She put on her diving goggles and jumped into the ocean, her scuba device connected to her mouth through the tube. She had never done something so drastic but she had decided to do something different, something bold. It was worth living a little. Plus she needed to forget about the past, the pain. This was one way.
As she begun to swim beneath the surface, she began to feel free, as if nothing mattered. The thoughts that had been ravaging her mind seemingly evaporated away, her concerns no longer pressing into the processes of her mind.
She dove deeper and deeper, the water getting darker and darker, the ocean life becoming more and more vibrant. She could see some fish swirling around underwater, their tails wagging as they swam smoothly. As they spotted her they turned and swam away, having noticed an intruder to their calm, tranquil world.
She continued on, driving farther and farther down into the depths. It was almost as if she needed this, as a way of escaping the real world. Here no one could see her, no one could bother her. Pain ceased to exist down in the depths of the ocean.
She watched as a group of blue fish swam past her in a circle, each fish following the one in front of it. It was harmonious and magical in a way, how together they became one entity.
She carried on, passing the group of fish until finally, she reached the ocean floor. She thought it would take her longer to reach it, but now here she was. On the bottom sat sea urchins, anemone, as well as crabs that walked along the floor in search of food.
She swam along the bottom of the ocean examining the different ocean life around her. She scanned the sandy floor, to see what was out there. It was mostly pieces of garbage: bottles, cans, a car tire, plastic wrappers, all which had been thrown into the sea by people. There was nothing unique about them.
As she continued along she suddenly spotted something. It looked different than most of the garbage she had come across. She inched herself towards the spot until finally she reached it. It was a book.
Looking at it, she was surprised to find that the book was in perfect condition. The water had not affected the pages, the colour of the cover was still vibrant and blue, the cover showcasing a picture of a whale crashing through the surface of water. The book contained no rips or tears of any sort that she could tell and appeared to have never been read.
She found herself gaping at the strangeness of it all. How could a book have been tossed into the water, yet not become affected by the salt water, or developed any tears? She was stunned.
She read the title. Moby Dick. What were the chances? She picked up the book and began flipping through the pages. It seemed like just a normal book. All the pages contained words, paragraphs, chapters. Nothing unusual about it, yet of course it was unusual, having survived down here underneath the surface of water.
She had read Moby Dick but that had been years ago. Now again she had the book in her hand, this time at the bottom of the ocean, the book in better condition than the one she had read before. It was surprising to find the book like this. She had no explanation for it being here.
As she held the book in her hand, she suddenly felt a strong urge, a strong power being transferred from the classic novel to her body. She almost felt consumed by the book.
Without another thought she drifted up off the ocean floor and began swimming back to the surface, the book in her left hand. She felt an urge to hold onto the book and never let go, as if doing so would be catastrophic. It was as if the book had become an extension of herself.
She swam to the surface, the water become lighter and clearer as she drew closer. Finally she broke the surface, the copy of Moby Dick still in her hand.
She jumped up into the boat, placed the book on the deck and began the slow process of removing her scuba diving equipment.
Finally she was back into her normal clothes, the weight of her scuba equipment lifted from her body. She grabbed the book again to examine its content.
But now the book was different. It was faded. The cover was blank. Hurriedly she flipped through the pages, but to her shock the pages were empty, wrinkled and there were tears all over. They contained no words only blank pages. What was going on?
Quickly she dipped the book into the water and to her shock the cover transformed back into the one she had seen underwater. She removed it from the water and it became blank again. What was happening? It was all so strange.
She suddenly found herself struggling to breathe, the panic rising in her chest. Her hand was becoming hot and began burning with a sudden intensity, as if the book were a living organism that she had picked up from the ocean and was now retaliating against her.
In a panic she thrust the book into the water, watching as it fell into the water and down into the depths of the sea. She suddenly felt much better. The pain resided and her breathing returned to normal.
The experience had shaken her. It had been so strange. She felt like a burden had been lifted as the book disappeared away.
What had happened? Was it a message? Was the book possessed? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she would never dare go scuba diving again. She would only do things she knew from here on out.
She hadn’t known what to expect when she had prepared to go scuba diving, but she hadn’t expected that. The ocean was a different animal altogether, she concluded. She would stay away. She feared what else she would find in the darkness and the depths below.
