The catastrophe happened five years ago.

I just started working after graduation and moved to a new apartment in Setapak. At that time, I was working with a small company in KL. So things were a little difficult. Hmmm. Oh yes, there was a swimming pool in front of the apartment. And this is where the story began.

Looking so elegant and inviting, I couldn’t wait to swim there. It might not be an olympic kind of pool like the one I used to swim in my previous university, but it must be surely fun playing in the water, surrounded by curious on-lookers especially. So, on one cool evening after work, I invited Wawa, one of my housemates, to be my co-swimmer. Yeah, one very cool evening. Up there, the all-knowing angels might be whispering to each other, “Cekmi must have no idea at all what kind of hell is waiting for him in the swimming pool.” Creepy, as I am thinking of it now, like a Final Destination feeling.

Wawa was already inside the pool when I wanted to jump and dive through the water. How I loved doing that 90 degree diving style when I was in the university. I could go very deep into the water in a few seconds, 9 metres deep into the basement. So, I wanted to do it again. Right at that moment. That very coooooool evening.

You can do it again this time, Cekmi. I was telling myself as I got ready to perform a 90-degree somersault style into the pool, which was waiting smilingly for its prey. There I go, moving so gracefully and skillfully. And few milliseconds after I was in the pool –

BANG!!!

I felt something hard and sharp on my face. What was that? What happened to me? It all happened too fast I didn’t know what was really going on. I tried so hard to reach the surface of the water. I felt a little dizzy. Sharp pain attacking me. As I opened my eyes, I heard the devils laughing from the far distance. Hahahahaha. I was confused. What? Am I dead?

“Cekmi!!!!! Your face!!” I heard a faint voice. Wawa was shouting at me. I touched my face. I could feel the chilly blood rushing out my face. Then, I felt a soft flesh on my face. Whose flesh? Oh my God! Oh my God! I got panicked. Really.

“My face!!!!!” I was shouting madly. I quickly got out of the pool, searched a mirror nearby and what I found later was almost unbelievable. I saw a fresh flesh ripped off my own face. I looked like a monster. A shrek. A Phantom of Opera. I saw darkness. My whole world was going down. It would be the end of my life... I am dead! Cekmi is ugly!

As Wawa quickly took me to a clinic, I gained my logic back. I recollected what had happened to me. To my astonishment, I found this fact - my whole face smashed so badly into the swimming pool basement! I realized then that the swimming pool was only 1 metre deep. 1 metre! And all this while, I thought it was 9 metres, like the one in my university. I noticed that there actually was a sign next to the pool. What was I thinking? I was supposed to be well aware of that.

The doctor checked my face, and said to me, “You’d better get an X-ray test and check whether your brain is still intact.” Intact? Am I going crazy? Is my brain cracked? A lot of frightening questions popped into my mind. Well, I was a little relieved since I still could think of all this while I was worried. Hmmm, I am still sane.

I was later rushed into KL General Hospital. The results – 11 stitches! 8 on my forehead and 3 on my nose!

The doctor later ran an X-ray test into my brain and – thank God – the smash did not affect any important “wires” in my brain. However, as the doctor said, it was almost nearly there, that I was darn lucky I didn’t end up in Tanjung Rambutan. Phew!

Few months later, I started working in the college, with my face still looked like a crippled ogre. My friend recommended a lot of expensive artificial medicines to heal and get rid of the scars. Well, it worked out but it has not been physically satisfactory. I am thinking of getting a minor surgery. Is it expensive? Is it religiously permissible? Well, I am not going to change God's nature, am I? I just want my original face back.

Whatever I have become, the scars keep reminding me to appreciate God’s blessings. God could take them anytime He wants. Whenever. Wherever. Most importantly, this swimming disaster has never discouraged me from going near to a swimming pool. In fact, I have become a better swimmer, only that I dare not try the summersault style anymore. Those devils might come back again, just like those Final Destination movies, which continue to haunt me.

I am glad I am still cute. Hehehe.

Oh, by the way, did you notice the leftovers of 11 stitches on my face above?