At some point,

Temperature

became meaningless.

All we had and knew was the

Endless cold,

So bitter and sharp that our

Bodies

Extended beyond the point

Of shivering or

Feeling.

The water engulfed us,

Shocking against our warm

Blood

And freezing it

Still,

The sound of imagined

Ice

Crackling in our

Ears.

And we swam.

Though we felt

The frost forming on the

Roofs

Of our

Mouths

And seeping into the

Flesh

Of our

Thighs and shins

Until it spread

Across and throughout our

Femurs,

We swam

And swam

Until time became

Untraceable.

We fought the cold

In a chilling

Battle

For the air that

Rattled

In our

Lungs

And our own

Consciousness

Because

I remembered reading

That if you sleep in

Monumental cold,

You sleep

Forever...

Swim,

They said.

We know it's cold,

But get in and swim.

You'll get warmer.

So we swam.

We swam and swam

To please them,

To capture a sliver of

Warmth,

But the cold,

The everlasting cold,

Consumed

All.

We swam until

Our feet lost all feeling

And our lips went blue,

All of us,

We swam until every

Injury

That had once been

Became present

once more,

Dragged out by the

Icy lapping of the

Water.

We swam until our

Legs

Betrayed us,

Seizing and succumbing

To the slow-moving

Freeze

That carved us into

Sculptures of ice,

Then let us

Sink.

****

So the pool we go to for my school's swim team had to be drained and refilled so they could fix something, so the water was cold.

FREEZING, DANGEROUSLY FRIGID KIND OF COLD

To give you an idea, Norwaymagic had a bottle of water with several pieces of ice in it and it was the same temperature as the pool.  And imagine the kind of ice water that makes your teeth hurt and your throat burn because it's so cold.

The coaches had us swim anyway, but I really don't think they grasped just how cold it was.

My chest still hurts from it, cuz I have poor circulation to begin with.

Ugh...