The Chamber of Life

My first sensation was a sudden and severe cooling - the cold that pierced my body and swallowed it like a charge of electricity. For a moment, I was not aware of anything else. Then I realized that I was drowning in cold water and instinctively struggling with the need to suffocate and breathe fresh air. I kicked weakly and frantically. I opened my eyes and squeezed them when the bright green water stung them. Then I froze for a moment, as if suspended above the depths, and began to rise. It seemed a few hours before I again went up to the open air and, fortunately, drank it deep into my tormented lungs. The sun touched my head warmly, like the hand of a good god.