Dancing in the Dark

Florida felt feverish. The humid air stuck to Beth like oil as she pulled on her suit and scuba gear, entering the algae-skinned pond. Behind her, Lilli followed, wiping a sheen of sweat from her brow.

“We picked a good day for it, huh?” she said, squinting up at a clear blue sky.

Beth picked a bit of scum from her regulator and purged it with a sharp hiss. It disturbed the water, sending soft ripples rolling away.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Alright, then – you ready?” Lilli asked, securing her mask.

Beth took a last glance at the jetty, their towels and water bottles under a tree that drooped under the heat, its long branches just brushing the water’s edge.

“After you,” said Beth.

Lilli raised her BCD above the water. With another hiss, she began to sink below the surface as the thin film closed over her head.

Below, the water was a lush earthy green. Life swayed gently as fish darted in and out of their crevices.

Beth finally settled on the sludgy ground, the mud hugging her knees. Lilli gave her the ok signal, and then looked down at the yawning mouth they had come for, sucking all the surrounding light into its maw. Occasionally, a bubble rose from its depths, pushing past the floating green and gasping for breath.

Beth pulled herself free and created a small but thick cloud that thinned as it bloomed. Positioning herself just so, Beth reached for a thick cord that rested on the edge of the mouth and began to pull herself into the depths of the beast. As she pulled the last of herself through, the light quickly dimmed. The last rays of sunlight flexed its fingers before Lilli’s body blocked it out altogether and the darkness engulfed Beth. A small piece of algae that had clung on, finally let go and was set adrift with the kick of a fin.

The water cooled as they descended. They dragged their bodies over the grit as the walls narrowed and pressed closer and closer, until at last it loosened, and they entered the first chamber.

Beth looked around. The water resistance made it difficult to shift the beam from her headtorch. The silt that wafted from beneath them clouded their vision and distorted it further with each roll of their bodies.

While cold, hard and unwelcoming, the chamber was the last before the infamous Ballroom. It held air bubbles that had gotten trapped and now rested on the slimy surface, glistening in the light. It was almost like a waiting room.

Beth pulled herself through the still water to a ghostly white sign that stood at the mouth of the next section of the throat:

‘Stop! Prevent your own death.’

A Grim Reaper stood voicelessly beside it, beckoning with a skeletal finger, and grinning through lipless teeth. The thin, sharp point of its scythe stopping inches away from the letter P. The post itself sat on a rusting, mottled pole, untouched and ignored since its erection.

Beth turned to look back at Lilli who wiggled her fingers in the torchlight before curling them into the familiar ok and gesturing for Beth to lead them further.

As Beth began to pull herself through, the darkness appeared to grow thicker and harder for her torchlight to pierce. The way through, however, remained less oppressive, allowing them to glide through without bothering the throat. The cord guided her around curves and dips – sometimes past places that made her feel like she was drifting through space.

Don’t lose the rope.

The flush of purged air, followed by the suction of each inhale was rhythmic and in keeping with each pull. Her heart pumped steadily in its own cavernous home – safely encompassed there. Pulling steadily, gripping, slackening, gripping again, until before her, the curved throat came to an abrupt halt. The darkness beyond it dropped out and hung heavy and impenetrable. Her first true feeling of being in the void was that of her feet. Free of any restriction, she finned herself forward cautiously and allowed her lower body to sink down, pivoting her torso upright so that she was looking ahead.

Or was it up?

This place – this stomach – was the Ballroom. A sense of expansion alerted Beth to the thought.

She looked behind her. Lilli was floating weightlessly. Her feet would sometimes gently sweep out from under her as silt and stone would wash through the light, following one after the other. She looked serene – perfectly content adrift in a place that made them feel small. Beyond Lilli, the exit had vanished.

A beeping sound broke the thick silence, and Lilli glanced down at her pressure gauge. Signalling to Beth, they both gently turned themselves around, careful not to let go of the cord and began to float back.

Lilli, though, began to drift. Beth watched for a moment, wondering if she, perhaps, had been momentarily caught in the current. Beth’s heart began to pound and she realised that Lilli was grasping for something she couldn’t find – both hands now aloft. She reached for Lilli’s fin, but her fingers fell just short, her goggles distorting her depth perception. Lilli rolled onto her back, bending awkwardly, her light twisting and turning – searching erratically. Beth shook her torchlight, trying to draw Lilli’s attention. Lilli only drifted further away.

Suddenly, in between Beth’s blinks, Lilli’s regulator was no longer in her mouth and she began flailing in the depths. Windmilling one arm and then the other in an attempt to retrieve it.

Beth clutched the cord – the life line – her breathing grew shallow, the purging of water from her regulator frequent and irregular. Keeping her eyes fixed on Lilli as she flailed. The darkness slowly swallowed her as Beth’s torchlight struggled to penetrate the distance. Then, quite suddenly – quite silently – Lilli was gone.

Beth stilled. She felt numb – from the cold or… from something else, she couldn’t say. Another beep – distant, like a dream made Beth look at her gauge.

I’ll be out of air soon.

She began to pull herself back. Grip and slacken, grip and slacken as she gently retreated, the passage tightening and easing as she slowly wound her way back. The cord felt rough and coarse against her skin.

She wafted past the Reaper, ignoring its grin as she began her ascent up to the gaping mouth. The darkness began to soften with each pull and her surroundings began to take shape. Fingers of light reached down to her until at last she emerged from the monster’s maw into the lush, earthy green light. The shrubs and algae continued to sway lazily in the water’s gentle ebb.

Beth settled her knees in the mud, feeling it encompass them, holding her steady, while she waited out her decompression stop. Beside her, a bubble escaped the mouth and rose to the surface, pushing past the floating green and gasped for breath. Hearing a final beep, Beth gently pulled herself free once more, and rose up to greet Florida’s humid grasp. The heat instantly wrapped itself around her as she waded through the still water and onto the jetty. She peeled her suit from her body and padded over to the drooping tree, pushing aside its heat-heavy branches. Collapsing beneath its canopy, she took a long swig of fresh, cool water and waited for Lilli to surface.