The Deep

A Story by Anastasia

I'm lost- trapped in the belly of the earth. Stillagmites and stilagtites slice into the hazy aqua waters like menacing fangs; I'm a helpless prey to this forsaken cave- this labrynth of winding tunnels interlocking with another; they're all dead ends. They seem to lead to everywhere, yet nowhere at all.

Discarded masks sneer from the sandy floors. Abandoned sheers warn of the danger of getting snagged, while powerless flashlights forshadow the darkness ahead. Preserved bones of lost divers haunt the hollows. What were their names? How long had they lied trapped in this oceanic prison? None of the bodies had been identified, and no recoveries would be made, due to the danger of retrieving them.

One particular body distinguished itself among the rest- a terribly decayed, headless corpse still wearing a wetsuit. His gear had become snagged upon a protrusion along the cave ceiling. His gear restricted his flexibility, and he was unable to cut himself free. Now, his lifeless body suspended from the cupola like a uvula.

I wonder if his family ever knew what had happened to him? What was it like for their families to know that their beloved was lost forever in the belly of a cave? To have an empty casket for the funeral? Was there any closure?

Perhaps they were like me; perhaps they had nobody to mourn them at all. I'll become another nameless, faceless skeleton. Scavengers will pick the flesh clean and scatter my bones throughout the cave. I'll be like the midnight fog, evaporating before the world has awaken. And they'll live on. I'm a dissipating breath.

My air- it's so low. Perhaps only 40 minutes worth. That's hardly enough to safely ascend to the ocean's surface. How can I navigate this labyrinth in time? Am I navigating my way to safety, or wondering deeper into desolation?

No! The lantern is dimming. It's dark! So dark. The only remaining comfort died in my hands, and loneliness has taken its place. The cold, complete isolation blackens all reason. There is no comfort anymore. No color for the eye to rest upon. No calmness in these eerily still waters.

Every fear rises from my subconscious like serpents slithering from the deepest ocean trenches. Every sense is cloaked in inescapable ambiguity. I have no body. Just a shapeless consciousness leaking into these endless waters. There's no way out.