Ocean Deep

• Talisa Herrington, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2017

The Jingle of chains in the empty space sent echoes bouncing around me. The Fear on my face was evident, as I looked around my pitch-black surroundings, searching for somewhere to escape, but there was nothing. The room was a small dark space and the only entry and exit that I could see, was a trap door above me.
Near my ankles I felt a tingling, with great fear and horror I realised that it was water that I could feel and was rising, ever so slowly. They were going to drown me!
I had no idea why they would want me. I was just the daughter of an editor, publisher and owner of a book store. Then just today, some men in black suites walked up to me on my way to school, and said it was urgent and I must come right away. Without hesitation I stepped into their car and then nothing, I couldn’t remember anything after that.
As the water continued to rise pasted my shoulders I struggled fiercely with the iron shackles holding my wrists. But with no success, the bonds held tightly. Terror griped my heart and I started to tremble as I felt the water touch my cheeks.
I gasped at the list bit of air before the water completely surrounded me, and the water rose past my head, and stoped rising about a meter above my head. I tried with all my might to break the chains and swim to the surface but they held strong.
By now my chest was starting to burn and I felt dizzy from lack of oxygen, then the world went black, I was slowly losing conscious.
All of a sudden I awoke. I thought I must be dead, but this didn’t feel like any kind of heaven I was taught. I opened my eyes, I was still in the dark room and my wrists were still bound to the chains. I then realised the most important factor of all, I was still under the water, but I was breathing.
Panic struck me like a fist to my face, and I was sure any moment now the water would fill my lungs and I would drown. But nothing happened; I was still breathing under the water, still alive.
How could this be? Why haven’t I drowned? A million questions were buzzing around my head as the trap door above me opened and light flooded into the lonely space.
From under the surface of the water I could hear two male voices talking.
“If you are wrong about this and anything happens, I will trail you for murder.” Said the first man, the anger was evident in his words.
“Peter, calm down! I’m sorry we had to do this to her but we couldn’t be sure what she would do in a situation like this. I’ve already checked the footage and she’s alright.” explained the second.
“But I can’t believe you did it without my permission.” Peter exclaimed.
“We know you wouldn’t agree with our plan.”
And with that, the Second man pressed a button on a key pad and instantly the shackles holding my wrists were released.
Swimming as fast as I could I emerged from the water, finally seeing clearly for the first time the two men. The first was tall and heavily set, his hair and beard were brown turning grey, and his face was set with a relieved look, which then transformed into a massive grin, for he, I recognised as my father. The second man was somewhat shorter than my father but equally built. His hair was dark and shaggy, but his eyes were a grey-blue with a very wild look about them.
My father bent over and reached out his hands to pull me up, wet and shaking, onto solid ground. But before I could open my mouth to speak, dad gave me a massive bear hug that I was convinced must have fractured my ribs. Once he released me, the Second man started talking, and we headed off down an empty hallway.