Maelstrom

Encounter

Darkness covered the room.

Everything was silent and calm.

The sound of ocean waves settled as the air stood still.

Maria felt like she was swimming in the oceans' void, surrounded by flowing water.

But then, another feeling began to settle in, like she wasn't alone in the water.

Maria opened her eyes and looked around, but saw nothing.

She continued to scan her surroundings until she saw something moving in the distance. It was so dark she could hardly see anything.

The dark figure looked big and moved like it was some sort of fish or a large shark.

She swam closer to get a better look at the creature, but it swam away.

She was questioning herself what that thing was, but then heard another noise from behind her.

She turned around and a giant, webbed hand reached out and grabbed her which startled Maria awake. Maria jolted up, sweating, and looked around her room. The alarm was going off once again, she took a look at the time. 2:00 P.M. Maria sighed, held her head in her hands and wiped the sweat off her brow. She took a deep breath and got out of bed and headed towards her closet to find a new pair of clothes she should wear to work.

As her usual daily routine, she would get some food started and set the timer for her to get out of the bath, finish cooking the rest of her meal, then head to her car and drive to work. Maria parked her car in its usual spot, got out, and started walking towards the main entrance. She entered the aquariums' doors and went to the check-in booth and punched her ticket to clock in for her job. She started heading towards the locker rooms to dress out in her work clothes, but then Pete stopped her in his security guard outfit. "Hey." He greeted, "Hey." Maria responded, "You do realize that you're a bit early?" Said Pete, "Oh, I know I was just, um..." Maria stuttered a bit with her words. "Is something wrong?" He asked, "No, I'm fine. I just had a weird dream." Maria said, as she opened the door to the locker rooms and entered inside to change into her janitor clothes. Once she was fully dressed, she grabbed the janitor bucket and mop and headed out in the hallways to find whatever mess there was to clean. Maria, and another janitor friend she knew named Miranda, entered the men's bathroom and began cleaning. Miranda had what every other ginger person would look like. A mix of pale and tan skin, freckles, blue eyes, and red, fuzzy, curly hair but short, almost like Giulia's. "I heard the boss added a new sea creature nearby The Great Barrier Reef room." Said Miranda, "Oh... Yeah, he did." Maria said as she continues mopping. Just then, one of the men Maria remembered from the other night entered the men's bathroom, it was the secret agent guy. "Oh, pardon me. I didn't know you two were cleaning in here." He said, "Oh, excuse us, sir." Said Miranda, "Oh no, don't mind me. You ladies continue doing what you're doing." He said as he slides past them and walked to one of the urinals to do his 'business' as he sets some large, black stick on the sinks' counter. Maria and Miranda looked at each other for a moment, but they just continued to their work. Canaveral looked over his shoulder to them and noticed Maria was about to move the large stick so she could clean the counter and stopped her. "Don't touch that." He said, warning her, "That's a military taser. Its electric shock could stun you in an instant." Maria looked down at the deadly weapon and stepped back, putting the towels back. Canaveral finished doing his business and flushed the urinal then grabbed the stick and started heading out the door. "It was a pleasure meeting you, ladies." He said as he looked at them both, then left the bathroom. Maria and Miranda looked at each other again, but Miranda paid no mind and told Maria to just finish her work as Maria went back to mopping. It was clear that Miranda didn't like him already.