I was harassed by creepy men at the pool. Then one of them started drowning
A Near Fatal Mistake
And that’s when he decided to show off with a running backflip into the deep end. He hit his head on the edge, and the crack was audible.
He went under and didn’t come up, blood spreading in the water. His friend stood frozen.
“He can’t swim.” Gold Chain screamed
He was just standing in the shallow end the whole time. Flameshorts jumped in but started panicking immediately, making it worse, thrashing and pushing Beer Gut deeper.
I groaned, realizing it was going to be up to me to save this asshole as his friends started screaming for help. I pushed off the wall hard and dove straight down into the deep end where Beer Gut was already sinking toward the bottom.
The water around his head looked pink from blood mixing with chlorine. Flameshorts was right above him thrashing around like crazy and actually pushing Beer Gut deeper every time he tried to grab him.
I swam harder and reached them just as Beer Gut hit twelve feet down. Flame grabbed at my arm when I got close, but I shoved him away as hard as I could.
“Get to the shallow end before you kill us all” I said
He choked on water and started dog paddling away while I got behind Beer’s limp body. The second lifeguard finally jumped up from his chair and started blowing his whistle over and over.
He yelled for everyone to clear the deep end while grabbing the red rescue tube from its hook.
“Someone call 911 right now” He yelled
He slid into the water as I hooked my arm under Beer’s chin in the cross-chest carry I’d learned years ago. His body felt like dead weight pulling me down, but I kicked as hard as I could toward the surface.
Blood from his head wound ran down my arm and turned the water pink around us. We broke through and I fought to keep his face above water while his head rolled back against my shoulder.
The lifeguard swam over with the rescue tube and helped me start towing Beer toward the pool edge. Gold Chain and the fourth friend were standing there screaming at us to hurry up.
They reached down trying to grab Beer, but I had to yell at them to back off.
“Let us get him positioned right first” I yelled
The lifeguard and I worked together to lift Beer’s body up to the deck without making his head injury worse. His breathing sounded wet and shallow when we finally got him laid out flat.
The gash on his scalp was about three inches long and bleeding bad. I grabbed my soaked towel from where it had been thrown and pressed it against the wound while the lifeguard checked his pulse.
Gold started yelling that this was all my fault.
“You distracted him with your stuckup attitude” He said
Other people who’d been swimming told him to shut his mouth. A woman who’d been doing laps in the far lane walked over with her phone out recording everything.
“I’m Minnie Carol and I saw what these men did to you before this happened” She said
She leaned closer and spoke quietly.
“I’ll send you the video later” She said
The lifeguard kept checking Beer’s breathing while I held pressure on his head. Blood soaked through the towel fast and ran between my fingers.
Beer’s skin looked gray and his lips were turning blue. More people gathered around us and someone said the ambulance was three minutes out.
Flame had made it to the shallow end and was coughing up water while the fourth friend helped him stand. They both looked scared now that their buddy was unconscious and bleeding everywhere.
I could hear sirens getting closer and then paramedics rushed through the pool gate with their equipment. The lead guy took charge right away.
“I’m Elias Branson what happened here” He asked
The lifeguard started explaining while Elias and his team got Beer onto a backboard.
“Attempted backflip from the deck struck his head on the pool edge unconscious in twelve feet of water for maybe ninety seconds” The lifeguard said
Elias asked me quick questions while they worked to stabilize Beer’s neck and spine.
“Did you see the impact any seizure activity in the water how long was he under” He asked
I answered as best I could while they put a collar on Beer and started checking his vitals. My hands were shaking now and I noticed the red marks on my arms where Gold had grabbed me earlier.
The chlorine made them sting bad. Elias’s team worked fast getting an oxygen mask on Beer and starting an IV while asking everyone to step back.
They lifted the backboard onto their gurney and started wheeling him toward the ambulance. Flame tried to follow, but Elias told him firmly to stay back.
“We need space to work you can follow to the hospital in your own vehicle” He said
Seeking Justice
The pool manager showed up looking stressed and started talking to his staff about collecting everyone’s information. I sat down on a bench because my legs felt weak all of a sudden.
Minnie sat next to me and showed me her phone screen.
“I got the beer pouring and some of the grabbing on video the audio is pretty clear too” She said
She gave me her number so she could send the files later. Other witnesses were giving their contact info to the pool staff while Gold and the fourth friend huddled together near the fence.
They kept looking over at me and whispering to each other. The teenage lifeguard who’d gone on break earlier came running back and his face went white when he saw all the blood on the deck.
The second lifeguard filled him in on what happened while the manager started reviewing something on his phone, probably security footage.
My whole body hurt from the adrenaline crash and I could see bruises already forming on my thigh where Gold had grabbed me underwater. Flame stumbled toward the ambulance as they loaded Beer onto it, still drunk and trying to grab at the stretcher.
Elias blocked him with one arm and told him to back off and let them work. The pool staff started moving through the crowd with clipboards getting everyone’s names and phone numbers for the incident report.
