UnderWater

Chapter 1

The sky was an ugly gray. The thick, dark clouds crowded the sky were an even uglier gray. The wind blew with annoying, erratical strengths, sending sand spraying everywhere. It was one of those mornings where one was glad to be living inside a house.

It was perfect weather to simply crash and do absolutely nothing, which Levi was doing at the moment. Stretched out on his bed, one of his legs dangling carelessly off of the edge, the man was aimlessly staring at the spotless ceiling of his room.

Levi let out a quiet sigh, leaning the back of his arm against his forehead. It was really no good today.

There were some days in this house where he could actually get up and do something, and when he woke this morning, he had a feeling that this was one of those days... and it was not.

"Huh?" He felt a wet nose nudge his leg. Levi opened one eye reluctantly to glare at his large sheep dog, Bean, who pawed the ground impatiently.

"...Stupid mutt. Go walk yourself if you're that desperate."

If someone asked about Levi's employment status, he would say that he was a writer... a writer on a break, that is.

Very few people knew that Levi was the anonymous author of an extremely popular string of dark crime and mystery novels. Then again, very few people knew Levi actually existed.

Levi had never been a particularly ambitious person. He hadn't been expecting anything, really, when he had started writing. But from the start, his books had been on an unending streak of (rather disturbing, in Levi's opinion) popularity.

According to his editor, the number of radio and television shows asking him for interviews kept increasing and increasing, while the circulating theories about his identity were getting more wilder and wilder by the day.

It had been too much for Levi. He was not a spotlight person, was never one, and would never be one. Even if his identity was anonymous, the paranoia of someone finding out had been getting to him.

Eventually, Levi had cracked. As frankly as possible, he told his editor there was no way he could write like this with the whole world seemingly intent on hunting him down. He was going to take a break. A long break. Until things would calm down.

His family had owned a large summer house on a quiet beach near a small town. They hadn't visited it very often; Levi could hardly recall anything of it from his childhood.

But at that time, it seemed like the perfect chance for his escape. No city. No noise. No editor. No work.

So here he was, living like a NEET (Not in Employment, Education, or Training). Wasting his time with a goofy dog he hadn't even wanted to adopt and looking at the sea. Fabulous life, wasn't it?

This day was turning about to be no different than others.

Levi rolled over to his side, wondering if he should just sleep the whole day away.

It was then when he heard it.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Wh-what the-" Levi managed to choke out as he instinctively slapped his hands over his ears, his usually narrow eyes widening as the piercing scream split the gray air like a sharpened knife.

Levi had never heard such a horrifying sound in his life. It sounded as if someone was being tortured. It sounded as if they were mercilessly being cut in half. It sounded... human.

The scream continued for a few seconds, then abruptly stopped as quickly as it had started. As Levi ran down his stairs Levi was curious. What was that? Or who was it?