Chapter 7 Watery grave
Raoul felt the floor beneath his feet give way. His eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, but that had not prevented him from falling prey to the trap door that rapidly disappeared below him. He fell only a few feet and was instantly submersed in water so cold that he couldn't breathe. He sunk down into nearly ten feet of water before he began to rise back to the top. As he was coming toward the surface, he could hear the slow grinding of wheels moving and suddenly saw a large grate rapidly descending toward the water. There was no room to escape as the edges of the concrete were above the grate now.
Raoul's only hope was in getting the wheel to stop turning, preventing the grate from falling fully into the water. His eyes wide open, the cold piercing his eyes like steely daggers. He swam toward where he could hear the shrill grinding of metal on metal. Finding it, a wheel moving clock-wise, lowering the chain, link by link, down into its
intended victim's grave.
Raoul fought it with all his might. Slowing it slightly. At his breath's end, he had to let go, knowing he must to survive. Propelling himself toward the surface just as the last inches of air lay beneath the grate. Exhaling and gulping in one last breath. He dove once more down to the depth of the wheel. Channeling the fear he felt of his own demise, and the anger he felt towards the monster that was trying to deprive him of his dear, dear, Christine.
He had to survive, not for himself, because he cared not if it cost him his very life. He had to rescue her, he had promised to protect her. He pushed and he fought until he thought he was spent. Suddenly, the grinding stopped and the wheel began to move in the other direction. The grate began to rise. Raoul said a prayer of relief and thanks, as he swam toward the surface, and toward another chance to rescue his sweet, pleading fiancé.
Pulling himself out of the frigid water without effort, even though his clothes were soaked, and his muscles sore from the fight. He leapt to his feet and began what he had to believe was the final descent into the caverns, and to his Christine. Hoping only that he wasn't too late to save her.