Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Chapter 21: Exhaustion

I suddenly realized that I was still in the middle of a fight. The creature squeezed tighter on my arms, waking me from the stupor I had fallen into. I fought briefly with the beast, twisting this way and that, trying to get it to release my arms. My plan didn’t work, and I realized that twisting underwater was incredibly tiring. I was no longer concerned about using up my oxygen tank, since I apparently didn’t need it, but I was worried about how tired I was getting. I hadn’t slept in at least twenty hours, and my body wasn’t built for strenuous activity when I was tired.

Just then, I came up with another plan. The creature, for whatever reason, was trying to kill me. So, if I died, it should leave me alone…in theory. However, I did not plan on dying. Hopefully, if I just pretended, it would be enough to fool the monster.

I wound down my fighting, slowing down my movements, and I held my breath. Maybe it hadn’t noticed that I could breathe underwater yet… Soon, I was floating, completely limp and only suspended by the creature’s hands. I tilted my head down towards my chest and closed my eyes. I opened my mouth, letting air out and creating bubbles in the process. The creature held me there for a moment, moving its legs only slightly to keep itself in place. Just then, I felt its hands release my arms. I tried not to move from the surprise as I floated towards the coral reef beneath us. Once I reached the coral, I layed there quietly, trying hard not to move or breathe deeply. I kept my eyes closed, but I felt the water moving around me, which led me to believe that the monster was coming to inspect its prey.

I felt large hands rolling me over, and I quickly stopped breathing. I could practically feel the creature looking me over. It was as if its eyes were burning a hole through me, making sure that I was dead.

I had a slight moment of panic as I wondered if the creature really could burn things with its eyes, but then I remembered that I was underwater, and it was fairly difficult to start a fire down here.

Just then, I felt the water move around me once more. I waited for a moment then opened my eyes a sliver and saw the creature swimming away. I watched it go before I sighed heavily and sat up. I quickly grabbed my oxygen tank and re-entered my lair, keeping a sharp eye out for the creature. Once I was inside and had changed out of my diving gear, I flopped onto the chair in front of the window. I stared out at the dark water for a moment before I reached over and pushed a small button, closing the window. I had had enough excitement for today, and I most certainly didn’t need that creature coming back and peering through my window. I still had no idea what that thing was… It was either a strange mutant that had escaped from an illegal testing facility, a new species of sea monster, or a human that…really, really hated me… I pondered these things for a while, trying to decide which answer was the most likely. I finally decided on the last possibility, because most mutants don’t survive very long and I had only ever seen sea monsters like that in old horror movies. However, even though that shed some light on one question, it left many, many more to be asked. Why would another human attack me? Who knows me and hates me enough to try to kill me? Why would someone dress up like a sea monster? Where was their oxygen tank located? Was it a man or a woman? I thought and thought but couldn’t come up with an answer to any of these questions, either.

Finally, I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands. I was exhausted, and I needed rest. I stood up and walked to another part of my cavern then pulled a bed out from the wall. I flopped onto it, resting one arm against my forehead. I glanced over at my tank of angelfish and smiled. “Good night, my sweets…” I whispered with a small smile. The angelfish all came to one side of the tank and stared at me, sleepy smiles in their eyes. I turned away from them and closed my eyes, hoping I would be able to sleep tonight…

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