I've been a search and rescue diver for 12 years. We don't talk about what happens when the water's too deep.

How I became a SAR diver is a story for another time. Suffice to say I was trained by the best in the country, and they taught me everything I needed to know. <br><br>I’ve been all around the world, responding to all sorts of incidents. If the water's deep enough, we’re called in. And most of the time, we’re able to bring closure to the families. But sometimes, we can't. <br><br>Search and rescue diving is a tough job. The majority of the calls we get end in body recovery rather than an actual rescue. But we search anyway; people have been submerged for days, even weeks, and survived. <br><br>But sometimes, no matter how long we search, we can’t find them. I mean, the water can be misleading. It looks shallow on the surface, but once you’re down there, you realize it’s much deeper than you thought. <br><br>I’ve seen cases where a whole family has gone swimming, and none of the locals warned them about the current. The parents don’t know how to swim, and the kids aren’t good swimmers either. That’s usually how it goes.<br><br>One time, I got a call from a park ranger. A young couple had been out hiking when a little boy appeared out of nowhere. He was shivering and soaked, and had no sign of any family with him. He didn’t seem to know who or where he was. He was taken to the hospital, and an investigation was launched. <br><br>We ended up being called in because the little boy claimed he had been swimming with his family, and something happened, and he got separated from them. He said he didn’t know how long he had been in the water or how he got out. The police decided to call us in, and we went out to search the area. <br><br>We knew the water was deep, but we had no idea just how deep until we got there in person. I went in with a couple of my colleagues, Chris and Jake, both of whom are very experienced divers with years of training. If anyone could find this family, it was us. <br><br>We searched for hours, and even called in more people when we couldn’t find anything. Eventually, we had to stop, and we decided to resume the search the next day. <br><br>I was so furious. I had never failed a search, not once in my 12 years as a SAR diver. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. I kept having this sudden, horrible feeling, like something was moving just out of sight, and it was driving me crazy. <br><br>When I got home that evening, I couldn’t focus on anything. My nerves were on edge, and every little noise I heard made me jump. I nearly had a heart attack when my cat leapt onto my lap. <br><br>I lived alone back then. My girlfriend had left me a few years prior because of my extreme dedication to my work, she said. But I was willing to risk that for something I loved. I still am. <br><br>Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I decided to head back out to the lake and search on my own. I wasn’t going to just give up. My instincts were screaming at me, and I needed to follow them. <br><br>When I got to the lake, I was shocked. It was much deeper than I had initially thought. I swear, it had beenshallower just a few hours before. <br><br>I got in the water and descended, searching the area again. And then I saw it. A flash of color, deep down. I swam towards it, my heart pounding in excitement, and my gut screaming in horror. <br><br>It was a car. <br><br>I swam up to it, my vision blurring from the pressure. There was a family inside. I could see them, four people in total, two adults and two kids. <br><br>I couldn’t see their faces, but I knew who they were. I knew I had found the family we were looking for. <br><br>But there was something off. Something that didn’t feel right. I just didn’t know what it was yet. <br><br>As I got closer, movement caught my eye out of the corner. <br><br>I looked over, and that was when the screaming started. <br><br>There was a figure down there in the depths, far away from me. It had no scuba gear on, and I saw no indication it was a diver. <br><br>The figure waved at me. <br><br>I waved back, confused. <br><br>But then it started moving towards me. <br><br>My training went out of the window. I panicked, and that’s the most terrifying part of this story. <br><br>My brain just stopped working, and I forgot everything I had learned. I struggled to ascend, blowing too much air as my lungs tried to expand. <br><br>I felt the pressure building in my body. It was excruciatingly painful, and I screamed. <br><br>But I couldn’t hear myself. I was underwater. I couldn’t even hear myself screaming in agony. <br><br>I was overwhelmed, consumed by the pain, and I couldn’t think straight. <br><br>I told you, my brain just stopped working. <br><br>I didn't think this would happen to me. I was an expert, a professional. <br><br>And then I saw them. <br><br>The family in the car were all looking at me. They were waving. <br><br>I waved back. <br><br>I had forgotten all about the figure until it reached me. <br><br>Something burst in my chest, and I felt blood in my throat. I realized I was drowning, and the figure took me in its arms, holding me. <br><br>I passed out, and nothing else happened until I woke up in the hospital. <br><br>The doctors told me I had been found on the surface, and I was lucky to be alive. <br><br>My boss told me I had been fired, due to my recklessness and disobedience. <br><br>The police told me the little boy didn’t have a family. They had identified him, and he was a resident at a local institution for people with serious mental conditions. <br><br>And the figure? <br><br>It was gone. <br><br>Or at least that’s what I thought. <br><br>Until I got home, and I saw it sitting on my couch. <br><br>It waved at me, just as it had in the water. <br><br>And I waved back.