Chapter 3 - Sealife and Me
She wasn't sure how far she'd swam and only vaguely remembered sharp corals and multi-colored vegetation.
She felt like she dared not swim up, as that would only give away her position to other sea creatures with sharp teeth.
Instead, she dodged rocks and wooden sunken ship hulls. Twisting and turning until she felt like she'd put enough space between the shark-like creature and herself.
She sunk down, fingertips digging into the moss-covered rock in front of her. Her lungs worked harder than she'd ever felt them work before. Pumping water through them, literally, like they never have before.
Tepidly, she peeked around the side of the boulder, eyes frantically searching the depths of her current watery prison.
She saw fish floating and darting in and around the sea floor. Most were scaleless, swimming about covered in skin similar to catfish. The Greys and blues mingled with oranges and green, all with fat fins that tapered down to sharp edges. Slicing through the water like knives through warm butter. A chill ran up her back and shuddered out through her fingers and toes.
When she was finally content that she'd successfully outrun the beast and was safe in her hiding spot, she turned and sank further into the sand.
Think Vel! What is this?!
Looking around, she took a second to take in her current surroundings. She was around a hundred feet or so below the surface and the water was turning into an eerie haze the lower it went. The shadows stuck to surfaces and hid details behind dense, off-colored shades.
Her fear was something she could taste, as it slithered down her throat. Would she be able to see, if she went into any of the caves that disappeared into the rock face to her left? She didn't know.
The tall seaweed-type creatures were nowhere in sight. Instead, a large coral reef extended high into the water, almost touching the surface. It sprung from the rock like mushrooms would from a fallen log.
Closing her eyes she tried to calm her nerves and speeding heart. It was overly loud in her head as it beat out a frantic rhythm.
You're underwater. You're breathing... ish. She twitched her head to the side, trying to accept the last statement. You've dove everywhere in the world, you're comfortable underwater. She made a noise of disbelief.
"Sure." She said out loud. The word left her lips and danced through the water, sounding an awful lot like a dolphin trying to mimic a whale, high-pitched with a musical back play.
Eyes now wide, "Aaaaahhhp." More musical squealing. "Oh god!" It felt unnatural and stressed her already strained nerves.
Opening her eyes again, she saw the largest anchor she had ever seen, sitting ten feet in front of her. It's now red metal chipping and rotting away. More than the bottom of one side was buried below the sand, allowing the top to jut upwards. The last stand of a crumbling piece of iron.
Ironically, it steadied her nerves and wildly beating heart.
Somehow, she knew where she was. Not the exact location. She wouldn't be able to call in help if she'd had a satellite phone but she knew this anchor. She knew the rock face she leaned against and the reef that grew above her.
She also knew that there would be a cave entrance close by that would lead her to the surface. Safely!
No more grabbing vines or scary sharks. No more spears...
Wait a sec. She paused in her celebration. There had been a spear thrown at the creature.
The memory of it slinging sideways slid into her mind. Trying hard, she tried to envision the spear. It had been golden, right? Could she remember the person who threw it?
No.
But someone threw it. Someone was down here with her. Once again, she scanned the dark distance for any man-made movement. Then when finding none, she searched above her. If there was another human, then there had to be a boat. But the surface merely showed back, with the rays of the sun and blue sky.
Her saving grace fell back to the cave that she knew would be fifty yards to her left and around the curve of the rock.
She sat where she was. Knowing the cave was there and moving to its location were altogether two separate things. Moving meant bringing attention back to herself. It meant forcing her limbs into working and not hiding away from reality. Which was currently the most jacked version of reality she'd ever been a witness to.
Move. Nothing. MOVE or die.
Finally, she pushed off the seafloor and swam her shaking limbs around the unknown corner.
Only, she DID know the curve of this rock and what was around its bend. She knew she would find more of the creepy seaweed and possibly also crab-like creatures that lived off of the seaweed's leftover kills.
She knew at the mouth of the cave would be a light blue grassy curtain that she would have to pull aside, in order to enter.
Turning the corner, she couldn't help but inhale in surprise. It was all there. Even the crabs were there, feasting on something that was now too mangled to recognize.
Although, even IF she could have seen the meal before it became one, this whole area was beyond her experience. Even with her current place being familiar, none of it made sense.
She crept closer to the entrance, staying as far from the weeds and crabs as possible. While fear kept her away from them, it also kept her up close to the rock wall. As she edged farther, she pressed too hard and forced the rocks to cut deeply into the side of her forearm.
Wincing, she pulled it away and toward her breast, causing blood to ink through the water.
Her gaze went from the blood, over to the crab, and she watched as they moved in unison. Leaving the scraps of their meal and swarming in her direction.
"Shit." She squinted as her voice once again danced across the water.
Leaving no more time for creeping she dashed for the entrance. Shoving the curtain aside and kicking for the surface that she could now see was only five feet above her, instead of the hundred it was before.
An action that made her miss how the crab's forward momentum stopped, as her voice found its way to them. Instead of amassing toward her, they spread in all directions, as if running for their lives.
As Velori broke the surface, she tried gasping for air but couldn't get any. Instead, she felt her mouth fill with salt water, causing her to dip her head back under the waves.
How did she stop her body from breathing water and go back to breathing air? She didn't do anything for it to work underwater. It just had.
So, following her actions from before, she held her breath, or... water, in this case, as she searched for the ledge that she knew would be near the back.
As she got to it, she pulled herself up and sat sideways near the water's edge. At this point, it was either take another breath of water or a breath of air. She chose air, but as she opened her mouth to inhale, more water poured from her mouth.
She hadn't felt it come up through her throat but again, more water poured out of her mouth. Over and over it spilled, pooling on the ground before her.
When it finally stopped, she gulped in breath after breath. Her chest feeling light yet heavy at the same time. Her hand was clinging to her clothes over her chest while the other massaged her throat.
She'd felt a soreness like this before when her tonsils had become inflamed and there was discussion of removing them. Now she thanked every God she knew. What if they were part of what helped her breathe?
It seemed crazy since the organs were known to normally just prevent infection, there was truly no other way she could make sense of any of this. And she needed some sense right now. Right or wrong, it was an explanation, and she was going to stick with it.
She sat at the edge, with her legs pulled fully out of the water as she drank in the cave's air. It tasted of old mildew and smelled worse. Like a small mushroom patch had absorbed yesterday's trash. But she didn't care, she was out of the water.
When she felt like she could get up, she pulled her legs under her and stood, shakily, arms out from her sides like a ridiculous wire line walker.
"There's been worse moments, Vel. You may not be able to remember them, but they're there."
Then she proceeded to break down into tears as she sank right back down to her knees.
"Worse moments? Shut up!" Oh great, now she was the crazy person who responded to herself.
"This is..." she couldn't stop the hiccup, "the worst moments..." or the tears and snot that fell down her face as she ugly cried, "in the universe..." Another hiccup. "of worst moments."
She wasn't sure how long she sat there crying and mumbling to herself before she took a final shuddering breath and tried to calm herself.
That was when she finally saw what surrounded her. Long shards of geode forms were shunted out from the ceiling and walls beside her. Receiving light from somewhere up above, white and purple crystals gleamed at her.
Her wet eyes opened wide, but she still didn't believe what she was seeing. She drug her now dry arm across her nose and the palm of her hand across her eyes, shutting them briefly. When she opened them again, the sight hadn't changed.
They grew down, sideways, up, and at odd angles. Some were a faint lilac at the tips that then darkened into deep purples. Others were just pure white all the way to the base, where they finally met with the dark purple.
Getting up, she walked over and placed her hand around one of the lilac shards, feeling the hard cold crystal rub against her palm. She shook it lightly, testing how strong it was. Could she bring some back with her?
"Back where? No one's going to believe you. They'll just say it was a dream."
That was when she realized, "Is this a dream?"
Her eyes opened and she stared up at her bedroom ceiling. Only seconds before her alarm started blaring.