There’s ringing in my ears and my eyes have gone blurry. My head is down and my body limp. Where am I? I try to lift my heavy head up and fail, my chin hitting my chest over and over. The ringing in my ears start to subside, fading into the distance. A loud siren accompanied by panicked voices replaces the barely audible ringing. My eyes begin to flicker open with great effort. Red light is flashing on and off, painting everything in red one second and leaving the space in darkness the next. Suddenly, I realize where I am.

My head shot up and my eye flew open. My eyes began to stink as they tried to adjust to the brightness of the flashing light, but I didn’t have time to focus on any of the pain coursing through my body. I scan the space of panicked voices, but don’t see anyone near by.

I am sitting in the co-captain seat of our brand new ROV model. This model was supposed to be revolutionary, allowing travel to 9 miles under water; 2 more miles than have ever been possible before. As adrenaline began pumping through me, I could process my surroundings much faster, allowing me to search through my memories of how I got here.

Me and my crew of 22 marine biologists where sent off on a journey to travel 8 miles below water to test our new vehicle and explore new marine life. Upon the journey to the bottom of the sea, our ROV started experiencing some problems from the pressure. But, since it was not bad enough to cause real damage,we continued our voyage to explore the unexplored. Unfortunately for us, on the way back up, only a half a mile from shore, our captain become restless and accelerated the ROV’s speed. The ROV began to buckle under the extreme pressure change, creating strange and concerning noises that created commotion among our crew. Once the ROV had reached the top layer of ice, it was expected to break through the ice and drive us to safe land. But, due to our captain’s careless eagerness, we had hit a patch of ice too thick for the already struggling ROV, and it thanked the captain by completely breaking down.

That is when the siren began to blare and the lights began to flash. The front windshield had broken, knocking me out for who knows how long and leaving an opening for the captain to climb out of.

I began to try and find my way to the window where I could crawl out, but was thrown back to my seat by my seatbelt. The ROV’s alarm system immediately locked my seatbelt, providing an extra layer of security in case of a crash, only this seatbelt was the only thing holding me from safety.

I realized the numbness of my hands as I tried to pull the seatbelt out of the holder. I knew that the influx of ice cold water rushing into the ROV was only making the temperature colder and it creeped into the captain’s room. My head snapped back and I watched the water start to fill the room.

Filled with a new sense of panic, I remembered the emergency seatbelt cutter located next to my seat. I quickly swung my arm to the side and smashed the case, cutting my hand and arm all over, though it didn’t matter at the moment, considering the adrenaline and numbness from the cold. I take the cutter and cut the seatbelt, failing the first few times because of my ruthlessly shaking hands, but then making a clean cut on the fourth try.

I crawl out my seat, balancing on my legs and trying to get used to the numbing pain that shot through them. The subtle tilt in the floor from the ROV slowly sinking didn’t help, but I had to keep moving forward anyways.

The ROV jolted a bit as it sunk deeper into the water, making me stumble towards the water, now quickly rising halfway up the room. That’s when I notice something in the water.

Someone was laying head first in the water, bobbing up and down. I couldn’t tell if the water was red from the flashing light, or from the human being surrounded by it, but I wasn’t willing to leave someone for dead, as my captain did.

I clumsily make my way to the water and haul the person onto my shoulder. Everything in my body was slowly going numb, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to fit both of us through the hold while unable to feel nor see from the flashing light.

I turn towards the hole as fast as I can, though still pretty slow, and march my way toward the hole. I am dizzy and starting to see black spots, but my focus could not be led astray, as my life was not only a means to survive, but a means to save another as well.

I found my way to the hole and lay the person on the captain’s seat. I climb through the hole, trying not to get cut, but still cutting my shoulders, elbows, and thighs in the process.

Now freshly covered in blood, I reach through the hole again to grab the person. My body is hanging halfway into the ROV as I grab them by both shoulders and yank them towards me with all my might. My knees slid on the remaining glass of the front windshield and I began shaking violently from the cold.

I manage the person through the hole, still cutting them due to my shaking and inability to feel my arms.

I haul them over my shoulder once more and began to try to stand up, slipped and falling back onto my left knee each time. There is a subtle voice in the distance, slowly reaching closer to me. Soon, my attention becomes drawn to it.

“Over here!” I hear a voice yell from behind me.

I turn my head around to look over my non-occupied shoulder and see a man with a thick coat, pants, boots, and gloves on; all showing some inner fur from the inside. The inside of the ROV is now completely submerged in water, with only the nose pointing out. The ROV sank deeper as the man reached out his hands.

“Give me the lady first!” He yelled, barely heard over the sirens and current storm.

It was then that I realized that I was carrying a woman, one whom was still asleep, but had color in her face. I hoped that she would still be alive when I came to see her next, if my time to be alive where to come ever again. I took the woman in both of my hands and handed her over. The rescuer was barely able to reach her, stretching far over the water to cradle her. As he handed her off to another man, who hurried to bring her to shelter, the ROV broke off of the remaining pieces of ice, submerging itself, accompanied by me, into the freezing cold water.

I fought to stay afloat, splashing and gasping for air, but my body had gone numb and the breath knocked out of my lungs from the piercing ice. As I sunk down deeper into the water, two hands grabbed my arms that were raised over my head. I was pulled up over the ice and carried to a cart, where I saw the woman had been laid as well.

The man set me down next to her. My eyes become blurry, and my ears began to ring. I fought to keep my head up, but, much like my fight to stay afloat, my chin sunk to my chest, and my world went black, with no more red light interruption.

I woke up days later in a hospital bed, the lights blaring and machines beeping. There were multiple IV’s strapped to my arms, and every part of me that had been cut up had been thoroughly wrapped in bandages. A figure stood beside me, though I was unable to identify the figure through blurry eyes. My eyelids felt heavy, and I feel back into a deep sleep.

I woke up once more, filled with renewed energy and sense. I sat up in my hospital bed and looked around at the machinery, chords, and bandages. There were less bandages than when I had first woken up, though the scars on my body still remained after they were taken off. My heart rate began to speed up, making the machine beep faster.

The same figure I saw earlier, who I now identified as a doctor, came in and checked the machines while asking me various questions about how I was feeling. After the doctor was done, I asked about the woman,

“How is she?” Was all I managed to asked, wondering if the doctor would have a clue as to who I was talking of.

“She’s doing well. She is lucky that you were there to save her. Any longer in the cold and she wouldn’t have made it. She suffered from a little frostbite, unlike you, though she did receive much less cuts than you.”

I was realieved to her she was doing well, though I did not know her. I sat in silence as the doctor examined the IV’s and bandages.

“You look to be doing well”. He concluded “Get some rest, now, and you will heal faster.” Then he walked out the room.

I never asked if the other 21 people had made it. I knew that the captain must have, but if that woman was stuck in the water, maybe plenty more where too that I could not have see. Despite the horrid thought, I knew what mattered: The woman had been saved, and that was all I could do. It might not seem like much when I think of the other lives potentially injured or worse, but each life matters. Even when only one can survive, that one can save millions. And I had faith that that one life could be enough.

We are all out of the hospital now with no lives lost. We all agreed on going to a group therapy session, though a handful of people had made it out easily through escape exits, the session was paid for by the company we worked for, so we took the opportunity. This experience grew us closer as coworkers, passionate enough for the same thing to crash a ship and come back to ride another.

At the end of out session, we all close off with the therapist thanking us for our time. We stand up and many people start talking to their fellow friends. I make my way over to the woman.

“ Thank you for saving my life.” She said. It was not the first time she said it, but she felt obligated to repeat it each time she saw me.

“Don’t worry about it.” I reply, pulling a piece of paper from my pocket, which had my number on it. “Though, you could repay me by going out to lunch with me”

She smiled and took the paper from my hand “I’ll see you tonight”

I walk away and feel a buzz from my phone as I reach the parking lot;

‘ I’ll drive us there this time ’