The Deep Abyss
for my sister
“Don’t do it,” Carol grabbed Kris’s arm as a last ditch effort. She squeezed it, hoping Kris would feel the warmth through the wet suit. “Please don’t go. Send someone else.”
Kris grabbed her hand and held it, “You know I have to. I need to see it for myself.”
“We can send a robot down, it doesn’t have to be you. You can watch the whole thing with me in the control room. This is too stupid.”
Kris scrunched her nose and let go of Carol’s hand, “Nothing is too stupid for me.”
With that Kris smiled, put her mouth piece in, and jumped off the boat.
She kept her eyes closed, even with the goggles on. She knew once they were open there was no turning back.
Fighting the urge to take a deep breath, she opened her eyes. She looked around, everything seemed normal.
She was underwater, something she’s done for what felt like her entire life. Kris turned to Luisa, her long time diving partner. Luisa tapped her wrist twice to remind her they were on a time limit.
‘This is just another dive trip. Another wreck excavation,’ she thought to herself as she averted her attention to the sunken ship below her.
It sat atop a reef miles above the ocean floor. Not a far swim. Just a few minutes. It was close enough to the surface that the sun rays lit it almost perfectly.
They made their way down. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The closer they got, the more Kris felt ridiculous for being so nervous. Until she heard the voice.
She stopped and looked around. Luisa stopped next to her. She gave the “okay” signal asking if Kris was okay. Kris put her finger up and listened.
Nothing.
‘Because I didn’t hear anything’ Kris thought to herself.
She returned the “okay” signal and kept swimming.
They were just outside of the wreck.
It was beautiful.
An old pirate ship by the look of it. Kris guessed mid 1800s because of the amount of sails and European from the architecture.
It was incredibly well preserved. One could have easily guessed it sank just within the past one hundred years.
Algae covered every surface.
Kris swam up to the port and pulled some of the algae off. A gold rustic color appeared underneath. She glanced at the bottom of the boat.
No barnacles. Weird.
Actually, no other sea life seemed to be inhabiting it at first glance.
She heard a voice again. It was muffled and she couldn’t make out what was being said.
It was a woman’s voice.
Was it the same voice that Peter heard just before his oxygen tank was ripped out of his back the other day? Did it belong to the shadow Marta saw dancing on the ship while she struggled to bring Peter back to the surface?
Kris straightened and looked to Luisa who was ripping off algae trying to find any inscription of the boat’s name or allegiance. Luisa gave no indication that she heard anything
Kris furrowed her eyebrows the best she could and made her way to bow. There sat a gorgeous mermaid as the figurehead.
‘Cliché but very 19th century,’ Kris thought.
The mermaid’s hair was layered with algae, mimicking Kris’s own curls if they were let loose in the water. She smiled thinking of herself as a mermaid.
She noticed a hole on the left breast of the figure. She looked closer to see if any fish or crabs made a home out of it. Nothing. She reached in and felt around.
“Please don’t!”
Kris pulled her hand out and looked up towards the cabin where she knew she heard a voice. Loud and clear.
How could something be so loud and clear underwater?
She swam to Luisa who was inspecting crates that seemed to be bolted down on the deck.
Kris grabbed Luisa’s arm and swam her to the opening of the cabin.
She put both her hands out to tell Luisa to wait and tapped her ear twice.
Luisa cocked her head at Kris.
Nothing.
Luisa crooked her index finger, pointed at Kris, and gave a thumbs up. Asking if Kris needed to go up.
Kris shook her head.
Luisa crooked her index finger again and held a fist to her chest asking if Kris was low on air.
Kris shook her head again, embarrassed.
Luisa grabbed Kris’s hand and squeezed it.
Kris let go and turned to the cabin entrance. She kept one hand on the frame of the doorway as she inched in to the cabin. With her free hand she turned on her flashlight.
She felt Luisa squeeze her hand again and pull it into her own. Kris knew she usually did this when entering a cave together.
She turned back and Luisa was on the deck with the crates. She looked down at her hand that was clutched around water.
“Please,” a voice whispered from inside the cabin.
