In the Waters Below (Interactive)

1. Sail

It's a very sunny day. Peter's sailing with three of his friends, all of whom are semi-experienced sailors like Peter. They are on a small sailboat.

Peter's sitting down, enjoying a nice break when he hears thunder from afar. He doesn't panic. It's probably no big deal, he thinks.

He's very wrong. The rain hits them very suddenly, almost like the weather can turn from sunny to storming in two seconds in cheesy movies. It starts storming. Thunder is booming all around them, and lighting lights their movements under the dark clouds above them.

"Put the sail down!" Peter shouts so that the wind doesn't blow them over. Meanwhile, he grabs his emergency bag, in which he's packed three emergency flares, a water bottle, and a hat (he put the hat in there for hair emergencies). He puts on his life preserver, shouting at the others to do the same if they haven't already, then slings the bag over his shoulders.

The winds pick up while the men are still trying to put the sail down. It catches the sail just right and knocks the boat over, capsizing it. All three of the boys fly off, and the mast hits one of them, Jimmy, in the head so hard it knocks him out.

The other, Bill, is not so fortunate. He hadn't put his life preserver on yet, because he was preoccupied with his stuff and putting his phone in a ziplock bag so that the water wouldn't destroy it. Bill never really had his priorities straight. To add to his luck, his leg gets caught as the sailboat turns over in one of the many ropes attached to the vessel, dragging him by the ankle under water with it.

"Jim!" Peter cries from the water, searching for his friends. "Bill!" Peter looks around desperately, struggling to see beyond the waves and the darkness of the storm.

The sailboat is taking on water and slowly, but somehow at the same time rapidly, sinking into the ocean.

"Jimmy! Bill! Jim! Bill!" Peter calls out. He swims around the wreckage looking for either of his friends as the boat is disappearing. It doesn't make sense to him that they'd just disappear. Unless they drowned.

Finally, a flash of lightning illuminates Jimmy's bright orange life preserver in front of him. "Jim!" He swims to him. Jimmy's face is in the water, and he's unconscious. Oh, please, Jimmy. Don't be dead. Peter smacks Jimmy's face, trying to wake him up. He's getting desperate.

Suddenly, Jimmy coughs up a great deal of sea water. Peter sighs a sigh of relief. Jimmy smiles a little bit, and Peter is reminded of his other friend.

"Bill!"

"Where's Bill?" Jimmy asks.

"I don't know," is Peter's reply.

"Bill!"

They call for Bill. There's no sign of him. Peter realizes his friend must have been pulled under water.

His face drops while Jimmy continues calling for Bill. "Jimmy," Peter says, "he must have gone under."

Jimmy looks at Peter, his worst fear for Bill confirmed. A crazed look enters his eyes. He frantically starts stripping his life preserver, preparing to swim down to the boat, wherever it may be, and bring their friend up to safety.

"Jim!" Peter protests. "The boat's got to be too far below the water by now! There's no way we can reach him!"

Jimmy disappears under the water, diving anyway. Peter tries to grab him and misses. It's not long before Jim resurfaces, inhaling deeply to get ready to go down again. Peter grabs him, "Jimmy! We don't even know that this is exactly where the boat sank! Think of the currents, Jim!" But Jimmy still wasn't listening. "We don't even know how deep it is! There's nothing you can do."

Jim fights Peter to go below the water, but Peter holds him up. Jimmy curses and struggles for a few minutes before he's finally forced to give in.

Peter gives him back his life preserver. "There's nothing we can do," he repeats.

Jim sighs, about to realize exactly how accurate Peter's words are.

Please proceed to the next part: Float (2).