Deep Dive

I dropped the boat’s anchor, finished zipping myself into my wetsuit, then took one final look at the map. I’ve dived Lover’s Point before, too many times to count, but one could never be too sure of what they’d find just beneath the ocean’s surface. I was not arrogant enough to think that I was a master of anything, much less, of the sea. But that is what I liked most about being out here, especially at night. The ocean was calm yet rustling, inviting yet mysterious, familiar yet strange.

The moon, full and round, shone brightly overhead, providing me just the right amount of light I needed to keep my eye’s from straining. Satisfied, I tucked the map away in the backpack I had thrown haphazardly down by my feet, stopping only for a second as my fingertips grazed the diamond engagement ring I had shoved to the bottom of my pack.

I had forgotten it was there.

I hadn’t looked at it since the day I offered it to Jen. The same day she gave it back to me. Even though I carried it with me, I was running from it. It had been almost six months, but it still had a hold on me. I never saw myself settling down, much less in my mid-twenties, but from the moment I saw Jen, all I wanted was an entire future with her. Our love was a whirlwind. I bought this ring after only a few weeks of dating. Less than six months later, I was down on my knee, and she was walking away from me.

I pulled the ring out of the bag. The solitaire diamond sparkled even in the moonlight. I had thought about returning it or pawning it or even flinging it out of the car window as I drove down the street, but a part of me, probably a larger part of me than I’d ever admit out loud, held on to it out of the small sliver of hope that maybe she would come back to me. I wanted her to want the ring. To want a future with me. To want me.

I stuffed the ring back into the bag and turned my focus back to my diving gear. I secured my flippers and oxygen tank, pulled my goggles down, flicked on my LED dive light, and jumped overboard. I grabbed onto the anchor line and began to swim down. I could only see a few feet ahead of me. Everything else was black. But even though I couldn’t see what was happening around me, I could feel it. I could sense the life, the commotion, the chaos swirling all around me. I knew that if I reached out, I could touch it, the things existing just beyond the darkness, hiding in the shadows. But not knowing what is lurking just a few inches from you was half of what made diving so exhilarating. And terrifying.

I swam down further, watching as the layer of blackness peeled away, revealing the vibrant world below. I let go of the anchor line and swam a few inches forward to grab hold of a rock, almost completely covered by an assortment of brightly colored corals. The tentacles of the anemones swayed back and forth, dancing in the ocean’s unpredictable current. I followed differently colored fish as they swam in and out of the poisonous plants, disappearing only for a moment around the far side of the rock until I caught back up to them. I watched on, as they turned away from the rock and swam towards the open water, until they finally faded from view. I explored the rock, following its dips and curves, peeking into its crevices and holes to see what life I might uncover. I reached out, parted a small bush of kelp, paving a path for this small, yellow fish, with eyes the size of golf balls, to swim at me. It did and crashed into my goggles.

I shook my head, partially laughing at myself, the other part of me embarrassed at being assaulted by a fish the size of my palm, when out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something moving in the water. It looked like a fin or perhaps a flipper. Whatever it was, it didn’t look like the kind of thing you would see on a shark or an animal. It looked more like what you would expect to see on another diver. I looked out a few feet from me, towards my anchor line. It was the only one I could see. It didn't look like there were any other boats near me. And it seemed like it would be too much of a coincidence for another person to be diving in the same location and at the same time of night as me. Yet, it was the only logical explanation I could come up with.

I spun back around, trying to get a better look at whatever it was, but before I could, it was gone. Even though I couldn’t see it, I could still feel it. It was just out of sight, but it was close. And it was watching me. I could feel it studying me, waiting to see my next move.

I swam back towards the radiant ecosystem I was previously investigating, trying to shrug off the uneasy feeling that was resting squarely in my chest, causing my heart rate to beat faster than I was use to. It was not long until I caught another flick of the flipper in my peripheral. Even within my wetsuit, I could feel the goosebumps on my arms raise. I knew I shouldn’t go looking for whatever this was, but there was a force, a curiosity, pulling me towards it.

Against my better judgement, I swam after it.

I saw a flip off to the right. I turn and swam down towards it. Another flip off to the left. I pivot and stroke as fast as I can, never getting a good enough look to definitively know what I am chasing after, but I continue down, picking up the pace anyway. I continued down, further and further, chasing what seems to be nothing more than an illusion, until finally I stop.

I looked around me. Nothing about this part of the ocean looked or felt familiar to me. I can't see my anchor line or my boat anymore. I can barely see my hands in front of me, even with my light on. The water felt heavier down here. The ocean felt emptier. There was an eerie stillness around me, as if I am the only living thing around. It sent chills up my spine.

I checked my oxygen gauge. I had just enought left to make it back to the surface. Once there, above the water, I could find and make my way back to my boat. I turned towards the surface and began my ascent, but then I heard something, a sound. It was begging me to stay.

As many times as I have dived before, I had never heard anything like this under the water. I didn't know how something like this could even be possible. Someone was humming this melody. It was intoxicating. Coaxing me to swim down further. I knew I shouldn’t listen to it, but I couldn't seem to pull myself away.

This was becoming a trend.

I turned my back to safety, to my only source of survival, and swam further into the darkness. The humming gets louder, intensifying my desire to find the singer. Then, a few feet ahead of me, almost out of nowhere, a cave appears, identifiable only by a small ray of light shining from inside of it. That's where they must be, the person I have been searching for.

My heart rate skyrocketed as I neared the cave. I wrapped my hand around the edge of the jagged cave’s opening and propel myself into it.

The humming stops. My LED light loses power. The cave goes black. I can sense the thing swimming towards me. My heart is in my throat, my stomach in knots. I tried to kick my legs, to swim away, but nothing. No movement. I am paralyzed. Heavy, yet at the same time completely weightless. It’s close. Even in the water, I could feel its breath, icy, prickly on my neck. Then I felt it- its nose touching mine.

My LED light flicks back on. My eyes widened as I take in the creature wading in front of me. Her skin is a sickly, pale green, studded with yellow spikes along her neck and arm. Her face, pointed, with each feature slightly out of place, rotated just enough to force me to tilt my head to the side in order to make her face make sense in my head.

Is she a mermaid?

As if she heard my thoughts, she grinned, bearing her pointed teeth at me, then swam towards me. Before I knew what was happening, my counterlung was out of my mouth, and her lips were on mine: my ears filled with the tempting melody once again. She pulled away from me, smirks, exposing her jagged teeth once more, then latched onto my neck. I feel the life draining from me, my body on the brink of lifelessness. But right before I cross over, into the dark space, she brought me back to life, breathing into me new air.

It was then that I realized I didn’t need the oxygen from my tank to breathe. She removed the googles from around my eyes and light from my head and I am amazed that I can see the world around me in perfect clarity.

I stared back at the creature in front of me, trying to understand her, trying to understand what is happening. She didn't speak, and neither did I. I could sense within her only one thing: desire. For what? But before I could get lost in my thoughts, a debilitating pain courses through my bones and veins bringing my focus back to the physical.

I felt each of the bones in my legs break and snap before fusing back together to form one limb. I nearly snapped in half, my head touching my heels, before flipping back the other way. A row of fins tore through my flesh and lined my spine. Gills filled the empty space between my eyes and my mouth. I watched as my wetsuit disintegrates in front of my eyes. But I was not cold. Not physically, anyway.

Inside, I was hollow. Empty. Every hope, fear, memory, gone. My entire spirit and soul eradicated. Everything in me replaced by desire. an insatiable desire for human blood. I am not entirely sure of what or who I am, but the only thing I know for certain is that I am no longer human.

Not anymore.