I reached out and lunged forward, grabbing the buoy. Gasping for breath, I clung to the flotation device like my life depended on it.
Eli was swimming right behind me and grabbed the buoy mere seconds after me. He grinned as he reached out and grabbed my face. “You were amazing. Are you kidding me? I could barely keep up with you.”
I coughed and wheezed but managed a brief, “Thanks.” Panic had propelled me forward more than any real skill, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. Before I could mentally process that I had to turn around and do that all again, a huge gust of wind came through and the water grew choppier around us. Large rain droplets fell, a few landing on my face. I could barely distinguish them from the water lapping around us.
Eli squinted up at the sky. “We better get moving before the downpour starts.” He made quick work of the knots fastening the puzzle pieces to the buoy. “I’ll carry these back.”
Before I could completely catch my breath, Eli had already dove under and swam a few strokes away. I let go of the safety of the buoy and my tired body fell back into the now-rough water. My strokes didn’t have the same determination as they had just minutes ago. The adrenaline had worn off and now my body was cursing me for exerting it so hard. But I continued to push through. I could see Eli’s head bobbing just in front of me, glancing behind him every few seconds to make sure he wasn’t getting too far ahead.
The wind picked up as we fought through small waves. It felt like I wasn’t even moving—like no stroke would be enough to get me closer to shore.
I gasped as a small wall of water hit me right in the face. Water shot down my throat and I coughed. I didn’t have a chance to close my mouth before more water hit me.
Even though I was floating, I couldn’t keep my face clear. Looking ahead through the waves filled me with dread. We weren’t even halfway to shore yet. My coughing fit continued, water relentlessly filling my mouth with each gasp.
Then arms were around my waist, lifting me up ever so slightly so I could get relief. There was fear in Eli’s eyes as he held onto me.
“We’ve got to get out of the water!” he yelled over the wind.
I nodded but couldn’t respond because of all the choking. My stomach spasmed.
“I’m going to swim with you!” he called. “Just try to lie on your back! You’ve already swallowed too much water.”
Following his instructions, I rolled onto my back. He kept one of his arms wrapped around my waist and started to swim. Even with my face further from the water, it still seemed to be crashing down on me. I tried to focus on kicking, but in the process, I inhaled more water and started to chokeviolently. I could feel our speed increase. I tried to lie as still as possible, in the hopes that Eli would get us to shore faster that way. At this point, I felt like I might pass out.
My legs drifted underwater and then finally hit solid ground.
“Can you stand?” Eli asked, pulling me to my feet and draping one of my arms around his waist. We were barely two steps out of the water before I collapsed.
“She needs help!” he shouted, as he pulled me to shore.
“The medical van is over here,” Brady yelled. Eli put his arm behind my knees and lifted me off the ground. He jogged the last few feet until we were at a white van.
I tried to tell him that I was fine, but I couldn’t get the words out between coughs.
“She swallowed a lot of water,” Eli said, setting me down on the ledge at the back of the van as the medic who had bandaged my hand the other day came rushing out to help.
“I think—I think she might be panicking a little bit too,” Eli continued. He bent over so that his face was level with mine. I could see him pleading with me to calm down, but he didn’t quite know what to do.
“Lean forward and just keep coughing,” the medic instructed. “Your body is trying to force the water out of your lungs.”
A few more violent coughs, and water gushed out of my mouth. I sniffled and breathed in through my nose for the first time since we started the swim. I coughed a few more times, then shakily took a breath.
“I think that’s better.” I could finally speak.
Eli exhaled loudly. I stared at my feet, and tried not to think about what he must be thinking in this moment. I’d briefly impressed him with my swim out there, only to onceagain become dead weight. We didn’t even finish the challenge.
The medic rewrapped my injured hand in a dry bandage before wrapping the whole thing in plastic to combat the rain that now fell steadily from the sky.
“Just sit here and rest a while longer,” she said, her voice kind. “I’ll tell the producers that you need a minute to recover and can’t be interrupted.” She winked at me before leaving.
I was sure Brady and Shay wouldn’t allow us to be alone for long, but I relished even the tiniest moments of peace. I inspected my fingers, which had turned a light blue from the icy cold of the water. Squeezing my hands together, I focused on anything other than Eli.
“I guess you’ll get to look like an action star after all,” I finally joked, once I couldn’t take the silence anymore.
He squeezed his eyes shut, which made me want to retreat from the weight of his disappointment. Rain pelted his face but he made no move to seek shelter.
“This is so embarrassing,” I whispered.
