Shalni Pawa

December 9th, 2005

The Shark's Lair

The ocean was ominous and intimidating. The waves lashed ferociously at the sand, as if they were great lions pouncing on their prey. The clouds above rolled fiercely, sending lightening down on anything that crossed their path. Deep under the menacing current, the sharks set to work.

A naïve scuba diver had not heard the weather alerts before descending into the sharks' dark lair. So far, he had only emerged to the ocean surface once, and at that time the sky was reasonable—a faint blue-gray, with a few clouds scattered across the horizon. But now he was starting to feel the water become stronger and more violent, and it was pulling him backwards. Swimming forwards became harder and trickier, but the need to fulfill his dream barely gave him enough strength to keep going, to keep swimming. The determined diver, Markus Croond, had always dreamed of finding his great-great-grandmother's emerald necklace. She had passed away in a boating accident several generations ago, and she was wearing the necklace that had been passed down from her ancestors. The scuba diver's ancestors were Swedish, and in the era in which monarchy in Sweden had existed, they had ruled the country. The scuba diver had been taking lessons since he was nine, for as soon as his father had revealed the tale, Markus announced this quest as his lifelong goal. Even now, at the age of twenty-four, his only interest was in the necklace. Although he was popular among the ladies with his ice-blue eyes and sandy hair as his greatest features, Markus wanted no distractions that might tear him away from achieving his goal.

All the necessary research was complete, and Markus knew by heart the central area of where the boats had crashed. His father had tried so hard to convince him that it was probably buried deep under the sand or had drifted away by now, but Markus refused to listen. The boy knew he should find it, that he could find it, and that he would find it. And now here he was, beneath the sea, finally on his first official search. He had practiced multiple times, and was sure that he was ready for anything. The thought of how easy the practices had been urged him to swim faster, and his eyes were darting around the ocean floor, searching, and hoping, for a hint of shimmering green.

A piece of seaweed floated up and stuck itself to his glove but Markus could not rip it off. All of a sudden, Markus thought he saw a shadow above him. He blinked and looked again, but it was gone. He was starting to feel cold, and a tingling started to spread up his spine. He glanced at his stop watch; 00:00 was flashing in a florescent blue. Either the battery had run low or the water had wrecked it. Markus grunted angrily but still carried on swimming. He circled the area a few more times; digging in the sand every now and then to make sure his metal detector wasn't missing anything. Another shadow swooped by overhead, and this time he thought he saw teeth. Once again, he blamed it on his imagination. His metal detector beeped twice and the confused scuba diver adjusted its positioning to reassure himself that this time it had actually found something. It beeped again. Now it wasn't stopping. It seemed that the volume and the speed were increasing every second. He set the detector down and a small circle of sand rose slowly around the device, and then fell again after lingering in the thick water for a few seconds. Markus swept his gloved hand across the sand on the ocean floor. His fingers paused upon feeling a small, hard lump protruding from the sand. He brushed his fingers over it again, and then dug a small hole around the protuberance. He grasped the end of it and pulled mightily. He had figured that this might happen, so he had gone to the gym daily for months to strengthen his arms while he worked out his legs to keep him a strong swimmer. Despite the force he was using, whatever was stuck in the sand would not budge. One last pull sent him hurling backwards—the treasure had come out. Markus could not believe what was in his hand. He floated there for a couple of minutes before remembering where he was. Markus Croond had found the gift that had once belonged to his ancestors. Moreover, he had found the treasure that was hidden in the ocean since his great-great-grandmother's death. And best of all, it was in his hand.

Another shadow swooshed by above him. Now he felt the water shake him a little, telling him that the shadow was not a figment of his imagination. Markus closed his eyes and counted to ten; he was now shaking of fear. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the shadow was heading towards him. He could see it clearly now—it was a shark. Markus spun around and swam as fast as his tired legs could take him. He could feel the oxygen in the tank was starting to run out, so he shot up to the surface of the water faster than a speeding bullet. The grumbling of the menacing thunder threatened Markus to remain underwater, but he withheld the urge. He looked around for the boat that had taken him into the middle of the sea, but he could barely see two feet ahead of him in the fog, and the waves were a great deal too high to glimpse over.

"Ah!" Markus felt an excruciating burst of pain in his right leg. The shark had ripped his scuba gear and its sharp teeth had grazed the diver's skin. He could tell by looking around himself that he was losing an excessive amount of blood, for the water was starting to turn a burgundy-brown colour. Markus remembered learning that blood attracts sharks. He looked around him for the closest thing he could see. About twenty meters in front of him was a log. To the left, he could just make out what he believed to be the fin of a shark heading towards him shockingly fast. He dove back underwater and rocketed towards the driftwood. His fingertips clutched the log for his life as he attempted to pull himself atop the raft. Not a moment after he was on the raft, the shark hurtled itself at it, missing Markus' injured leg by inches, but chomping off half of the piece of wood. The stranded man tried to balance his body weight evenly on what was then an unstable slice of wood, but it was not big enough. The raft overturned and sent Markus back down to the shark's lair. Markus clamped his injured leg to his chest to stop the flow of blood, which he knew was attracting the shark. He tried not to splash as he used one arm to paddle back to the driftwood. He reached it within a few seconds, but the shark was no longer in Markus' view. Once again, he mounted himself on top of the wood piece and he ensured that the emerald necklace was still safe in his scuba-suit. Pulling off his empty oxygen tank and letting in drop into the ocean, he tucked it in even deeper, incase it fell out of the rip. Markus looked around himself urgently, desperate to find one thing that could save him. He could just see the tip of his ship, but it was much too far to risk his life. He took the necklace out of his pocket. He looked down at the dazzling emerald, and kissed it.

"Even if I don't survive, you will." With the thought of someone from a future generation finding it in mind, he jammed it forcefully into a knot in the piece of wood, hard enough so that it couldn't fall out. He looked at the vicious water around him, wave after wave pushing him closer and closer to his fate. He verified that the emerald was safe, and with one last "Amen" he shut his eyes tightly and jumped back into the pits of the shark's lair, for he knew it was too late to change his destiny.