Despite being a great swimmer, the ponds murky water almost makes me cough up my last breath, but I endure. The dirt irritates my eyes, and I can barely make out Ruspin even though he's floating right next to me. He touches my nose and shakes his head. I glance up and tap my watch. He shakes his head once more.

His plan seems great in theory, but what if they stay longer than we can hold our breath. Breathing is an involuntary action, but even if we managed to avoid it, we would still pass out and float to the top. Neither is extremely comforting.

Okay, my lungs aren't even burning yet, Ruspin is here with me. That alone offers more comfort than I ever would have guessed.

At the moment, some passing silt obscures his face due to siltation, but I can see him reaching out to me.

He holds my hand and manoeuvres his free hand to shift my mound of hair so that it doesn't float as prominently.

Something brushes past me legs and I extract myself from Ruspin's grasp, facing at the monster before me. The caiman circles around us and involuntarily my mouth opens and some of my air escapes... now I have a pond-ful of mouth water (that I quickly expel) and a predator circling.

Ruspin is suddenly hindering my view of the man eater and points to his eyes. Either he wants me to look into his eyes or avoid the crock. Unsure, I do both. By the time the creature loses interest my lungs are burning with a newfound desire for air.

Pointing to the top of the pond frantically, I'm prepared to thrust myself out and to hell with the consequences when Ruspin grabs my leg and yanks me back down. He drifts to the surface while I almost feel myself going numb. When Ruspin returns his cheeks are puffed, chock-full of precious air. I'm about to go and get some for myself when he halts me once more.

If I were on land, I'm positive that my cheeks would be wet with tears from the strain... but if we were on land I would be able to breathe!

Like suction in reverse, Ruspin's lips impress over mine and he pushes air into my mouth. The relief is so catastrophic that I almost... inhale. But I don't, the air is enough to repair my impaired senses. With one hand Ruspin gently strokes my hand and with the other, he holds five fingers up and then slowly lowers them. I'm almost trembling with relief when he lowers the final finger propel myself to the surface, tasting the air desperately. I don't even look to see if Ruspin made it up, I just need to breathe. Although, I note that he is thankfully at my side.

By the time my blinding need recedes, Ruspin is still lying flat beside me, breathing unsteadily.

I'm afraid to even ask him if I can help because that'll cost him even more air if he answers. Feeling utterly useless and breathless, I reach out to rest my hand over his like he did for me in the pond; hoping to offer some sort of comfort. I don't know how much he appreciates it or even wants comfort from me, I still try on the off chance that I might actually be helping him.

When his breathing evens, he stands almost immediately and starts marching away. Only he doesn't move to exit, he moves to the trees and retrieves the bag of fruits that I'd completely forgotten about. Instead of chastising me about it, he pushes my phone (which was also overlooked on my part) into my hands and walks briskly away, into the trees, without even a measly look or word to me.

I guess I wasn't as comforting to him as he seemed to be to me.