I was trapped in an abyss of blue that seemed to extend until eternal darkness. A cool stream of water pulsated my skin. I pushed myself down trying to adapt to the gelid water and its pressure as a stingray passed by me, flapping its wings serenely, adorned by streaks of refracted sunlight. A distant shadow lurked by me; its serrated ridges were lined with black and it bore intimidating eyes that penetrated my flesh. Its external was a gradient of grey and white and was aerodynamic enough to flow easily through the liquid. I swam away, eschewing the creature. In inertia with the current, an emerald school of fish, huddled together to deceive their predator, thrashed around in circles and then suddenly disappeared leaving behind minuscule bubbles.
The taste of salt wafted in my mouth as I passed by the static butter-corn yellow corals that sinisterly eyed intruders. I gazed back at the white ball above me, which diverged into soft streaks of gold. Then, I plunged into the endless void of the ocean: the midnight zone.
Dark, ancient crevices ran across its ivory hull. Two basketball-sized pits were bedecked near its head, one on either side of its body. A behemoth tail split into two curved, fin-like structures that undulated in the tunes of the water current. From its dilapidated scales, a stuttering sound echoed; it seemed to make the ocean quiver. Such a primordial and robust creature seemed sturdy and indestructible to the human-eye but, I noticed a disturbance in the current as a prowling pack of dorsal fins rose from the darkness and lunged at its victim- the whale. Blood spurted around blinding me as I faltered helplessly, pushing myself away from the pack of sharks and the whale’s rotting corpse and distorted organs. I couldn’t sense the sharks anymore.
A point source of light approached me from the darkness, and I felt a warty periphery, completely oblivious of my presence, brush past my skin, dull. I ventured deeper into obscure trenches where a colossal rusted wall lay. Lanes of moss-lined its severed base and its tall mast protruded from the sea-bed, whose summit was shrouded by a shredded black cloth, dangling precariously. Here lay the remains of a forgotten civilization that had once seen wealth and prosperity. A sudden flashing light, too sudden, too sharp to look at, penetrated a broken window and brought the wreckage back from the dead. I pushed myself towards the once alive buildings. I felt as if I were being squashed into a sarcophagus by the increasing pressure; I jerked upward to safety. Almost hours later, I was greeted by the daylight, a spectrum of colours and the smiles of the sun; I gladly swam into its embrace.
Aarav Mehta,
Grade 8, DYPIS Worli
