The Depths

The freezing waters surround my entire body as me and the others descend into the depths. All sound seems to disappear when we dive below the surface. Our vision also worsens the longer we dive deeper into these dangerous depths. We have to bring back something, anything for our families back home. This is our last chance. These past few weeks have been unforgiving, cruel and merciless. Either the waters were infested with the big greys or there was no life when we arrived to gather. It is only now that we have managed to find an opening where there is sustenance to gather without the big greys being around, but that wont last forever so we have to move fast. If we don't make it out in time, not only will we surely die, our families will surely too. After swimming for what feels like hours we finally make it down to what we came for, the small herd. We start grabbing as many of them as we can, finally we will make it through another day. We stuff our breaks full of them until they feel like they're about to break from the sheer weight of our bounty. It is excruciating with holding this many, but we wont know when we will get an opportunity like this again. The depths are hard to see in, the darkness clouds our vision until we are practically blind, but we manage to gather a bountiful harvest. I can’t wait to return to the surface, I have never liked being down here for longer than necessary, it strips you off nearly all your senses and leaves your mind to imagine the worst. We start making our way up to the surface, but I can't help but feel like something is off, is the group smaller than before? I can’t worry about such things at the moment. I have to make it back to my family, so that my wife and child can live another day. Oh the euphoria, I can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces. I also can't wait to escape these dark depths, it’s so suffocating down here. How I already miss the cold and hard feeling of the white planes underneath my feet, as they sink into the planes. The thrill of a successful hunt is fantastic, the water rushing by my ears, as I can see the surface becoming closer, knowing that I succeed in bringing back a harvest for my family. The glorious feeling of the warmth hitting my entire body after this long dive in these freezing depths is divine, is something I can hardly wait to feel again.

…

Though with the surface so close I can’t help but notice that the others aren’t beside me anymore, no matter they must have made it to the surface while I was daydreaming, I must press on as so to meet them on the surface and celebrate the hunt. Oh the surface is so close, I'm nearly there just a bit further an-

What's this? Suddenly I can feel a sharp pain in my side, my vision is fading. I can feel a discomforting warmth coming from the area where the pain resides. What is happening, why is this happening? What will happen to my family if I never make it back to them? My wife would be too weak from weeks without eating to hunt for herself and our son and our boy is only a few weeks old. He isn’t ready for the depths yet. I thought we made sure to check for the big greys?!

…

Oh they never left in the first place.