Lost and Found (Jirose)

Immersion

Chaeyoung bobbed up with a gasp. "Are you crazy?!"

"No!"

"That's what a crazy person says!"

She kicked off the ground, away from her mother. 

Caught off-guard, Chaeyoung immediately floundered when her feet couldn't find the floor again and she struggled to balance herself upright in the water, splashing frantically.

"Roseanne!"Her mother's voice went up an octave, agitated. "Oh my....Roseanne...the water..."

 She heard the older woman splashing around and assumed her mother had discovered the unpleasant sensation of treading water in absolute darkness.

But Chaeyoung couldn't answer as she rolled over like a log, face down into the murky, wet darkness.

Relax, she instructed herself, ignoring the screaming alarm bells in her head, focus on shifting to the side.

It was easier said than done: try as she might, Chaeyoung couldn't get herself to tilt.

She struggled and kicked underwater as precious bubbles of air escaped her. She managed to turn up slightly and gulp in some air before she rolled beneath the rippling surface again.

This isn't working! How am I gonna reach the trapdoor?

She tugged at her wrists, willing them to come undone with just a telepathic command. 

But obviously nothing happened.

Chaeyoung thrashed in the water, silently screaming. Her lungs were on the verge of bursting, she needed air, she was going to explode in 3, 2—

Her mother rolled her face up, lifting her head clear of the water as Chaeyoung gasped and heaved, greedily sucking in lungfuls of air.

"Chaeyoung you were going to suffocate!"

"No kidding," Chaeyoung rasped, "we should find the walls, they'll help give us support."

"Good thinking," her mother puffed and started moving.

Chaeyoung blinked. 

Had she unknowingly swallowed a gallon of water and it was now warping her mother's words?

When was the last time her mother acknowledged anything she said as 'good thinking'?

"Oh...thank you..." Chaeyoung whispered, immediately filing away this memory to cherish the precious moment.

She sensed her mother pause in front of her for a what seemed like an eternity but before Chaeyoung could ask why, they were moving again as the older woman pulled her daughter behind her.

Chaeyoung assumed she had perhaps stopped to gauge how far the walls were depending on the sound of water rippling against the sides.

It was too much to hope that she had actually heard Chaeyoung's small, touched word of thanks.

They finally reached a wall which gave them support somewhat as they rested against the cold stone.

"I don't think we have much longer till we reach the ceiling," Chaeyoung began carefully, glancing upwards.

Now that the fire and anger coursing through her veins had dissipated, she was starting to shiver. "We should rest as much as possible so the moment we can reach, we split up and search for the door."

She was startled to hear an unmistakable sound escape the woman next to her.

She was going to pretend she hadn't heard but it came again: low and clear, the sound of her mother sniffling.