Near Death Childhood Experiences: An Entry for Supernatural Writing Contest 
@jerrybanfield (SWC)

My near death experiences happened when I was around 5-6 years old.
The first near death experience occurred early in the morning of a hot summer day as
my older brother was about to go to school. He had to walk to school since it was a low
tide, normally he would take a boat or walk along the shoreline but a longer distance.
Our house then was by the water and during low tide the kids going to school would just
take the short cut by walking on the exposed sea bed, a muddy-sticky black sand. As
my brother walked on the mud with difficulty, out of innocence, curiosity and excitement
or stupidity as I recall, I ran after my brother.
Not minding the difficulty that I could experience or danger that I may encounter. It was
all about that burst of adrenaline rush. So there I was, a young small boy walking on mud using as much effort as I could to pick up my feet, it was a struggle but managed to
walk a few yards. Every step was a feeling of victory. I thought I was doing well but still
could not catch up with my older brother. As I hurdled the mud, I noticed that it was
getting heavy for me to lift my legs, gasping for breath.
Then my worst nightmare happened, I started to sink in the mud. Tried to stay calm and
said to myself “You can do it, you can get out of this mess you got yourself into”, I made
every effort to get out of it. Fought really hard to get myself out but all my effort was
futile, I kept sinking in the mud.

My brother was not aware of what’s happening since he
was quite a distance ahead.
Then I started panicking and shouted to my brother for help me, but he could not hear
my low voice, I continue struggle to get out of the mud but unable to manage. I
screamed louder but no avail. I felt hopeless and said to myself “this is it, I am going to
die, but I am still young to die”. Did not gave I continued to fight to get myself out from
the dark mud I was trapped in. When all hope was gone, there came my salvation.
Thank God my brother looked back and noticed I was lagging behind, saw me sinking in
the mud, ran as fast as he could to save me. The mud was already at chest level when
he pulled me out, I was scared, in tears and was very grateful to my brother for pulling
me out of the peril I was in. A very traumatic experience for a young boy.

You would think that I would be more careful and cautious with the things I do and that I
should do everything I could to stay away from danger. But it seemed that danger is
going after me. My second near death experience happened around the same age. This
time I was with my father in our small cottage by the pond. My father would normally go
there to read the newspaper while smoking cigarette. It was a very quiet place,
surrounded with lush greeneries, fruit bearing trees with a very cool breeze that will
surely cool you down on a hot summer day.

As my father reads the daily newspaper, I played alone and used whatever I can find to
play with. So I decided to pick up some leaves and played with it. As I played, “I need
more leaves”, these words came into mind. So tried to look around if there were more
leaves on the floor but could not find any. So I decided to step on a bench at the edge of
an open window, with no railings. Tried to reach for the leaves in a nearby tree but could
not reach them so I decided to step on the edge of the window. I made every effort to
get those leaves and very careful at the same time not to slip and fall, because if that
happens I would be falling on a massive boulder of rock right beside the tree.
My father was there beside me all those time, trying his best to watch me as he read
his paper at the same telling me many times not to step on the window sill and to be
very careful as I play. As a stubborn child, did not pay attention to what my father said
and continued playing. I persisted getting those leaves, stood on the ledge once more,
reached for those leaves,”almost there” said to myself. Then a dreadful incident
happened, my foot slipped and I started to fall, I heard my father screaming in the
background.

Everything went on slow motion, there I was again fighting for dear life
again, trying to break my fall from the second floor of our cottage onto that huge rock.
But what can a small boy do. I hit and landed on the rock, lost my consciousness, didn’t
know how long.

Then when I opened my eyes, I saw my father’s face, holding me in his arms and all I
said as my father recall was,” I saw an angel, my angel caught me”. Now we all know
from stories our parents told us that we all have guardian angels. Didn’t believe at first,
but there was my guardian angel catching me from my fall (it wasn’t my older brother,
although my brother is an angel for me too).

I sustained a lump on my neck area and a
bruise on my face. After recovering, I went back at the place where I fell, and said to
myself “There was no way I could have survived that fall, I could have been dead the
second time if not for my guardian angel.
These life accidents/experiences, I will always remember and treasure because the prove that God watches and takes care of His children.

A heartfelt thanks to @jerrybanfield for giving me this opportunity to share my childhood near death experiences. To @roxyladugal066 for encouraging me to join the contest and to God for always being there for me.