Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Dive ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This place was sanctuary to him. Somewhere he could be at ease, at peace with himself and not have a care in the world. No, this wasn’t a church or some secret hideout in which nobody on Earth could find him. It was a swimming pool. But for Marty Brody , it wasn’t just a swimming pool, for him it was heaven. Many years ago when he was still a child his mother had brought him up to this very pool for lessons. Most children at such a young age tend to fear the water; Marty took to the water like a fishif you pardon the cliché phrase. After that day, as often as he could he would run down to the SilverLake center from his apartment and spend an hour or two in the water. Over time he would learn to hold his breath from mere seconds to a few minutes. He would cannonball into the deep end, breathing in a lungful of air on the way down, submerge himself to about half-depth and just float there. Marty would twirl about slowly, staying in place, and just be at total peace. Perhaps this is what the astronauts feel like when they are in space, he wondered, they themselves floating, only several miles above the Earth’s surface instead of below. Yes, every time he walked in the these chlorine-scented halls he was in complete tranquility.

Except for this morning, that is. For the first time since he started coming here with his mother those many years ago he felt frustration. No, this would not do at all.

“…it’s getting worse for you, everyday!” Marty’s wife, Danielle, tried to reason with him. “Come on, don’t you think enough is enough? How many hours do you have to be here?” Marty’s only response was a deep sigh and a slight shake of his head. “You have a wife and daughter now, don’t you think it’s time you spend a little more time with us than this pool.” She emphasized that last word. Her frustration was quickly building, Danielle didn’t typically swear or lose her temper, but goddammit, he was paying attention to a tub of water more than his own family!

Little Emily was already in class right now, like all of the children, and all of the adults were at their respectable jobs, or just climbing back into bed after hustling the kids out the door to school. It was this time early in the morning and late at night when he could have the place to himself (sometimes that meant even slipping the guy at the door a few bucks to tell people the place was temporarily closed).

Marty strode through the halls, Danielle still at his heels trying to convince him to come back home. He readjusted the green and white striped towel around his neck and tried to pay more attention to their echoed footsteps instead of his wife’s voice. Just in case she started to make sense. They approached the glass door that lead to the lounge area which over looked the Olympic-sized pool. The three walls that faced the outside as well as the ceiling were constructed out of several inch thick glass. Only a few lamps here and there, but most of the lighting in this room was natural. The sun was rising past the far wall and was sending a brilliant orange glow into the room, the trees sitting in the front silhouetted beautifully, giving a lovely scenic view. Already, his frustration began to fade away, and he set the small bag he carried onto a lawn chair and draped his towel over the top.

“You’re not even going to talk to me about this, are you?” Danielle merely said, with her arms crossed in a dramatic fashion.

Marty held his head down for a moment before raising it and turning to her, “You used to swim like this. As much as me, you said, that was even our biggest common interest when we first met”

“Except, I was growing out of it.” she replied. “Being in the water was more natural to me than breathing air, I just got tired of it after all those years. Your interest in the water wasn’t what kept me.. It was you, and nothing else. That common interest was just how we happened to meet, nothing more. Please.” she grabbed him lightly by the arm. “Let’s go home, we’ll walk back hand-in-hand, lie down together and drift off to sleep.” she added, “only to be woken up by our six-year-old daughter, busting through the door, jumping on our bed to wake both of us up so we can make her some chicken nuggets and see what all she’s done today in class.”

Marty turned back to her and gazed into her beautiful cerulean eyes, as blue as the tropical ocean waters. How could he turn that down? He cupped her chin with one hand and whispered softly, “Just one hour.”

The hopefulness that appeared on her face for those brief couple of seconds, disappeared in roughly less than half that time. She scowled and backed up from him. “Fine, be that way, asshole.” Danielle turned on her heels and stomped out the door, being sure to slam it as hard as she could, silently hoping to herself that the glass would shatter.

Taking off his shirt, Marty closed his eyes and let the silence calm him. He dropped his shirt on the chair and padded down the concrete steps and over to the diving board. Before hopping off he took in a lungful of air and smiled, it was his place again, his sanctuary. He took two big steps out and dove into the water. He plunged all the way to the bottom, brushing the bottom of the pool with his fingertips. Rising up slowly, Marty closed his eyes and let himself float there, in perfect harmony with the water.

Four minutes later, Marty’s head pops up above the surface. He treads the water and brushes the blonde hair from his eyes.

Something was wrong.

He rubbed his eyes again, making sure he wasn’t seeing things. For a moment there, he thought he was in the ocean; just clear light-blue skies and nothing but miles of water in every direction. But even with his eyes closed, his nose deceived him too, he was picking up a strange smell, not that of chlorine which he was accustomed to. Hesitantly he put his lips to the water and drank some. Saltwater. Alright, this wasn’t funny. Where the Hell was he? No sign of land in any direction, what about below? He took in another lungful of air and forced himself downward and swam. He couldn’t see any sign of the blue and white striped bottom of the pool. Marty stopped himself from going down too far, the pressure was being put on severely, and there was no light going to the bottom, wherever it was it was down there, it was deep.

Right in front of his eyes as he swam to the top a school of fish passed by. He could feel his heart race inside his body now, he was actually beginning to panic. Him! And in the water, no less. This was unheard of, never in his lifetime did he think that he could feel such a way in his sanctuary. But then again, this wasn’t his sanctuary now was it?

In no way did Marty understand this in the least. But he had to do something, soon his body would tire and he would eventually pass out from exhaustion, dehydration, or starvation. He would be damned if he were to drown! All he could think of to do was to swim and hope that he reached somebody, or something, it didn’t matter. But which way to go? Might as well go back in the direction I came from, he thought. And he did. Marty turned toward where the diving board should have been and started swimming.

He kept his pace steady. He didn’t want to go too fast and tire out early. Marty tried to keep the thought of the sea creatures out of his mind, if there were small fish like the ones he saw earlier, there were usually bigger fish to eat them. He should’ve gone home with his wife…

Marty took his watch off before he jumped into the pool, left it sitting right next to the diving board, so he hadn’t a clue how long he’d been swimming. It was just rising as he dove into the water, he didn’t bother to look, now it was coming close to being at high-noon. He felt the sun beating down hard on him as it reached its peak. What to do now? Still nothing in sight but miles of seawater, no land, no boats, not even a damned plane! And his limbs were growing weak now, after what seemed like hours and hours of nonstop swimming, he’d slowed down significantly. The only thing that came to mind was what he tried next.

“Hello!?” Marty shouted. “Is anyone there? I, uh, I need some help here!” Even with no one around yelling this way helped calm him. Why? Because there was the possibility that someone could be close by. Logically, if a person could suddenly warp from a city pool to the middle of some unknown ocean, then it is entirely possible for a human to appear from nowhere to save him, right? Crazy thoughts, Marty told himself. Damn it, stay calm. It’ll be okay. His breathing slowed, he closed his eyes and just floated there.

What the?

His eyes shot back open, something brushed against his foot, something soft. Then there was nothing, a fish maybe? No. Definitely not, it didn’t feel like one. There it was again! Marty pulled his leg up. And whatever it was that was down there grabbed his other leg. Marty couldn’t help himself when he let out a shriek of terror. There was something else with him, and he didn’t know what. Of all the miles of open sea and with nothing around he had to bump into whatever the hell was trying to pull him under! His arms flailed wildly, throwing water about erratically. It felt like hands, two of them tugging with all of their might. He kept screaming, pleading with everything that at least one person could hear him, no matter how crazy that may have seemed.

Arms. Those were definitely arms wrapping around his legs, pulling him down. Why? What purpose did drowning him serve? Whatever this thing was, it certainly wasn’t biting or trying to eat him. The thing was pulling at his waist now, at his trunks. With all its strength it managed to tear the fabric to shreds, Marty could feel it happening below. Still, he kept at trying to swim, but even with all his might he could not pull away, and he certainly wasn’t without any muscle, he was wiry and could usually overpower his bigger friends when they went out to play sports. This thing was tugging at his body like there were more than one.

The creature’s arms finally came above the ocean water, now reaching behind his neck to pull him down. Marty grabbed its wrists and squeezed hard. But something made him lighten the pressure. The arms in his hands were human, and they were slender and soft. He forced his gaze down upon the water, he couldn’t believe what he saw, long locks of wavy red hair. Letting go of one wrist he pulled a strand out of the sea. The girl put her free and on his shoulder, limply this timeyes, it was a girl, suddenly he’d realized he felt her breasts pushed up against his hipsand did not try to pull him under.

Slowly, the girl brought her head up to his, she smiled sheepishly. She had deep emerald eyes, with skin so light she almost glowed in the sun. A short moment of silence passed

“Are you lost too? How did you get all the way out here?” Marty finally managed to ask the girl, who looked a bit distracted. She broke out of her trance and shook her head. The girl tried to speak, but all that came out sounded like light gasps. Great, she couldn’t speak. Marty shook his head and spoke softly, “I can’t understand you, I”

The girl stopped him short, putting her fingers to his lips and pointed behind him. Nothing. He kept looking for what she was pointing at as he spoke. “What am I looking for? There’s” cut off again, not by her fingers, but by a large fin that slowly brought it’s way above the water’s surface. You gotta be kiddin’ me. With a shaky hand, Marty reached out and slid his fingertips over the fin. The girl giggled. He took his hand and started from the tip and worked up the body of the fish. No way, she isn’t… this can’t be.. The scaly surface faded into a soft tender flesh. Marty turned to face her again. She was smiling shyly and blushing a little, he looked down and noticed his hand had stopped on her butt.

“Oh! My bad, sorry about that.” it was his turn to give a sheepish grin and blush. But this only made the girlmermaidlaugh. “Umm.. You wouldn’t happen to know how I could get back home do you?” his mind snapped back to more important matters at hand. The mermaid’s eyes looked away from his, lit up, and returned. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically. He heaved a sigh, “Thank God. Can you please show me the way?” Her hand grabbed his and she started to pull him under again. He resisted. “Hold on. I can’t go down that way, I can’t breathe underwater.” She turned to him, in what looked like a pout, but that didn’t last long as she came up and embraced him. She brought her lips to his, opened her mouth and breathed in to his. Marty pulled back almost immediately, “What the hell?” Once again she tried to pull him under. “No, I already told you that I can’t.” Without a word, she grabbed both of his arms gently and pulled at him, her eyes pleading for him to come under, as if to say ‘yes you can’.

He gave in and let her pull the both of them under. She took them about ten feet under. Keeping him held tightly, she let them sit there for a few minutes. It was then that Marty realized he wasn’t even trying to hold his breath anymore, he wasn’t tensed up holding back air in his lungs anymore, he was ‘breathing’ freely down here. At this point, he didn’t bother asking how. So much that had happened this morning he would’ve deemed impossible. The mermaid tugged at his hand and looked expectantly up at him. He gave her a nod and she led him into the ocean’s depths.

Several minutes passed and Marty hadn’t the faintest idea where she was taking him. He noticed that the farther out she led him, the deeper they went. She was allowing his body to get used to the pressure of the water, and she would probably do the same when they came back up; no sense in killing somebody that you’re trying to help out, right? Nothing, he was surprised to see, stood out in this place at all. It was just shades of blue. And for the length that they swam they encountered not even one other sea creature. Strange, considering the ocean population was substantially larger than those that lived on land.

That was when he heard it. The most enchanting sound to reach his ears, since he didn’t know when. It came from below, but in front of them. The red-haired mermaid stopped and continued to hold tightly onto his hand. What’s going on here? Another stunning cry, it began to circle them, whatever it was. Certainly a monster couldn’t produce such a lovely sound, but wait! There were more, at least two others, who also joined in the festivities. Now the mermaid turned to him, letting go of his hand, and smiled. Seductively? Even in the shallow light her emerald eyes still glimmered.

She leaned in close, placing her small hands upon his chest, her lower body pressed against his. It was the first time he was aware that he was actually naked with this woman. Those voices. The mermaid put her arms around his torso, and he followed suit around her waist. He was growing hard, his tip placed snugly at her entrance, she moved closer, letting Marty ease into her. He wanted to stop, but those voices…

They lulled him into a daze. Everything felt so good, he looked around drunkenly, he could feel the mermaid moving quickly right next to him, what was she doing? The water around him was warm, and he could sense a heat emanating from the waters around them, they were shifting though.

Sharp pain rose from Marty’s back, his body stiffened and there was a relief of tension. He shook his head to clear all the cobwebs. The mermaid shuddered and rested her head upon his shoulder and released the tight grip on his back. She breathed hard and deep and pulled her lower body away, her deed for the day finished. He looked down at her face, and she smiled.

This time, Marty’s heart nearly stopped. Her entire upper half may have been completely human in appearance, but her smile was not. If it was possible to have a cold sweat cover your body underwater, Marty was positive that was happening now. Her toothy grin would’ve fit perfectlyif it were fixed on the body of a Great White. Jagged teeth, four rows deep caught his eyes. He would have been crazy not to scream at that moment, especially with the hungry look that she had in her eyesand no, it was not a seductive one.

Marty pushed away from her with all his might, turned his body around and sped away as fast as he could. He prayed to himself that the other creatures, mermaids for sure he’d figured, would not followthey did. But for some reason, they lagged behind. The red-haired one, however, did not. Perhaps it was her hunt and not theirs, he was her quarry and she would take him down. Like hell! A slender hand reached from behind and clawed at his legs. He kicked harder. His body started to ache, all the swimming for the past few hours was finally catching up to him, he wouldn’t be able to go much longer. Marty was starting to slow down, he could hear the mermaid’s hungry cries. The likelihood of his survival was not good, he knew for a fact that miles of water surrounded him, he knew his body was quickly running out of energy, the mermaid would not give up the chase and would catch up to him. He also noticed that he was holding his breath again.

If he was going to die here, it was going to be on his own terms. Marty cast a glance to the surface. His body had grown accustomed to the pressure of the ocean water, if he ascends fast enough, there was a chance that he would die from decompression sickness; inert gases normally dissolved in body fluids and tissues come out of physical solution and form gaseous bubbles. Most of the time divers only receive joint pains “the bends”but severe cases can result in death. The large bubbles in that would form in his system would impede the flow of oxygen-rich blood to his brain, central nervous system, and other vital organs. Marty looked behind him. Hell, it sounded a lot better than being eaten alive!

Marty raised his arms and slammed them downwards and repeated; still kicking hard to faster ascent and to keep the damned mermaid off his ass. Bright, white light, the sun was still out, he was going to make it to the surface! He pulled himself up harder, faster. Please, God. Let him die like this.

Please.

With his eyes closed, Marty broke the surface of the water and screamed. This was it, he was going to die, one way or another. He waited. What would hit him first, the joint pains? The air bubbles coursing through his body, busting the smaller blood vessels and capillaries as they went along? Or would the jagged teeth of the mermaids pierce his flesh first? Come on, dammit! Make it quick! For the last couple seconds he thought of his wife, Danielle and his daughter, Emily. Painfully regretting that he had not spent more time with them like he should have. He should have shown them more affection when they needed it. They deserved it. He wished that he would have walked home, side-by-side with the love of his life. It had been absolutely forever since they had been able to do anything alone together. Even something as casual as that would have been a fine start to a day

“Marty? Are you okay?” Danielle’s voice echoed in the empty room. His eyes flew open in a flash, he turned to see his wife standing next to the diving board. She came over and leaned down into the pool. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that… I just came to say that I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“No.” Marty swam to the side and pulled himself out of the water. His legs were shaking and there was a slight tremor in his voice as he spoke. “You had every right in the world to be angry with me. I should be the one to say ‘I’m sorry’. And I am, Danielle. No more swimming, only when you guys want to. I promise.”

That took Danielle by surprise. “What on Earth changed your mind?” He wouldn’t be able to tell her the truth, she’d think he’d gone crazy, “Your words sunk in the second I took a dive into the water. He pulled her close and embraced her. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Danielle replied, she couldn’t hardly remember a time since her daughter’s birth when she was this happy, “Still wanna take me up on that offer?” Marty entwined his fingers to hers. “Lead the way Mrs. Brody.”

Out in the hallway, the old janitor passed by the happy couple coming in from the pool area. The woman had turned to him for a friendly ‘hello’. He shook his head and smiled. Prettiest green eyes he’d ever seen.