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Show 118 DROWNING It begins with panic or straggle, then the victim swallows water before passing out. Within three minutes of being under the water, the victim loses consciousness. Within five minutes, the brain suffers damage. Then the heart goes into an irregular rhythm before it stops beating altogether. At 10:54 PM on the night he drowned, Blake walked off the stage having just finished Parallax's set and looked around the room. There were clusters of kids moving outside to smoke or be in cooler air. The rest-of the band was packing up their instruments. The drummer and his girlfriend were already hauling the drums into the van outside. Blake was sweaty. He had been screaming and moving for the last fifty minutes, but he wasn't tired. It was summer, and he woke up at noon at the earliest every day. Blake lingered for a while, asked the guitarist to come get him when he needed help loading the amps. He stepped outside. The air was still warm. He talked to some people from school he hadn't seen in a long time who were hanging outside the bar next door. He walked back inside, climbed up the balcony of the venue and threw a smile at Jen, who was sitting up there reading alone. He ran his fingers through |