Symbols of the Unconscious Mind

"My hands slipped and down, down I went to the very bottom. The watery world surrounded me, cutting of my air supply. Desperation filled me. Would I die unnoticed at the bottom of a pool? I struggled up, but it was like working through a viscous substance. The water pulled at me, trying to keep me under. I would never reach the surface again, caught and trapped in a silent dungeon of unknowns. My chest felt squeezed. Oh how I hated water. Who knew what mysteries lay lurking beneath. Finally I broke the surface and grabbed hold of the ledge of the pool for dear life. All around me, the other kids splashed and yelled. The swim teacher glanced at me briefly and went back to instructing a child. I felt like I had been gone a long time in another world, only to come up and find the world still at the same place."

My brother was having a panic attack.

“My girl friend disappeared,” he said. “She's not answering her phone or anything, David.”

I have had a telepathic connection with his girl friend since I've met her, so I reached out to her with my mind.

“Where are you?” I called out.

There was no response. I tried again and worry began to creep up on me. It was like our connection had been severed somehow. I was beginning to wonder what I should do when our mother appeared, very angry at my brother over something. She yelled at him and grounded him to the house, and he started to cry.

“I'm stuck here,” he said. “I can't even look for her.”

“I'll go look,” I automatically volunteered.

I ran out of the house, towards her home. At her house, I hopped over the low stone wall into the yard. As I passed the swimming pool, I glanced in. Dread filled me. There she was floating at the bottom of the pool, her pale blonde hair floating out like sea weed. I automatically jumped in to pull her up.

I woke up, breathing heavily, a normal blonde-haired girl, no longer a guy and also not floating at the bottom of a pool. Water to me represented the fear of the unknown. The dark. The mysterious. And also a symbol for going down into the subconscious where repressed dangers lurked. Even now that I can swim, the uneasiness of being underneath water never leaves me. It is a vague horror that I have never been able to explain. Even beneath a swimming pool, I feel dangers lurking me, clawing at my mind.