There are no stars

Diving was one of life dreams, I always wanted to scuba dive in the ocean and swim with the fish. I sound like a child but honestly who isn’t when you have a dream that never leaves you but gives you comfort when all fails. When I finally got the chance to go on an expedition with my brother in law I took it without thinking and was on my way to fulfil the one bucket dream I ever had. Now I wished I’d just waited and went on my own terms but in hind sight we never really see the trees for the forest.

The trip was on a coastal place where few tourist are taken to so it was perfect for me, no noisy idiots jostling me about how its their nth trip and how they dove further than the last. I heard all those stories from so many people I had spoken to in the past, here it was only me. I was swimming in the ocean of dreams, the place was not exactly the place normal people would be taken to but our guide told us it was the best place as it was still within the territory. My brother in law, Tom, also told me that his friends had visited this place would not shut up about their experiences.

Once on the pier we were given waivers that were standard for such trip and I signed without a single look at the paperwork as did Tom, we were joined by 3 other people who were also excited about the trip. They kept to themselves which was perfect for me as I was just taking in the moment of riding the boat to the spot. The salty air and the splashing water made me feel like a kid again. The day was clear and we all on the boat felt the energy pulsing through us.

After about 30 minutes we arrived at our place to dive, the instructor and her assistant helped us into our gear. The oxygen tanks and suits, I was completely clueless on what went where but the instructor was kind and helped me out. She then gave us a tutorial on how to use our gear and all the other things we needed to know. I knew most of it even though it was my first time but I still listened because there could be something I missed. Tom had done quite a bit of scuba diving with my sister so he was also helping me acclimatise to this new experience.

Them came the time to dive, we were instructed how to fall back wards into the water and then turn around once under. I waited for the 3 other people to do so then I did it, the fall was nerve wracking for me as falling backwards into the water caused a moment of disorientation. Once under water I panicked for a moment but Tom helped me, giving me the thumbs up signal he let me know I was ok. I nodded my head and slowly began to swim, the cool water felt amazing and the scene before me was even better. I was in heaven seeing the fish swimming before me and the shapes & colours of the coral, I just wanted to stop and gawk as what was in front of me.

The assistant tapped me on my shoulder and signalled that I needed to move forward as we were to swim to particular place where there was floor drop off. I remembered that when they were talking about it while on the boat, its said to be one of the most awe-inspiring scenes to see.

I followed the rest of the divers and the assistant followed me, we swam through the sea and the life I saw before me felt like I was in an alien planet. As we swam closer to the drop off the colour of the water changed to a darker blue and coral life gave way to barren sand. I was off put by this scene but still followed, the temperature also seemed to drop also as I was feeling colder despite it still be bright and sunny. There were no fish swimming near or around us, the other 3 swimmers were having the best time and I could see Tom was nervous as he kept looking back to where we came from, I looked back also and saw the assistant behind me who gave me a thumbs up. I replied the same and continued my swim.

Tom stopped and signalled that he was having trouble with his tank, the instructor joined him and checked his equipment and motioned him to return. It looked like there was a leak in this tank and he was told to surface and signal for a pick up. We continued after this.

We finally reached the drop off and words cannot descried the scene before me, the sand beneath us just dropped off to the open ocean ahead of us. It was just amazing and scary at the same time. We swam around the place taking in the scene before us, I still noticed that there were no other fish near this area, it was strange and all the videos I had see of such places we should see schools of fish in a place life this.

As we took in the scene and i noticed something moving in the gloom below, it was darked than the shadows around it. It moved faster than I could track it and I slowly began to swim back wards thinking it could be a shark or something. I swam backwards as the 3 other tourist swam closer to the edge, the instructor remained close by as did her assistant. I blinked and that is when things went out of control, something shot out of the depths below and grabbed one of the tourists and dragged him down, the other 2 panicked and began swimming back, that is when another thing shot out of the gloom and grabbed a foot another swimmer. She panicked and let out a cloud of bubbles as she was also dragged down.

I was panicking also and frantically swimming back to the shallow waters, whatever the thing was in the deep wanted us. The instructor and her assistant remained where they were and did not help the panicking swimmer and when I finally saw the thing from the gloom it was a black tentacle, it shot out and grabbed her and began dragging her down. I was next and I knew it, I frantically swam without looking back. That was when I felt something grab my leg, I stopped for a split second and looked down at my foot. It was the assistant, he was trying to drag me back to the edge. I kicked and let out a burst of my own bubbles and I tried to get away. I saw another tentacle shoot up and instead of grabbing me it grabbed the assistant’s foot. I saw fear in his eyes and it began to pull, I kicked and he let go only to be pulled into the gloom below. I swam for my life.

I reached the shallows in record time and surfaced, once above the water I choked on the sea water and began flailing my hands hoping someone could see me. That was when I hear a deep rumble emanate from under me, I stopped and turned to see where I came from. Something was surfacing from the deep shelf. The ocean bulged trying to keep whatever it was down but I could feel the vibrations of it. I swam for shore, I tried looking for the boat but could not see it, I unbuckled the oxygen tanks to be able to swim faster. I was running out of steam but the adrenaline was pushing me further. Then came the wave, I was picked up by a massive wave and carried forward. It was in that roiling water that I semi drowned and blanked out.

I washed up shore in a different beach and was completely lost, some locals helped me and asked where I came from. I explained my situation but it seems they did not wrap their heads around my story as I was more than 40 miles from where I was scuba diving.

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