“Screw you, Roerich,” he muttered, staring into the watery abyss.
James was an okay swimmer, but he’d always had a strange fear of water. When he swam in pools as a kid, he would imagine sharks squeezing out of the filters and coming for him, as illogical as that was. Whenever he swam in lakes and his feet brushed the algae at the bottom, he’d imagine it was some sea creature reaching up, ready to drag him into the depths. And the truth was, back when he was kidnapped in Florida and he jumped off the side of the tanker, he hadn’t been knocked out by the impact of the water. He’d passed out in midair from the sheer terror of jumping into the middle of the ocean.
Now, he stared into a cave pool, endlessly deep. What kind of creatures might be lurking down there?
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. There were no creatures; it was just a cave. It’d be okay. He had to do this.
With a deep breath, he sat on the edge of the water and dipped in his legs. It was shockingly cold, sending goosebumps up his entire body. He held the flashlight in one hand, hoping it was waterproof. If it went out while he was down here, he’d be lost. He hesitated for only a moment; oddly, even though fear clawed at his throat, he was able to push through it. Weeks ago, he might have been petrified, might have given up. But he’d been through too much to be stopped by something as simple as fear.
No point in waiting, James thought, and he shoved himself off the edge. He plunged into the water.
A shock of cold ran through his body, but once he was in, it was surprisingly bearable. He treaded water with his hands and feet and felt nothing below him. He could have been floating in the middle of the ocean, with thousands of feet of water below him.
He shuddered and shook his head, clearing away the thoughts of sharks and sea creatures. He had to be rational or else the panic would drive him out of the water and the cave. There was nothing below him but water. As if that wasn’t bad enough on its own.
He grabbed the flashlight, said a silent prayer, and submerged it. The light stayed on, the beam cutting through the murky, sediment-filled water.
No excuses now. James took a few deep breaths, filling his lungs, and dove under the water.
His head going under brought another shock of cold, but he ignored it. He cast the light around. Sure enough, a few feet below the surface, the rock wall parted into a completely submerged tunnel. James could only see a few feet into the darkness, but it was the only way forward.
Without a second thought, suppressing the doubts and fears bubbling in his stomach, James swam forward.
He pushed into the cave. The walls here were unnaturally smooth, unbroken. Small stalactites rose from the floor, reaching up from the darkness like tentacles. No, not tentacles. Just stone.
His light cast only a small beam, leaving the rest of the water eerily dark. The only sound was the muted noise of the water moving around him. It was like exploring a strange, alien world, devoid of life or color, being constructed out of the darkness as he pressed forward.
Soon, just as his lungs started to protest the lack of oxygen, he came upon a fork in the path.
James shone his light to the left, then the right, but he saw nothing to indicate which way he was supposed to go. He hung there, hesitating. His breath was running out. And quickly. Maybe he should go back, catch a breath, and think this through. Maybe he’d missed a hint, something that would point him in the right direction.
His throat throbbed as his lungs began to burn intensely. Was there time to make it back? He looked between the two branching paths, feeling the seconds tick by. He made a decision, barely even conscious of it, certainly not thinking it could spell his doom.
He swam into the left tunnel.
He pushed forward faster, no longer taking in the scenery, just shining his light forward and up, searching for a hole, the shimmer of the surface, anything. Panic began to set in as his lungs strained, but his decision had been made. There was no going back. He kicked hard with his legs, willing himself to swim faster, shining his light over endless stone walls that seemed to be closing in on him...
The flashlight beam flickered once, then fell dead.
If he could have screamed, he would have, as his entire world fell into darkness.
He kept swimming forward, completely blind, his lungs screaming for air, his heart pounding in his ears. His head bumped into something and he pushed against it before he realized he must have swum up into the ceiling. He felt the stone with his hands and flipped himself over, kicking hard, feeling blindly along the ceiling, hoping for something, anything. The stone passed beneath his hands, forever smooth, an infinite expanse.
He closed his eyes. It made no difference in the black void. His head pounded in rhythm with his heart, deprived of oxygen, and his chest screamed in agony. Unable to think, fighting the urge to breathe, he swam forward, his hands scrabbling along the stone.
His mouth opened involuntarily, and water flooded in, forcing itself down his throat, amazingly swift and powerful. It filled his lungs, went up his nose, suffocated him completely. He tried to breathe and only took in more water.
I’m drowning, James thought, strangely peaceful despite the pain. His head pounded harder, his brain protesting this oxygen-less death, maybe putting up one last fight before saying goodbye
