Inner
I was beneath water. An ocean surrounded my every direction till the edges of my vision could only see deep black at the end of my vision. It was terrifying because of its mystery, being unable to see any form or shape from the absence of light and sound. I could hear nothing but my own heartbeat, a rhythmic thumping in my ears that made the far approaching darkness appear to pulsate in conjunction with the pounding in my ears.
Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Bump-bump.
The darkness looked as if it was reaching out, its claws beginning to outstretch closer to me with every thump in my ears. With every beat a chill in my back started to reach into my lungs, my eyes quivered and my hands shivered. It felt like death. Unfeeling with no conscious effort on its part, utter nothing. It was unbearable.
I began to think, to stop myself from despairing and perhaps understand what was happening. I looked to my sides and back with nothing but bleak sea in sight. I looked above and saw the same barren ocean form as before.
I looked down and saw…
Mountains. Dozens of mountains. Not the sandy coastal underwater mounds nor the coral reefs, but actual mountains mad of rock, capped with snow. Under an ocean!
They were arranged in a close fashion with every mountain connecting to another that continued far from my limited vision. I tried looking further down, peering into what seemed like valleys that interconnected between the mountains. I swore that I could see mist of all things passing between the mountains. Maybe it was underwater sea foam?
My first thought was why? Why were mountains hundreds of feet high in an ocean? How was that possible, the ocean should have eroded them till they were nothing but mounds of sand.
My afterthought? What did this mean? Where on the Earth could mountain ranges exist under the sea? How was there sea foam under the surface? Speaking of, where is the surface?
I twisted my gaze around, trying to ignore the enormous mountain range in favor of locating the ocean surface. It proved to be easier than I expected to move in such deep water. But rather than feeling weightless or a sense of elation I still felt that dread. The darkness around the corners still cut into my vision, and the beating in my ears made the darkness appear to pulsate like some living creature.
Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Bump-bump.
This wasn't helpful at all. I couldn't tell up from down or right from left, and my head started to spin for a moment. God's I felt sick like my lungs were pumping tar into my veins and dumping it into my stomach. Ugh, I wanted to vomit. Just… everywhere felt wrong.
I closed my eyes in an attempt to force myself to find my center of balance. It mostly worked, I wasn't sick anymore and I felt kind of better. But, once again I could hear that damn thumping. With nothing to look at the sound became my only distraction my mind could focus itself on.
Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Bump-bump.
Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Bump-bump.
Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Bump…
What? Why… did my heart just stop?
Oh crap. Oh crap crap crap! No, I do not need to die! Especially not here in the middle of an ocean that shouldn't have mountains! No, do not stop beating heart, keep pumping blood, do not just fail in the middle of… here!
…
…
…I'm… still alive? I touched my chest, trying to feel for a beat.
Nothing. Then I pressed down on my neck to check my pulse.
Nothing again. But I was still here, and I could still see and feel.
So no beating but I'm still alive. Now I'm really considering that this is just a dream. I opened my eyes to see, surprise, more ocean again. Yay…
Okay. Alright, I can focus and try to make sense of this.
Ocean, mountains at floor bottom, heart stopped beating, can sort of see but there's no source of light. So I had to be dreaming right? I mean come on, this couldn't be real. I'm floating in the middle of an endless ocean with nothing but the clothes on my back and doing what? Panicking and flaying about like a dead squirrel. Obviously dreaming.
That is, until I felt my right hand itching. The back of my hand just started itching for no reason. So out of habit I scratched it. Then kept scratching it. And then kept scratching it. It became obvious that something was wrong when blood began to leak out of the scratched skin. I looked down to see what it was and saw what looked to be a crack, like on a mirror, on the back of my palm. It stretched out parallel with my fingers while blood leaked out of it like wind through a cracked door, a single small stream that disappeared after reaching past me into the dark blue of the ocean.
Weirder stuff to worry about I guess. The bleeding continued on and I still seemed to be stuck in whatever this place was. Nothing to do but float and look around to try and find something of worth to do. Speaking of, another question popped into my head, something that should have been asked long ago before any of my other observations; how was I breathing under water and not drowning to death? Seemed like the simplest of things to ask and the most important thing regarding my health. I don't know why or how I ignored this but somehow it just slipped my mind with the ocean and the darkness and the mountains and the bleeding and the blah, blah, blah! I keep prattling, and all it gets me is more questions and less answers.
So I just levitated there. Still yet moving with some unknown current thinking about nothing but the darkness, the mountains, the ocean and my hand that was bleeding.
But I was not to be alone for much longer.
I jerked my eyes open. I had felt something move within the waters, something had disturbed the stillness and the dark but it wasn't me. I turned to my left, to my right, then down then up. I could see… there it was. Something just above me, something squirming and moving with life like myself but that didn't mean I was excited.
Not encountering anything had made me hope that someone or something would come on by and interact with me. Boredom was one hell of a… hell and when floating in the middle of nowhere that's exactly what anyone could feel. Now it seemed like there was a chance for interaction or possibly communication. I couldn't have expected much at my state of mind except maybe a fish or shark if I was unlucky enough.
But it wasn't a shark. It wasn't a fish and it was definitely not human. As I continued to look up I could just barely make out its shape; beady red eyes rippling in the waters, clawed hands- only two- traveling at its side, a lower body that was hidden behind the darkness but also seemed to drag the darkness with it. It was scary, hell it was outright heart stopping. That was to say, if my heart hadn't already stopped before it arrived.
I watched as it swam closer, its lower body flowing in and out like a jellyfish while still remaining in shadow. Its head slowly, methodically swiveled back and forth as if looking for something. It kept moving closer inch by inch, swivel by swivel while keeping its body hidden. Upon closer inspection I could make out its face, smooth without most human features. It had no ears, hair or nose but it did have those red eyes. The entirety of the eyes were red with no sign of pupils or sclera. I didn't see if it had a mouth but a telltale line near what looked like its chin seemed to indicate it might have one, and hopefully just one.
I became more apprehensive as it came within less than three feet in front of my person. I was certain that it had meant to approach me but from its erratic movement, it seemed to be following something rather than focusing on me. Could it not see me? What else could have possibly led it to me?
I thought for a moment, then looked to my right hand to see the ribbon of blood still leaking out of the wound. The crimson liquid mixed with the ocean and drove upward to where the creature appeared from, and it appeared to have gotten closer. If I had meet this creature earlier I knew I would have been tempted to catch its attention. At the moment I had anything but a desire to allow something that had sniffed or sensed my presence by my blood, a trait only a predator could have evolved for hunting its prey.
I tried to see if I could swim back to create some distance between us both, trying to see if I could stand a fighting chance against this thing. While moving away from it seemed like a perfectly logical reaction, it looked as if the thing had noticed. When it noticed, it froze up and stopped its movements. The things eyes seemed to jump when it felt the movements in the water and it then leered in my direction.
The darkness from before returned, but now it was coalescing on this creature. The shadowy depths rolled around the being and arched across its shadowed half like solar winds on the sun's surface. Its face was washed in the shadows but those ruby red eyes still stood out amongst its invisible visage. It came closer, closer, closer and closer.
It was upon me. It was face to face with me. Its eyes shining with horrible intent that I had no wish for but still understood that it meant me harm. It appeared to be sizing me up, silently scanning me for something. I couldn't say for what or why, but it's next move certainly spoke volumes.
The thing latched onto my shoulders then grabbed my right arm, before holding it up to its face. It was forceful, hurt my arm and was certainly going to bruise with how tight it gripped my lower arm. It kept its grip and my arm in its face for several moments just looking at the crack on my back hand, still leaking blood. Then, without any incentive or forewarning, the line near its jaw opened.
A leach. Its many fanged mouth reminded me of a large leech with its circular shaped lips and randomly assorted teeth. Also, the pain was similar to how a leech latched onto a person's skin. But magnified by a hundred as it took my right hand into its mouth.
Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep.
I shot up from the bed, throat holding back a scream and eyes streaming silent salty tears down my face. I looked to my right, my left, up, down then forward.
Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep.
My alarm clock was going off. I tapped it to make it stop then stared ahead at my wall. I could feel the blanket wrapped around my lower half, it stank of sweat and my brow had a new sheen of sweat dripping down to my collar bone.
"All a dream. Just… dream." I lifted my shaking hands to my face to rub them through my hair. The salty sweat had made it dry.
"I…"
I couldn't understand any of what that meant. What the hell did I do to dream up something so visceral and vivid? Why the crap did any of that happen?
I needed a shower. A nice hot, long and thoughtful shower to try and rationalize what my messed up mind conjured up. So I flipped the sheets off my craggy bed before heading to the next door bathroom.
After standing in the shower and rinsing off for about five minutes, I decided to start cleaning myself. The steam from the shower had clouded the mirror in the stall so I rubbed it away with my…right…
I looked to my right hand. A small drop of blood had run off the bottom of a cut on the back of my hand and onto my forearm.
I looked back to the mirror, I saw me. I saw dark hair, I saw tanned skin, I saw ears and lips.
And red eyes.