caught a hold
of the bottom of her jeans pulling her down
and then pinning her in place for the perfect, but clean execution.
She watches in horror at the continuous waves thrashing above,
for death stocks at this door.
In reaching the surface again
She was pulled down once again by the deep black wave of her sorrows.
While under she wonders during her last moments alive,
was this style of punishment well deserved?
She imagines the beginning of death,
suffocation by the salt water filling her lungs,
while slowly drifting into a deep coma of her troubled thoughts.
Images of a life taken for granted start to flash before her eyes.
Every action, every love,
her life filled with perfectly priceless mistakes,
sequenced leading up to earlier that day.
To the day she jumped