"Should we have a breathing contest?" I asked Ami, her eyes shining.

"Contest?"

"Neh. See who can hold their breath the longest," I suggested excitedly.

"Oh. Okay. I will play with you."

We seperated and I went to one ladder on the deepest end of my pool and Ami want to the ladder that was directly across from me.

"Ready?"

"Yes!" C=Ami said grinning brightly.

"Hana! Duel! Set!" 

We both pulled ourselves don the ladder steps to the bottom and held on.

I looked over in her diection but the lack of sunlight made the navy blue water hard to see through. I could faintly see her outline though.

As I sat at the botom, my lungs started toburn and I needed oxygen. I saw her form stand and guessed she'd made it to the surface first, meaning I'd won.

I was wrong. I was so horribly wrong.

Breaking the surface of the water, I in a lungful of sweet clean air and looked over at Ami. Her hair was floating at the surface, but her face was down. I assumed she'd gotten another breath and went back down.

I swam over to where Ami was. She didn't move.

"Ami. Stand up. I won," I said.

Ami didn't respond, her face still in the water. She looked like she was floating-lifelessly.

I panicked and reached out for her.

"Ami?"

I turned her head over in my arms. Her face was drained of color and her lips were pale.

I quickly lifted her up onto the the side of the pool, climbed out and dragged her farther away from the edge of the pool so that we wouldn't fall back in.

My head was racing and I was breathing hard. Ami lay lifeless. I ran to my jeans on the table, the evening air chilling me through my red swim trunks, grabbed my phone and ran back to her. I called 119 and began CPR.

It didn't do any good.

The paramedics arrived maybe 8 minutes later, and Ami was later pronounced dead. I couldn't say or think of anything. I just cried for days.

I will never go swimming again.