Wanted
Part One
"Isn't this beautiful?" Mindy asked Mork, smiling. She closed her eyes and tilted her face up to feel the comforting warmth of the sun. "I feel so free here. It's so open and limitless."
They were on a boat off the coast of Florida, the cloudless, aquamarine skies overhead mirroring the calm, pristine water beneath them, a humid tropical breeze blowing on occasion. Wearing a sarong, sunglasses, and a broad-brimmed straw hat, Mork couldn't imagine her looking much more adorable, returning her smile as she spread her arms as if to embrace their surroundings, twirling in delight on the boat deck in her bare feet like a carefree ballerina.
"Yeah, it's an honor that your space program awarded me the opportunity to come down here and help them design their new rocket," he said. "And who would have thought that Dr. Feldman would loan us his boat while we were down here? This is a great vacation. Probably one of the best we've ever had together." He looked down at the water, and then back up at Mindy, an idea occurring to him. He grinned. "Want to see something?" He asked.
"What?"
Mork dived off the edge of the boat into the water, his technique almost as skilled as that of an Olympic athlete, his body turning in a tightly controlled corkscrew. When he emerged from beneath the waves and leapt back onto the boat, his muscular body glistening and wet, Mindy had to admit she was impressed and also somewhat aroused. She applauded his performance and he seemed pleased to have won her approval, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her.
"Where did you learn to dive like that?" She asked, gasping in surprise when he released her.
Mork shrugged. "Watching your Olympics and lots of practice," he said, grinning.
"Well, that was magnificent."
"Would you like to see it again?"
Mindy laughed. "Sure," she said.
Glad she said yes, Mork prepared to dive off the side of the boat again, once again performing with flawless technique, his body coiled like a spring before it released itself with ease and grace, gliding into the water. However, this time, instead of the perfect finish, something went wrong. Almost immediately when Mork hit the water, he felt something pulling him down, some invisible force that was impossible to resist against. Mindy also began to realize something was wrong when he began to thrash around helplessly, his body twisting and his limbs flailing as he struggled, gulping down mouthfuls of water and choking.
"Mindy! Help me!" He screamed, panic and terror in his eyes.
He tried to swim away, but something kept tugging at him, yanking him beneath the surface. Frantically, he reached for Mindy, his hands blindly searching for her grasp. His head managed to break the surface for only a mere few seconds before being submerged again, and he was slowly drowning, oxygen bubbles from his mouth forming on the water.
"Mork!" Mindy screamed, desperately trying to reach him. "Hang on! I've got you!"
She found his grasping hand and clasped it, trying to pull him back onto the boat, but whatever was holding him underwater was too strong, overpowering her and almost pulling her under as well. She lost her tenuous grip on his hand, watching helplessly as whatever had its hold on him began to drag him farther away from the boat and beyond her reach.
"Mork!" She screamed.
Unable to bear watching him struggle any longer, she almost considered jumping in after him, but she wondered if this force would take her under as well. She couldn't explain the nightmare of what was happening in front of her. Both she and Mork had seen a shark movie recently that had successfully scared everyone who saw it out of the water for months, but she didn't see any sharks nearby, and thankfully she didn't see any blood, either. Still, something had Mork, and it was refusing to release him. A massive vortex formed in the water exclusively around him, looking almost like the ocean was being sucked down a bathtub drain. All Mindy could do was watch in horror as it swallowed Mork completely, his body and the oxygen bubbles disappearing, leaving behind nothing but a calm and empty ocean in its wake. Too stunned and grief-stricken to fully comprehend what she just saw, she collapsed on the boat deck in tears, never feeling more powerless, Mork taken from her mysteriously and without explanation.