In the middle of the ocean, where land was no longer visible, a boat bobbed gently on the calm surface of the water. It appeared to be abandoned; its owner presumably submerged beneath the cover of the sea. The sky was beginning to darken; the sun was quickly retreating for the night. Soon, a seagull fluttered by; and, sensing that this foreign object would be the only perch for miles, it landed on the bow of the boat. The bird sat calmly and stared at the sea, searching for something.

Underneath the blue-grey waves, deep down in the icy water, was the lone girl to whom the boat belonged. She was tall, and her long blonde hair extended behind her, a stark contrast to the bleak ocean around her. Her black wet suit nearly faded into the dark sea; the regulator she wore emitted bubbles that floated carefully to the surface of the water. She lingered, motionless, for fifteen minutes--her hair swayed gently with the current.


Around the diver, there were no signs of life: no fish darted about her; no sea turtles cast their shadows on the ocean floor as they slowly meandered by. Sand stretched on for miles, the expansive grainy canvas broken only by jagged rocks that jutted haphazardly out of the bottom of the sea.

There was nothing except the diver and the water.

Far above her, black clouds rolled across the sky. The ocean was uneasy, swelling and contracting in a way that one might while breathing heavily, their chest heaving with ragged gasps. The seagull preened nervously, nodding its head and ruffling its wings in anticipation, ready to take flight if it needed to.

A storm was plowing mercilessly closer.

The diver lingered in one area of the frigid water, though for just how long was uncertain: time itself seemed to be suspended with her in the sea. Eventually, however, she swam deeper down in the water. After descending about twenty feet, the diver froze. Something was amiss. Finally, she looked up at where her small boat rocked up and down on the surface, little more than a toy amongst the now rising waves. The surface of the water shimmered and caught the last of the daylight. Thunder was booming in the sky, audible even under the thick cover of water that engulfed her.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the eerily dark sky with sharp bursts of light. The seagull immediately fled its perch on the bow of the ship and took flight. Darting back and forth, higher and lower, the bird desperately searched for a refuge from the storm.

The current increased with sudden and overwhelming power; the sea swirled and churned. The girl, quickly realizing that she had to withdraw to her boat immediately, swam towards the surface; however, the current pushed her further and further down in the water.

Soaring through the sickly, violet sky; ducking to avoid the low, looming black clouds; skimming the water with its webbed feet; the seagull flew just above the ocean.

Gliding through the turbulent waters; swerving around sharp rocks; darting upward in short, forced spurts; the diver struggled to fight the current and escape to the surface.