Dreaming of the Surface

Isaac Deagan, a marine biologist, age 32. He was a man of a strong, heavy set stature and had toned muscles and tanned skin. He had short brown hair that went up in tufts and light brown eyes like hazel.

Within the depths of his mind, he dreamt of his only daughter and him, he dreamt that she and him threw the ball for their dog, taking turns one after the other, throwing the ball as far as they could across the open grassy field, watching it fly before landing on the ground. The dog, a border collie, would jump for the ball as it bounced, leaping up off of all fours, catching it, and sliding to a stop before turning around to bring the ball back.

Every time Isaac's eight years old daughter, Elli, threw the ball, he couldn't help but laugh as it barely caught air their dog barely had to move to catch it. Every time, he'd look back at his beautiful wife and laugh.

"BREEP BREEP BREEP"

Isaac groaned as he rolled over in bed, his eyes not wanting to open even when he attempted to force them to. He felt his hand around, looking for a shelf that the alarm would be on. Then he remembered- he's in the underwater facility. He reached up, pressing a button above him.

The alarm stopped, and then, as he lay still, his bed hissed as it slid out of the little compartment. A faint aquamarine glow filled in through the thick glass windows.

Isaac lifted his feet off of the bed and over the side of it, staring down at the ground with dead, tired eyes.

'That's right.' He thought. 'I'm here.'

He stood up, walking over to the kitchen. The entire facility was barely the size of an RV and had just enough room for one person to make their way around. It was a good thing Isaac had gotten over his claustrophobia a long time ago.

He grabbed the coffee pot, brought it to the sink and filled it with water, swishing it around before dumping it out and watching the water as it spun in a whirlpool down the drain. Then, he filled it again, and poured the water into the coffee machine before reaching up to the shelf and grabbing some ground up coffee beans, pouring them into the machine, and then closing it, pressing the button, and then waiting as he listened to the sound of it being brewed.

He looked over at his work desk, on which lay a mess of papers, quills, ink, and a computer, as well as three coffee cups, each dirty. And there was also the picture of him, his wife, and his daughter. Placed over the picture was a necklace, the string made from twine. At the end of it was a little tiny glass piece wish ashes contained within it.

Isaac sighed, picking up the necklace and placing it over his head. He lifted up the glass piece, staring at it. On one side was the infinity symbol with roses engraved around it, on the other, it read "Elli, 2302-2315".

Letting the necklace rest at his chest, Isaac turned and walked over to the sealed shut door, looking out the window. The door connected to another room in which the water would all be drained out of before someone enters the facility. It was to make sure the entire place wouldn't flood. Beyond it was the open ocean, deep and dark.

Isaac shivered as he stared out into that darkness. It could swallow a man whole.

Again, just then, an aquamarine light filtered in through the window on the wall beside the door. Isaac walked over and peered out, his eyes sparkling with intrigue.

Outside, passing by, was a group of small creatures that resembled snakes or worms, but they had long, thin wisps like whiskers or scarves flowing from their body, connected by fins. Each of them had strange glowing patterns on their bodies, and they were quite a sight. A new creature, recently discovered, and accurately deemed "whisker worms".

And then Isaac's faint smile fell to a frown as his eyes drifted past the whisker worms, and out at the vast, empty darkness beyond. The luminous light of the whisker worms seemed to make the ocean beyond them appear even darker than normal, dirt and grime particles slowly floating through the water like flakes of snow.. until it dropped off into the pure darkness that was the ocean. It felt as though Isaac were on the edge of a cliff, looking over the edge the dropped away to an endless fall into the void.

Yet why, Isaac could never figure out, did he feel the urge to let that abyss swallow him up? He felt horrified and repelled by the terrifying darkness that seemed to look back at him as he peered into it, but at the same time, he felt drawn to it, he felt inexplicably compelled to just walk out the sealed door without his suit, and let the vast abyss take him.

As his eyes stared blankly into the void beyond, the whisker worms began to drift away, out of sight as their light faded out. For a long moment that felt like eons, Isaac just stared blankly into the shadows, lost in their cryptic depths.

And then, he could have sworn, he saw something massive, just barely, as it drifted through the water, writhing up from the abyss. A jolt ran through his body as his heart froze, skipping a beat, before crashing against his ribcage. In a rush of horrified, yet, curious, motion, he slammed himself against the glass and his hand crashed against a button on the wall. As he did so, bright lights blared on from the facility, illuminating everything around the building in a 360 degree radius.

Isaac let out a sigh as his heart slowly came to settle. It was just a megamouth shark. As his heart recovered and he was breathing heavily, he was able to, again, think clearly.

'I should record this. Megamouth sharks are not very common.' Isaac thought, raising his arm as his watch came to life with life and a holographic screen came up. He clicked on an app titled "notes" and began recording what he'd seen so far.

A loud click echoed through the facility. Isaac glanced up at the window. The lights had turned off. 30 minutes before he could use them again, a system used to conserve power.

He stared, again, into that abyss. And he couldn't help but think… maybe it already had engulfed him.