Chapter One
The water is cold as it rushes over my skin as I lower myself into the waveless bay, creating ripples that disturb it. Slowly but steadily, the salty liquid rises to my ankles, thighs, chest, then neck. Before submerging, I secure my goggles and then dive in, trusting my body to the water.
I swim away from land and I see dull, metallic fish scatter away as I approach. I surface to gulp air into my lungs and check my watch. 4:47 flashes on the screen. Four more minutes I think and plunge back in. My father and I had come here to meet someone who is partners with him. I had begged for a swim and he had let me, so I changed into my bathing suit from the trunk. Five minutes my father had said and resumed talking to the other man.
Another minute passes and another tags along, so I turn back to the shore and swim. As I go my way back, I think of diving to the bottom of the bay. I inhale a large amount of air into my body and dive. As the deeper I go, the more murky the water is and soon my range of visibility has become only a few feet.
A few seconds later, I feel the muddy floor. The wet sand is silky to the touch and is heavy. I rotate myself to face upwards and I lauch myself forward. A wet rope like thing curls around my ankle and I feel myself pulled down. I glance back. Seaweed. I jerk my foot in hope to free my leg. Nothing. As air starts to run out, I begin to panic, trying to free myself of the plant, but it still hangs on to me.
Black outlines start to appear in my sight and I become more desperate to escape the ocean grasp. I try ripping the seaweed, biting it, but it doesn't do much. My energy drained and the last of my air wasted, my hands float past me and I notice on my watch: 4:51.
5 minutes.
Then I black out.
