Below

Alone

I woke up suddenly with a start, a cold chill shooting up my body, almost taking the very breath out of me. I reached out with both my hands for something to grab onto but found nothing. All around me was water, water that stretched out as far as the eye could see. It was calm, small waves lapping gently against my tired body. I was floating upright, a lifejacket draped round me, fully inflated. I could not remember how I came to be here. My mind is just an empty blank, and like the blanketing fog that lingers in the air around me, there is much confusion that clouds it. My arms and legs hurt like they have been beaten several times with heavy and blunt objects. Every muscle and fibre in my body feels weak and I find I can only barely raise both my arms. All I can do is float hopelessly along, driven only by the current to whatever direction it is taking me...

I am sinking, falling down slowly into the darkness beneath me. My arms and legs are frozen in place and I can only look on helplessly as my world becomes darker. The depths of this ocean are vast and I fear what lies below, hidden in the darkness, something old and ancient, stalking me, circling me like a predator, waiting, biding its time.
As my eyes pierce the gloom, I see something far below, a dark shape of sorts pass by. It is there one minute then gone the next.
My heart beats fast, and I choke when I realise with horror that I will die, killed by the creature that waits below me or simply drown as my lungs start to fill with water....

I wake up coughing, spitting out water, realising that I had slipped off into unconsciousness again. I breath a sigh of relief knowing that I was dreaming, but it does not change the fact that I am still stranded out in the ocean surrounded by thick sheets of swirling fog.
The water still feels cold as it brushes against my body and I am still weak. I still cannot remember how I came to be in this predicament. My mind is just one complete mess of jumbled and fragmented thoughts, my memories like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces are everywhere. All I can do is assumed that I was on a boat and that something happened. I had survived somehow and whether I am the only one remains to be seen. I do know that I need to find something, anything like a floating piece of wreckage, a boat perhaps to get out of the water. I cannot remain here floating aimlessly and helplessly. I will die from the cold, from thirst and starvation. Out here on these waters I am vulnerable. I only wish I can remember...

The silence around me is almost unsettling. I hear no wind, no sound of birds overhead. There is the odd splash of water now and again either several metres in front, behind though with this thick, roiling fog, it is hard to ascertain where the splashes come from. But I get that feeling of dread and danger. I need to get out of these waters. Even though my arms and legs feel like jelly, I kick with my feet and make circular strokes with my arm, propelling myself forwards. Even though my body screams out in pain, the movements of my arms and legs create a feeling of warmth in my body. After a while though, I begin to feel tiredness coming over me like the thick fog itself. So I rest, taking in lungfuls of air as I do...

There is something about this fog that I find rather odd. It has a yellowish luminescent glow about it. I don't know whether it is because I have been staring at it and that my own mind is playing tricks on me. I feel like I have been here for hours and what I find so odd is that the fog does not show any signs of lifting. I must surely have been able to see the sky by now. But all I see are thick sheets of swirling fog. I can barely see several feet in front of me and it hurts my head when I have to squint. I have not heard any more splashes, just this earie silence that you can cut with a knife. There is another disturbing thought that comes to me, one that is backed by the feeling of knowing, knowing that I am being watched...

The minutes that pass seem almost like an eternity. There is still no sign of this fog lifting and I have seen nothing or no one in sight. I am hopelessly lost. My lungs are bursting at this stage and I feel tiredness and fatigue wash over me in waves. I know I cannot afford to fall asleep because of the dangers that are around me. I fear that I will die on my sleep, either by the cold, drowning or even worse, being eaten by some dark unseen terror lurking far beneath the depths. I still find it hard to believe that I am the only survivor. Surely there must be others out here, searching like me. Alone, frightened and terrified.
I stare ahead at the thick sheets of swirling fog. Now and again, I notice clumps of weed floating past along with bits of wood. Whether they are pieces of the ship I was traveling on remains to be seen. I still cannot remember anything. This whole thing feels like one bad dream....

Darkness again, drifting down into the gloom, slowly, softly, the light from the surface fading.
Why is this ocean so dark?
Why can't I see any sea life?
Shoals of fishes, maybe a big Great White?
All I see is darkness. All I feel is that unnerving feeling that there is something down below waiting in the darkness, something old and ancient, watching me as I sink deeper and deeper...

I wake up again, coughing out a mouthful of seawater. It tastes revolting and almost makes me wretch. I had drifted off again and I have no idea of knowing just how long I had been asleep. Or how far the current has taken me. My body still feels cold and I am shaking, though I feel it is not entirely from the chill waters that I am in, but from the same reacurring dream I keep having. I am too tired to ponder its meaning. I know I have to keep moving. The deathly silence, the stillness of the water, the lingering fog. They unsettle and unnerve me. I sense something is not right about this place, and there is great danger though I still cannot sense what it is that I am so afraid of.
I carry on pushing myself forward, that faint glimmer of hope that maybe I would find someone so that I am not alone...

I catch myself drifting off to sleep again. My eyes are so heavy, I am afraid if I do close them, I will most certainly drift off into a sleep. Nearby I hear a splash and for a moment, my quiet heart skips a beat. I look around me anxiously, my eyes trying to pierce the gloom of this fog.
Then I hear something, faint at first. I have to strain my ears to listen. The silence itself can be almost deafening.
I hear another splash, then voices, people talking!
My heart is filled with renewed hope and desperately I begin thrashing my arms forward in a desperate attempt to swim towards the noise. I cannot see anything from this fog but the voices are appearing ever so clear. I stop for a moment out of sheer exhaustion, breathless and tired, every bone, muscle and sinew in my body tired. I try to call out but my voice comes out a whimper than a shout. I cannot believe how weak I am and it is a mystery just how long I have been adrift in this strange patch of sea. The voices now are getting clearer. I can distinctly pick out four voices and the sound of oars in the water indicate they are in a boat.
Perhaps survivors. They are heading in my direction because the voices are getting louder and as I gaze at the thick sheets of roiling fog, I see the faint outline of a rowing boat coming into view, heading in my direction. I am saved....