Abyss

Preface

        A familiar ringtone echoed off the walls of the apartment and pierced Alexandr's ears, even through the thick blanket that covered his head. He sighed and slowly opened his eyes as he reached for his phone. Its touch screen was lit up with a caller ID reading Pavel Kovalik.
Alexandr pushed himself up off the mattress, dropping the blanket from his face. He blinked in the sunlight that flooded the window of his second-story apartment and pressed 'accept call.'
A familiar voice greeted his ear.
"Alex! My bro, my dude, my homie—are you ready?"
Alexandr laughed and ran his hand through his messy golden hair. "Hey, Pavs... What are you doing up this early?" He lifted his wrist and glanced at his watch. "It's only 7am; we're not leaving for another hour!"
"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise—Abe Lincoln was a wise man, you should take his advice sometime."
"Ben Franklin said that," Alexandr said, shaking his head and cracking a smile. "Not Abe Lincoln."
Pavel scoffed, and Alexandr could almost imagine him throwing his hands in the air. "Whatever, man—some old dude in American history, I don't care! But that's besides the point—you should stop sleeping in."
"Seven in the morning is hardly sleeping in. And besides, it's only an hour after I usually get up for work. It's my day off, can't I get a little extra sleep?"
Pavel ignored his question. "Exactly, it's our day off, which is why you need to get up—we gotta make the most of it!"
"Alright, fine, I'm up," Alexandr said. "Congrats on being my alarm clock this morning, I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'd still be asleep, for one," Pavel muttered. "Listen, I got Shane to drive the boat for us, so we're covered. He doesn't have to be anywhere until four, but we'll totally be back by then."
Alexandr furrowed his brow. "Who?"
Pavel sighed. "My roommate? You remember—you guys met at graduation..."
Alexandr searched his memory. "I think...? Was this the guy who pierced his ears and then used a fishing hook as an earring because he thought it looked cool?"
"Yes... That wasn't really one of his shining moments..."
Alexandr laughed. "Did he ever get that out, by the way?"
"Yeah..." Pavel sighed. "You're so lucky you weren't there, we tried to pull it out ourselves for like an hour. Eventually we had to go buy a wire cutter, and... ugh, it was a mess. His ear was scarred up for like a month."
"Yikes."
"Anyway, we're coming over to get you, so you better be down here by seven-thirty or I'm breaking into your apartment."
Alexandr rubbed his eyes. "Alright, alright. I'm getting dressed, happy?"
"Very." Alexandr could hear the smile in his voice. "I'll leave you to it, then. See ya."
"Bye." He ended the call and tossed the phone onto his comforter. Today was going to be great.

Alexandr stretched and walked into his bathroom, grabbing the wetsuit that hung from the top of the door. It was still a little damp from the previous day's tours. He peeled off the tank-top he'd slept in and pulled the suit up over his body before zipping up the back. Pavel hadn't left him time to shower, but it didn't matter since he'd be in the ocean in a matter of minutes. The thought of going for a dive without having to worry about clients sent a rush of energy through him.
He turned to the mirror and ran a brush through his long, tangled hair before tying it up into his signature man-bun. Not that his hairstyle was uncommon—plenty of guys in SoCal grew out their hair, although Alexandr was lucky if people didn't mistake him for a surfer. He splashed some water on his face and brushed his teeth.

The sink faucet shut off and Alexandr heard the sound of his ringtone again. He walked back to his bed and picked up his phone from under the blanket. It was Pavel.
"Hello?"
"Okay, so I lied—we're here now."
Alexandr sighed. "But I haven't even been able to eat anything yet!" he complained.
"We'll stop on the way there and I'll get you something, okay? Are you almost ready?" He sounded impatient, but excited.
"Fine. I just need to find my shoes, and I'll be right down. We're heading to the shop first, right?"
"Yeah, I left my gear there last night."
He nodded. "I always leave it there; there's not enough room for any of it in my apartment. I'll see you in a few minutes."
"Awesome; see ya."
Alexandr ended the call and searched the floor for his flip-flops, eventually finding them under his bed. He straightened the blanket so the bed looked at least semi-made and took his glasses from the nightstand. He slid the thin, round frames up his nose and took one last look around the room to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything before grabbing his camera bag and heading out the door.