Groom Wars

37. Falling

When I was younger, my dad would lie on the floor, and I would jump off the bed, spread my arms, and soar. He would catch me in that quick, sure way fathers always managed to. So even if I jumped and was slightly off target, he moved to catch me. In him, I had complete trust. Falling, Flying, the two concepts had always belonged to the same book. One brought you up; the other dragged you down towards the earth's core.

Now I fell through the darkness, feet kicking, hands windmilling, heart thumping. The light of the headlamp moved sporadically as my head swivelled left to right. My feet stabbed the water first. A piercing cold shocked my body as I sank. Beneath the water, I saw divers holding cameras. For a moment, I left myself to the mercy of the water. Then, I pushed against it and kicked my legs till I surfaced. Immediately in front of me, a puzzle piece floated above the water.

I swam ahead, remembering Steven's instructions to get the fifth or sixth piece.

I was stuck in two games. One was Groom Wars, the second being a chess game with Leandro, of which our hearts were the kings. He had launched a move and checked my king. And now, I had to maneuver my way out of that trap and protect my heart. It was difficult because we needed each other to survive this challenge, so I couldn't abandon him.

My arms cleaved through the frigid water. Powerful strokes and matching kicks allowed me to glide through the liquid. The headlamp reflected off the water and, from time to time, illuminated bits of the grey wall. A splash sounded behind me.

Already, thirty seconds had passed, and I had only seen two puzzle pieces. I took a deep breath and buried my face in the water, focusing on swimming and taking fewer breaths. Rhythmic thuds rebounded off the walls. We didn't need to speak to each other. We already had a plan; all that was left was to see it through.

Finally, I reached the fifth buoy and found the rope that anchored it to the ground. I dove under, using the rope to guide me to the bottom. My lungs burned, wanting air. But I calmed my heart and focused on removing the hitch that locked the rope to the floor. My fingers brushed the cool metal latch. My other hand found the loop the latch was stuck to. With the raised loop as a reference point, I opened the latch wide enough to remove it from its anchor. Bubbles streamed out my nostrils as the damn thing came free. I surfaced, coughing to get rid of some of the water I had inhaled.

To move quickly, I tied the rope to my waist and swum with the puzzle piece trailing behind me. It was light, so it and I moved through the water with minimal difficulty. It sometimes got stuck around my legs, and after each entanglement, I wrapped more of the rope around my stomach.

Eventually, I was able to glide through the water with ease, the puzzle strapped to my back like some dead child. More sounds were behind me. More splashes. Some grunting. I could see the flashing movement of someone's arms. And a few paces away, someone was nearing.

Though they were my teammates, something competitive exploded within me. I took another deep breath and focused on swimming. Ten-fifteen minutes passed, my lungs burned, arms screamed, but I held first for the moment though the gap was quickly closing as the faster swimmers caught up with those that had started earlier than them. I raised my head. The ladder was roughly a hundred metres away from me, so I decided to hold my breath for as long as possible and just focus on swimming. My strokes pulled me closer to the ladder, but the people behind me closed in. A bomb ticked in my chest.

I took a quick breath, kicked with as powerful a stroke as I could muster, and cleaved my arms through the water. My head bumped the lower rungs of the ladder. I grabbed a rung above me and dragged myself out of the body of liquid. Thought it was attached to a wall, the ladder shook slightly as I climbed. My puzzle piece clung to my back, the corpse of a child I hadn't gotten the chance to name.