Under The Sea

• Kate Seery, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2010

"I'll be fine, really," I reassured the anxious crowd that had gathered to see me off on my expedition. As I clambered into my submarine, I blew kisses to my loved ones, and then disappeared from their view, down into my sub.

I climbed down the ladder and through a narrow doorway to settle down in my large, comfortable pilot’s chair, so I could set my Sub-Water Xplora 3000 to auto pilot, and begin my journey from the bays of Melbourne to the coast of Sydney. I could manage that, couldn’t I? Being accomplished in the field of deep sea diving, I would be just fine…

I turned my head to look this way and that, and attempted to take in as much of this breathtaking world as humanly possible. The colour of the coral, and the many tropical species of fish was absolutely amazing. I could see schools of brightly coloured fish frolicking through the coral and seaweed, a placid looking stingray, and and octopus entangled with its meal; rather an amusing sight to behold. I was awestruck by this beautiful world, and felt that I would never want to leave.

As I made my way into deeper waters, the colours began to fade away, the coral thin out, and the fish melt into the shallower waters I was leaving behind me. I was just descending down the Continental Slope to the abyssal plain, about three thousand metres below the surface. As I descended, the water became darker, and considerably colder. The water was very murky, and as I persisted through the gloom, I could see a bright light. At this depth, I was confused, and the bright glow hurt my eyes. As I continued to descend through these frighteningly sinister waters, my sophisticated sonar system began to pick up a…something. It was about the size of a large dog, and it was floating directly in front of me. As I came closer, and my eyes adjusted to the eerie glow, I could see rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth glinting at me, big, intimidating eyes boring into mine, and the sparkles of a thousand scales of the scariest fish I had ever seen! I almost fell off my chair as I shrieked with horror, and, regaining my composure, I sped my submarine away from this deep-sea monster. As I sped away, I turned to see the terrifying beast following me! I panicked, and hit a button in my haste to get away. To my horror, I felt the auto pilot disengaging, and my submarine was falling, falling through the darkness…

I fought to re-engage the autopilot, but as my fingers scrambled across the dashboard, I felt something huge slam into my submarine. The fish had rammed into my submarine, and it had sprung a leak. I dove out of my chair and raced to collect my wetsuit, and hastened to put it on, and fix my SCUBA gear to my body.

To be continued…