Depth

The Daily Post

“Are you going to do it?”

“I can’t make it down that far, can you?”

“I’ve been training my breathing, so hopefully I can make it to the bottom.”

He touched the edge of the water at the Bottomless Hole. The water rippled. Something below shifter from the vibrations. It knew.

“Are you sure there’s nothing down there?”

“Hundreds of people have dived here. It’s safe.”

“Bring something up from the bottom if you get there.”

“I will.” He steps back and jumps into the hole. Something down below shifts down farther into the hole. Sam can see a little, but as he swims farther down, the light dissipates. He pulls out the underwater flashlight and turns it on. Something brushes his foot. He freaks out and swims to the surface.

“I think I felt something touch my foot.”

“It was probably just the wall or something.”

“Oh. It felt kind of slippery though.”

“You said yourself nothing was down there.”

“Right. Okay. I’m trying again.” Sam dived back down. With the light on, he could see about three feet in front of him.The darkness was really thick. Something moved down below. He looked again, but couldn’t find anything. Sam swam farther down. He felt something brush his foot again, but figured it was just something floating in the water. He kept going. His lungs began to burn.

The creature let him go farther, but kept touching him in warning. He didn’t listen. The tentacle whipped out and grabbed his foot, dragging Sam into its mouth. It could smell the blood rising in the water. A mumbled scream and the surface vibrated again. Too late for him. More tentacles went to the surface to drag in the next meal.