Crafted Origins: Before the Beginning

Ty's Story: Part 2

Ty

I spent the next few days staying in my house, mostly my room. Skye didn't come to visit, which was just fine- I didn't think I could handle seeing her. Not to mention that if she came, Toby would probably come too, and I didn't want to see him. One day Mom said I had spent too much time sitting around the house, not doing anything. She dragged me out of the place and led me the few steps down towards the water's edge. We sat there for a while, just kind of looking at the water, and talking about things like what books she had read and which of those I'd like. The sun was high in the sky when she suggested actually walking a ways down on the sand.

"Sure," I said. We got up and started walking, the sand getting in my shoes, but I didn't care. We slowly slipped into talking about the shells or the waves. I glanced out at the ocean; it was an endless expanse of blue, the line between sea and sky blurred because it was so far away. The waves were coming in at neat, short, wet intervals, soaking into the sand and leaving foam before they retreated and came again. Or at least, they had been.

"Mom, what's that?" I cut her off and pointed towards one particular wave that was almost too big to be this close to shore, especially for a day that wasn't windy.

She glanced at it, studying it. "I'm... not sure," she said. The next few incoming waves started to get bigger and bigger, not subsiding back down to the size they should be. I locked up.

"Ty! Go! Get away!"

"Dad- no! No!" I reached out a hand, trying to grip his before he was dragged to the bottom-

"Ty." I blinked- my mom was shaking me. The waves were still coming, and still growing with each one. I took a few shallow breaths. "We need to get away from the water." I nodded numbly. She turned and started pulling me with her, but as she did so I saw bubbles start to pop up in the water. They started out far away, but continued moving closer and closer...

He didn't take my hand, they were already pulling him under. He was going to die in the ocean, I just knew it- was going to drown- his head was already under-

But here was the same situation again- I ripped my arm from Mom and looked at the water. "Dad?! Dad!" What if it was him-? It was a blind hope, but it was something I wanted to find out. I started running over to the shoreline.

"No, Ty- we don't know what's in the water!" I heard her but didn't listen. Instead I put a foot in the water, which felt ridiculously cold. 

"No-!" His hand was still above the water, waving goodbye, not in any way reachable by my own now. If I looked down through the water I could see his face, looking up at me and Mom.

I was hoping now, grasping at anything I could just to try and see him again. The blood pounded in my ears as I started wading into the water. First my ankles. Then my knees. Up to my waist, and I kept going. "Dad!"

"Ty, no, come back!" I heard faint splashing behind me. In the corner of my eye, I could barely make out Mom, standing at the water's edge. But I had to find out- what was in the water? And if it wasn't him... who was it? The bubbles were getting larger now and I was almost knocked over by one of the waves as it broke. I coughed and emerged. My shirt was once again soaked and this time freezing, my feet dragging to keep me going. "DAD!" And then I felt something slam onto my wrist, something wet and metallic and not at all like my dad's hand. A robotic arm.

I jerked back and started backing up for the shore, barely managing to wrench my hand away. As I did so, whatever was attached to the metal arm stood up and out of the water. It was massive, a jumble of metal and glass. A glass cage connected to four metallic limbs. And sitting in the glass cage, controlling the robot, something with twice as many limbs and coated in slime. A squid... but one smart enough to construct this suit.

I stumbled back. I had to get to shore- I could hear my mom screaming faintly as the squid followed me in calculated mechanical movements. I stepped back and tripped over something in the water, landing sprawled on my back. The arm jerked forward again, this time with something held in it, and so did the other one. They clamped something on my wrist, but my arms were behind me, keeping me out of the water, so I didn't know what. I stared up at the robot as it grabbed me and pulled me upright. This thing's intention was clear now. There was more screaming. It might have been me.

I took a short, quick breath to try and calm down, but then it slammed something onto my face. It took me a few seconds to realize it was a helmet of sorts- a helmet filled with oxygen. It was going to take me underwater, but not to drown me- to do something else. Whatever it was. And I didn't want to go with it.

I didn't have much of a choice, though. It grabbed one of my arms and practically picked me up, dragging me through the water, but farther from shore again. I had to stare at the water in front of me, unable to turn around thanks to how the squid was holding me. We got into deeper and deeper water and only my head was left above, in the air, and able to clearly hear anything going on above the ocean...

"TY! TY! NO!"

"DAD! DAD! NO!" But it was too late. He was under the water and still sinking.

I was under the water, and still being pulled down.

...

:3

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