She shot back up to the surface, her lungs gasping for the intoxicating air they deeply desired, gasping and coughing up clusters of chlorinated water she had unintentionally consumed. The girl's young, hazel eyes glanced up to the edge of the pool, meeting those of an equally young woman of Asian descent, sat at pool side, a fresh stopwatch gripped in her hand, "One minute, forty nine. You're getting there, just need to push a little further, Alicia."

Her face crumpled with frustration. Alicia had been working on holding her breath for longer to pursue her desire of becoming a free diver, having already breezed through her swimming courses triumphantly, in addition to already being two sessions in on her free diving class. However although she was flourishing in said classes, she struggled to hold her swim and hold her breath for much over a minute. She was resolute on breaking this barrier blocking her path, taking the time to hold her breath whenever she could, in water, above water, in school, eating lunch, the latter almost causing her to choke on a half coated chocolate biscuit. At such a young age of fourteen, she was adamant to succeed in such a unique form of diving, while others her age were focused more on video games and gossip, the latter she had zero cares for. In her expedition to conquering the one minute barrier, she enlisted her close friend, Emiko to give her a helping hand and generally support her. They would meet every other day at the pool, maybe swim a few lengths of the pool, but mainly to improve Alicia's ability to swim deeper underwater, and to enhance her lung capacity, with Emiko often joining in, usually competitively to give Alicia that extra boost to push harder. Emiko reset the stopwatch in preparation for Alicia's next breath hold attempt, while a still irritated Alicia took a short break on the pool ladder. Emiko took momentary look at Alicia, giving her a small, encouraging smile, "You're doing really good, Alicia. A lot better than last week".

Somewhat uncharacteristically, Alicia retorted, "Still not two minutes though, it just builds up, and up, and up, and doesn't stop. The longer I hold, the more painful my lungs get."

Alicia was clearly unsettled by her predicament, and Emiko was well aware of how much free diving meant to Alicia and how much training she had already put into this endeavour, making it a personal goal of Emiko to do her best in helping her best friend. She scooted herself over to the ladder, looking down at the moping teenager below her with a smile, "Well, that's what we're here for, isn't it? To help you get better at this, to get those hard working lungs of yours refined to a razors edge.", Emiko explained in her uplifting tone.

She lowered herself into the water beside the ladder, provoking a reaction from Alicia, "Emi, what are you...?", she tried to ask, but hastily got interrupted by Emiko gesturing for Alicia to approach her.

She stepped from the ladder, wading her way towards Emiko, still puzzled by what she was doing. Alicia stopped in front of her, waiting for Emiko's explanation. "Put your hand out, Alicia.", Emiko requested.

"Which ha-"

"Any is fine.", Emiko promptly responded.

Following her request, Alicia raised her right hand in between them, to which Emiko grasped it between her hands, flustering Alicia. Before Alicia could protest, Emiko placed her right index and middle finger on Alicia's wrist, taking note of her heartbeat for the next 10 seconds, all the while Alicia stood there, her face completely flushed. Emiko eventually released her hand, which Alicia gradually brought back to her, "Your heartbeat is at 105. That's going to be using more of the oxygen. I'm thinking if we can lower it, you'll have a larger supply of oxygen to keep your lungs happy.", Emiko ended her explanation with a delicate smile.

Alicia rested her fingers on her wrist, confirming Emiko's analysis. Her heart beat was pumping rapidly through her veins, possibly faster than a moment ago, perhaps caused by Emiko's sudden grasp of her hand. Alicia's soft eyes glanced towards Emiko's gentle, hazel eyes. "So...how should lower it?", Alicia asked, desperately seeking an answer.

She pondered for a moment, before seemingly coming up with a solution. Emiko leant back against the wall of the shallow pool, inviting Alicia to do the same beside her. Alicia took her place next to her, confused by her plan. Without warning, Emiko presented her wrist to Alicia, momentarily startling her, but once she saw her wrist, Alicia had the hunch to know Emiko wanted her to check her heartbeat. Alicia held Emiko's warm, tender wrist firmly, noting the sequence of heartbeats mentally. After a few moments passed, she heard Emiko's breathing become very precise, noting a long breath in, which she then held for a couple of seconds, before hearing her exhale, holding again. She noticed that she repeated this pattern over and over, before realising that the beats in her pulse had slowed down drastically, probably to around seventy to eighty beats a minute. Emiko turned to look at Alicia, a pleasant smile crossed her face, "You see? Pretty simple trick. You give it a try.", requested Emiko, her body turning to face a somewhat anxious Alicia.

"So I just...place my fingers on my wrist...and..breathe..?", enquired Alicia, to which Emiko quietly nodded.

Alicia looked down at her wrist, her right index and middle finger lightly balancing as she slowly began her breaths. Breathe in...hold...breathe out...breathe in...hold...breathe out...momentarily, she noticed her pulse slowly dipping down lower and lower, and after just two minutes, she stabilised her pulse. She turned back to Emiko, who was smiling with joy as she watched little Alicia learn a valuable new skill, "See? It's a pretty easy skill to le-"

Alicia launched herself onto Emiko, tightly wrapping her arms around her in a, probably over excited, squeeze of glee. Their bodies collapsed as one under the water, catching Emiko severely of guard, however rather than pushing the delighted Alicia away, she participated in the embrace, holding the little breath she had in her firmly. Moments later, they bounced back to the surface in a cloud of gasps and laughter, Alicia eventually managed to release intelligible words of gratitude, "Thanks, Emiko and...sorry about that.", she said, rather apologetically.

Emiko, who herself, was still laughing, waved off Alicia's apology, "You're welcome, Alicia, and no need to apologise."

An hour passed, and Alicia had finally managed to break the two minute barrier, reaching a new record of two minutes, and thirty-seven seconds. Delighted with the conclusion of the day's swim, Emiko decides to treat Alicia, "Fancy going for a pizza? On me of course."

Alicia smiled across to Emiko as they left the leisure centre, "Sure, but you know I'll get something big.", they both chuckled to themselves.

Alicia began walking ahead, pondering what she would force Emiko to buy for her, maybe a small pizza? Or maybe the new twenty inch meat feast they offered, however her train of thought was abruptly interrupted with the sound of a heavy thump. She shot her head around, discovering Emiko partially collapsed on the floor. Alicia, thinking Emiko had just tripped up, turned back to help her back up, joking as she approached her. However, she stopped sharply, her mischievous grin dragged down to a face of panic. Piecing her ears, painful gasps for air came from Emiko, with each breath sounding as if it was grating itself against her throat. The situation was completely new to Alicia, she had no idea of any medical trouble Emiko was fraught with, worse still, she feared her family may not even be aware. Panic was hastily coming around Alicia, on the verge of breaking down in front of her best friend, which could possibly lead to Emiko's condition, whatever it may be, becoming something far, far worse. Before that fear completely settled in, Alicia quickly placed Emiko into a recovery position, while numerous passersby began to gather around. She felt tears filling her eyes, the panic was really beginning to hit her like a truck as she tried to help Emiko, but soon she felt as if she needed help herself. She clutched Emiko's hand, speaking words of encouragement to her as a pair of bystanders began to help. She hadn't a clue how long had passed, she just gazed back into her precious Emiko's strained, hazel eyes, delicately stroking her hand with her thumb until the blazing blue lights of the ambulance rolled in, in all this drama, she hadn't realised that someone had called in an ambulance...why hadn't she? What if nobody was around? Would she have been too panicked to call her best friends only hope of survival? Her tear-stained face crumpled into despair, until she felt the faintest grip tighten around her hand, that of Emiko. Even in her current state, she tried to encourage Alicia, the smallest smile written on her pained face. The last thing Alicia saw, before the panic and shock overcame her as she quietly blacked out.

2 months later.

The clinical corridor carried the now familiar smell of hand wash, and antiseptic substances. Doctors and nurses talking in every room, some laughing, some crying, such the nature of the city hospital, people receiving the news they hoped for, and some receiving cruel, sad news. This must have been Alicia's fourth visit to the hospital in the space of two weeks, not for her sake, but for that of a brave young soul, residing in Room 215. She counted down the numbers on each of the modern, pale blue doors, until finally coming across the magic number. She knocked on the door, a quiet 'Come in' signals for Alicia to make her way in. She pushed the surprisingly light door open, and hidden behind a fresh, white medical curtain, silently writing away in a notebook, was a familiar looking woman, her hazel eyes looking up to the guest. She smiled, giggling lightly to herself, "What is this, three times this month?", the woman noted.

"Yeah, yeah. They can't exactly move the hospital closer to me, can they, Emiko?", Alicia said, jokingly.

Emiko sighed, grinning, "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's nice to see you again, Alicia."

Alicia placed the small bag she brought along on the bedside table, lovingly wrapping her arms around Emiko, "Nice to see you, too", she replied.