More Protective Colby

Not Like This

Sam and Colby stood by the staircase, watching the waves crash into it, looking at the dark clouds that began to form. They were in their scuba gear, getting ready for another practice dive before they did the shipwreck dive. They had one more practice before they could do it. They almost didn't get to come because of the weather, but luckily their instructor had managed to get them the okay to come out.

Sam looked at Colby beside him, he saw the worried look on his face. "You okay?" asked Sam.

"Not doing okay man," said Colby.

"We'll be fine," said Sam. "Our instructor is here and we've had loads of practice."

"How are you not freaking out right now?" asked Colby.

"Oh, I am," said Sam. "I just don't show it externally, like you do."

Sam could still see Colby was very anxious. He had told Colby that if he wanted to back out and do another video idea instead, that was cool. But no, Colby wanted to conquer this. Not just for the video, but for himself.

"Just try to relax, okay," said Sam. "And don't worry, I'll drown before I let you drown."

"Dude, that doesn't help," said Colby.

"Hey Matthew," said their trainer Keline. "You wanna stay up here and monitor us on the underwater camera."

"Yep, I can do that," Matt replied with a thumbs up.

When it was finally time to dive, Sam and Colby both had mixed emotions. It started to feel real once they hit the water. There was no turning back now.

Everything had been going fine, they had gone through all the safety procedures, but then, everything went wrong at 100ft down.

Colby started losing air fast, he had about five minutes before his tank went dry. Colby attempted to kick his way up, but for some reason, he wasn't moving. They were starting to panic, their minds were racing, but they knew externalizing that would make the situation potentially deadly. They turned to their instructor and awaited her input. She had warned them about ascending too fast and what it could do to you. In short, your lungs could explode. This situation kept getting better and better.

Keline ended up having to help Colby back up to the surface, by using her extra air. Another assistant who had gone with them, also had to be helped back to the surface when she started losing air. She was attached to their cameraman Justin, who had also gone down with them. They attempted to go up fast but also careful. Luckily, there was an anchor at the bottom that happened to be attached to the surface. They were able to use that to pull themselves back up at an appropriate speed.

First it was Colby and their instructor, then the assistant and Justin. Sam didn't mind going by himself, he had lots of air left, or so he thought. Before, he wasn't short on air, but when he reached the anchor, he saw that he had about 4 minutes before he lost all of it.

He began trying to hoist himself up the anchor but for some reason he wouldn't move. He looked back and saw that his foot managed to get wrapped in a bunch of seaweed. He tried to pull himself loose, but the scuba gear was already weighing him down more than normal, and he was trying not to panic more than he already was. He looked up and saw no one, he assumed they all made it back to the surface.

When the last person ascended the stairs, Colby looked out into the water, searching for his best friend.

"Where's Sam?" asked Colby.

"He was behind us," said Keline. "Don't worry he should have enough air to get him up."

They waited patiently for him. Everyone was now growing concerned. The instructor looked at her watch.

"He has about two minutes before he goes dry," said Keline. "Where is he? Matt can you see him?"

"Yo, yo, he's caught!" shouted Matt, as he saw Sam on the camera.

"You mean he's stuck down there?!!" yelled Colby.

"Matt! Go Now!" shouted Keline.

Matt quickly got into the water and dove down, disappearing beneath the surface. Their instructor signaled for her assistant to call a medic, just in case.

Colby was halfway down the stairs and into the crashing waves as the instructor grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Colby you can't, your tank is dry," she said.

"Fuck, I knew this was a bad idea," said Colby.

Why had he suggested scuba diving? He knew something was bound to go wrong.The diver emerged shortly after with Sam unconscious as he swam over to them. 

"He lost consciousness about halfway up," he said.

They quickly pulled Sam up the stairs and laid him down. They quickly pulled the scuba gear off of his face. Colby immediately began chest compressions. Sam however, wasn't waking up.

"Sam, you stay with me," said Colby in tears. "You hear me?"

Colby could hear the sirens in the distance. Colby continued the chest compressions but unfortunately Sam's condition didn't change.

"Don't you dare leave me!" Colby cried. "Not like this."

Colby refused to stop the chest compressions. Sam wasn't dead. He wasn't. His instructor finally pulled him up and away from Sam.

"Colby, he's gone," she cried sadly.

"He's not," said Colby. "He's not gone."

Colby fell to his knees beside Sam, resting his hand on Sam's blond hair as he cried. He hung his head as Sam's eyes shot open.

Sam began coughing and gasping, he turned on his side as he spit-up water out of his mouth.

"Colby," coughed Sam. Sam didn't have time to even react as he Colby nearly knocked him over, giving him a massive hug.

"Don't you ever fucking do that to me again," said Colby.

Once the paramedics arrived, they gave Sam a final once over before he joined Colby back at the scuba shop.

"I just told our instructor we're not going through with the video," explained Colby.

"Dude, why would you tell her that," replied Sam. "Yes we are."

"You almost died Sam," said Colby. "I'm not risking that again."

"We just need more practice," said Sam. "We can do it."

"You really think so?" said Colby.

"Yes, I do," said Sam. "Besides have you even really lived, if you haven't almost died?"

"Dude, too soon," said Colby.

Sam smiled and laughed at him as they made their way back to Colby's car. They definitely needed more practice.