The test of courage

"Are you ready, Kai?" Nick asked me. "Sure," I mumbled softly. All of my friends had already passed it. You - the test of courage. Now it was my turn to prove that I was just as brave as she was. It was already pitch dark outside, you couldn't even see your own hand in front of your eyes. While my parents slumbered blissfully in their bed and hadn't even noticed that I had secretly sneaked outside, I was now shivering in the underground.

I sat in a chair and didn't move an inch as Sam checked the shackles that were nailing me to the seat. He nodded and took a step back. "Okay, you know what to do?" Jamie then asked. I nodded, as did Sam in front of me. “I have to break free as the water climbs higher and higher and escapes the room.” I couldn't hide the tremor in my voice, but the others either didn't seem to notice or they just ignored it. "Good luck, buddy," Nick grinned before disappearing with the others.

The said water was not long in coming and began to fill the small room. I knew my friends were watching me through a small window. Fear ran through my bones, I panicked. It rose higher and higher, I tugged at the shackles, but they didn't loosen, just pulled tighter and tighter. I gave a low whimper of myself, but no one, how could it be otherwise, heard it. My jeans were already soaked and I was getting more and more desperate. I looked into the faces of the others, read something different in each one. It was as if Nick reflected my soul, I recognized my panic in his facial features, but those of the others were perfectly calm. Another desperate whimper escaped my lips. Was that my end? Should I die at the young age of eleven? But actually it was my fault. I didn't have to face this test of courage. I could have said no. But I didn't do it.

The water was now almost up to my chest. It wouldn't be long before it locked me in completely. I would drown miserably if nobody saved me. I saw Nick and Jamie screaming something, but I didn't understand them, kept pulling on the shackles. My only thought was that it would all be over in a moment. I would die, along with all my dreams and wishes, with my future as a world-famous soccer star. A sweat of fear formed on my forehead and I closed my eyes. In a moment the water would be so high that I could no longer breathe. I looked one last time at my friends who would not save me. Not even Nick. But what kind of friends were those who let one of their own drown just like that? Had I ever been one of them at all?Or had they only tolerated me because I was friends with Nick? Without wasting a second thought on it, I took a deep breath, even though I knew it wouldn't do much good.

I knew it was over.