The pain was immediate—a blinding white flash that erased the world. The air left my lungs in a whoosh. I stumbled backward, my center of gravity lost, my feet tangling in the hem of my maxi dress. My arms windmilled, grasping for purchase on air, on anything.

But there was nothing. Just the edge of the concrete, and then the fall.

I hit the water hard. The cold was a shock against the heat of the day. I sank like a stone, the heavy fabric of my dress clinging to me, dragging me down into the chlorinated blue. I opened my eyes underwater, the chlorine burning, and looked up. Through the rippling surface, I saw distorted faces peering down.