**August**
**August**
I wake up coughing and soaked in water. Someone’s hand is grasping at my arm, pulling on me. I cough while on all fours breathing in the sharp, cold air as someone drapes cloth around my body. Others start to come forward.
“No, no, he’s fine. Just a little too close to the water.” I hear the man say. I start to rise, but he pushes me between my shoulders. “Wait, let them leave.”
I do not know him, but I listen and stay as I am. I can hear the footsteps slowly retreat. He guides me by putting his hands between my shoulders again. I sit down and he begins reaching towards the material.
“Put your arms through and fasten the belt. People don’t exactly take to nudity too well down here.”
I look at him. He motions for me, and I think it means for me to hurry, so I do as I am told. It takes me a moment to find what fastens together. He helps me tie the robe close. I look around at the brightness from the reflection of the sun on the water, the substantial things at a distance ebbing and flowing within it. The others walk back and forth.
I do not know who I am. I can feel that I am not the same as those that walk around me.
I do not know what I am.
