UNDER THE OCEAN (Original)

Chapter Six: The abyss

Sam opened the door and leapt from the caravan. He was surprised how far he jumped. He remembered the time when he had run his fastest ever and then jumped his furthest ever at the school long jump. This time he did it with such ease and with no run up. When he landing on the soft, silky sand the impact from his feet caused spirally smooth yellow waves to drift up around his blue shorts and then they dissipated. He spun around and called the girls, “Come on you two, last one to that rock is a rotten egg!”

Sarah could not refuse the challenge and leapt out to race him. Jasmine took a little longer to step outside and venture into this strange new world. As she watched the other two race, she could see the sand stirring from under their every footstep. They made an enjoyable combination of pinks and turquoises billowing up from their strides.

Jasmine heard a groaning from behind her and turned to see what it might be. Pivoting on the edge of a deep black abyss was the caravan they had just been casually chatting within. It began, slowly at first, to slide under the weight of the pressing water. Closer to the edge of a sure and final death. Jasmine thought that Sam and Sarah must have shunted it when they leapt out.

She realised that all along Lake-mist had been sitting on the slippery slope of a deep bottomless pit. The children could not have imagined the danger they were in.

“Sam, Sarah come back! The caravan!” Hopelessly, she called but they did not hear her. She turned to run and rescue the caravan before it plummeted into the eternal abyss. Grabbing hold of the draw bar, she wrapped her small hands around it and heaved with all her might. She tried to stop it but she wasn’t strong enough and the draw bar slipped slowly through her clenched fingers. Her muscles ached and her fingers clicked as the joints separated under the strain. “Come and help! Please! We’re going to lose our stuff!”

Sam beat Sarah to the rock and turned to proclaim victory over his sister. From behind Sarah, he saw Jasmine holding onto the caravan. She was surrounded in disturbing and and distressed colours. “Sarah. Stop! Jasmine’s in trouble! Come on!” She took no notice of him until he raced past. Spinning herself around, she sprinted with him.

The caravan kept creeping further and further along towards the sandy drop off. Jasmine’s legs struggled and strained to support the weight.

“Are you all right?” The rescuers felt the currents wrap around their legs and waist increasing swiftly as they drew closer to Jasmine. The swirling mass of colours embraced them like a hungry ghost.

“Just help me. It’s falling.” As all three took hold of the caravan, they hauled together and found it impossible to move, or to stop it from descending. The heaving current pulled at Lake-mist's shimmering body. Almost gaining the victory over the desperate children. It tugged them closer and closer to the edge. The sand under their feet fell away as if a giant vacuum cleaner was sucking it all up, causing them to stumble.

“We can’t hold it! Let it go!” Suddenly, the caravan moved back towards them and stopped sliding. A force greater than them pushed it back and held it there. Confused and hesitant, they slowly released their grip on the draw bar. Letting it go. Lake-mist stood still, unmoved. The children could feel the black, red and purple currents siphoning around them and the caravan. But it stayed put.

“We should get some stuff while we can. I don’t think it will stay there forever!” Sam nervously trembled. “I’ll go in, since I’m the man.”

“What if it falls away when you’re in there?” Jasmine was concerned, noticing the hungry hole behind him.

With a snap Sam rebuffed her: “What are we going to do if we can’t communicate over distances? We'll need the walkie-talkies, won’t we? What about the torch?” Sam had made up his mind and dived in through the door.

“Don’t do it!” Sarah shouted. It was too late; he had already disappeared inside. Grabbing the duffle bag, he unloaded anything that was on the far side, closest to the abyss’ wide and toothless jaws. His mind raced through the things they might need: he thought lighten that side first.

From out of the corner of his eye as he reached for the big battery fan (of all things), he caught a glimpse of something like a creature: translucent and shapeless. It was pressing hard against the glass along the abyss’ side. He spun his head around to get a better look, but it was gone. Without wasting any more time, he grabbed the set of walkie-talkies, the torch, the orange juice and any cans of food he could find. He included the sharp knife, some rope and spare batteries. As he was shoving the items into the bag, he felt the pressure increasing from the abyss, the groanings getting louder. He knew its desire was to suck him and the caravan into its cold tomb. And any thing else it could.

The caravan creaked and groaned under the multi-forces fighting against its thin walls. He heard a loud wrenching sound and saw an explosion of bright red as one of the glass panes was sucked out from the caravan’s window frame. The pressures outside proved too much: its frame buckled hopelessly under the weight. The glass spiralled end to end down into the abyss and crumbled as if it were burnt toast crushed under the weight of a mallet. The force of red coloured fingers filed in through the missing window like a hoard of highly trained ghostly soldiers and grabed at Sam. The fingers pulled him towards the gaping, hungry mouth of a hole. He grasped onto the door frame with all his strength, barely dragged himself free.

The girls could see the danger Sam was in and grabbed his wrists to aid him. As they quickly moved away from the caravan, Sam noticed the same translucent, shapeless form he saw from inside the caravan. It folded away from the far side of Lake-mist and disappeared. Perhaps that was the thing that held the caravan in place.

No sooner had it disappeared when the caravan toppled over the edge and began its decent into the famished throat of the abyss. They could see Lake-mist plummeting slowly and surely while the inky black fingers siphoned around it, swallowing it up as it fell. The children watches as its walls were crushed and compressed like an aluminum can that just became the unfortunate victim of a steamroller. After a few more moments, it was too far down for them to see it anymore.  Lake-mist was gone.