Sinking

“What’s our depth?”

“25,000 feet ma’am.”

“Anything on the radar?”

“No, ma’am, we seem to be alone down here,” the captain’s brow creased in confusion. “Is that a good or bad thing, Arthur?”

“I’m not sure, ma’am.” Arthur stayed facing the monitor, watching the green line of the radar go round and round. The captain watched him a bit longer than turned to her brother, the second in command. He always wore such a serious face, it wasn’t his fault it was just the way he was. He had a strong build and he liked to keep his body in shape, for his girlfriend. He had high cheekbones as she did but he had light brown hair and eyes, while she had light brown hair and green eyes. Where he was blocky, she was curvy. He kept his hair short, military-style, and she kept her’s long. 

They were opposites in a lot of ways, but one similarity was that they both loved the sea. When they were offered the job of exploring a new ocean trench they were ecstatic; of course, they rock-paper-scissors over who got to be captain, James wasn’t very happy with the results. Withing a mouth their submarine was ready for launch, they said good-bye to their family and jumped in.

They had been gone for about a month or so, they kept sinking, like a rock to the bottom. “James.” Her brother turned to her with a smile on his face as well as a trace of lipstick, “What’s up Jade?”

“I’ll take your shift since you seem occupied.” She raised an eyebrow as she looked around her brother to his girlfriend, she was standing awkwardly against the wall as James’s arms prevented her from moving. James dropped his arms, he leaned down and whispered something in her ear that made her laugh. Jade couldn’t stand her laugh, it was shrill and high pitched as you might have expected, she was also short and skinny and her body didn’t have as much curve to it as Jade did. Her name was Dove, and she happened to work on the submarine as one of the cooks. Jade turned away from the two and looked out the window to the darkness. She heard her brother and his girlfriend move away and she scoffed in disgust. She watched the darkness and the occasional trail of bubbles, sound seemed to fade away, till it all out disappeared. She stood there in a trance not aware of the growing darkness.

“Jade!” Her brother shook her shoulders violently. Jade blinked a few times and her eyes focused on him, his face was filled with worry, or what she thought it was. She soon realized that she could barely see his face, the whole room was dark except the flashlight he held in his hand that was resting on her shoulder. “James, why are the lights off?” She realized that she couldn’t hear the hum of the engine or any noise for that matter. “Jade we’ve lost power to the whole sub, we are sinking and the engine won’t turn on!” Jade’s body tensed up, her face filled with horror, “What do you mean?” Her voice shook as she spoke. “Jade we have no way of getting to the surface, no way of making oxygen. Jade I’m,” he trailed off for a second closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. “Jade we aren’t getting out of here alive.” James had always been brutally honest and straightforward. Jade slowly sank to her knees, she sat there dazed not believing what she was hearing, “How?” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, James crouched down, “What?” She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. “How did this happen, James? We took every precaution! We did everything right! How? How did we lose power!” Jade was no longer whispering, and she was no longer sitting on her knees. She had jumped up and she was screaming down to James, who just sat there in silence. “What the hell do you mean we won’t make it! James answer me!” James looks up at his sister, he slowly stands and pulls her into a hug. “James I’m sorry for yelling at you!” Jade breaks down. “So that’s it, we die here?”

“Jade, think of what we have accomplished, what we have done!”

“And what is that James, what have we done?”

“Come on really? We are thousands of feet below the surface! We are places no one else has been! We’ve done things that others could only dream about. Is that not enough for you?” Jade looks at him she, “No James it’s not. I didn’t want it to end like this; I wanted a family, to get my dream job, to see mom and dad again, and little Charlie. So no James this isn’t enough.” James looked at her confusion, hurt, and anger in his face. “What do you want me to say, Jade? Face the facts, and move on! We can’t do anything about it!” James grabs an extra flashlight from his back pocket and tosses it to Jade, “Here.” He storms off without looking back, Jade watches him till the light from his flashlight is consumed. She sits there again in the darkness, alone.

“James?” She called down the hallway, her flashlight illuminated the hallway in front of her. The submarine was silent, there was no sound or sign of another human being. She walked down the dark hallways, sweeping her flashlight over every corner. Her eyes playing tricks on her, the darkness seemed alive. She trekked down the hallways, checking rooms along the way. Once she was sure she had checked everywhere she headed back to the main room. She sat on the floor, it seemed almost like no one else was on the ship. She turned off her flashlight and waited; for something, anything. A door opened behind her, she jumped up with her flashlight. James stood there leaning against the door frame, “Oh James I’m so happy to see you! I am so sorry for earlier, I don’t want to end with my brother hating me.” James said nothing, “Come on bro talk to me.” Jade walked toward him, shinning her light on him. As she got closer he didn’t move, he didn’t even flinch when the light shone in his eyes. A chill raced up Jade’s spine, “James?” Suddenly James was falling forwards, he hit the floor dead.