It is here in the deep sea that I find myself. There is something about getting so far from the world you know that increases your connection to it. Without the distractions, the noise, the pollution, your mind is free to simply dwell on the people and places you love. So here in the briny deep where every sound is so different and the light moves slowly around my outstretched fingers I feel my connections growing deeper. Every movement of my body becomes a form of meditation, removing thoughts that were never mine. So when I return, centred on who I truly am, I am ready to be the best version of myself I can be.
This deep in the sea, even through my second skin, I can feel the temperature of the water drop. It isn't like a winter chill, bringing a shiver to the skin, but more like the welcome coolness of an autumn breeze. I can never get enough of these pure waters or the way everything is cast blue by the filtered light. Down here I am free to turn and move as I wish, the ties of gravity faded to nothing.
In the deep, with the brine flowing past our limbs, there is freedom. The sea has so many secrets, so many stories yet to tell and here we explore, admire the wonders and learn. Here my body has no weight that means anything, I can glide in any direction without fear of falling. This place, so far from the ordinary world above, is the wonderland of my dreams.
So far down in the ocean the sunlight is a soft diffuse glow. Those once golden rays from above are only blue in this water; and the deeper I swim the less light can penetrate. The rocks are now silhouettes in the dim. The light from my headlight dies quicker than the heat from a winter campfire. From time to time I am surprised by a lone fish, invisible until it enters the feeble beam. It's cold too, colder than I imagined it would be. With the increasing pressure I begin to feel like the water is thicker, like soup. I glance upward to the surface and my heart rate rises, I've never been this deep before. My desire to explore evaporates is gone, leaving no trace it was ever there. Now I only desire fresh air. Before I can stop myself I'm kicking with quick and powerful strokes. The voice of caution whispers softly not to rise so fast, but it can't break through the scream for unfiltered rays and fresh air...
Down hear my senses are altered; the sounds are lazy and the light gentle. It's truly a three dimensional world; I am as free as a bird in the sky. I swoop down toward the sandy bed below. Somewhere here is treasure, I know this because I dropped it myself. It's not the kind you can find with a metal detector, these are all little packets of a very special chemical. A chemical that will change my fortunes. I just hope the packaging has stood up to the weather these past sixteen months.
In my apartment I feel significant. Every machine and item of furniture is there for me, to cosset my life. But here, deep in the sea, nothing is arranged for my pleasure and consumption. I am forced to see myself as I really am, just another living organism in the vastness that is the world. Perhaps that's why I love this expanse of briny blue so much, here in the watery depths I can forget myself and the stress of my life. Here I am insignificant, so how can my worries be important either?
The fluidity of life far below the waves brings a sense of freedom and levity; perhaps it was feelings like these that lead to the first tales of merpeople - the longing to swim forever, never return. In this aquatic world money means nothing, what are interest rates to a dolphin? It's all utterly irrelevant. I let the filtered light caress my skin and wish I didn't need this air tank to stay, but I do. As much as this watery world calls to me, I can only be a visitor from the dry world up top
Clara kicks deeper, feeling the pressure of the water against her suit. Above her the glow of the surface becomes more dim, more distant. Her thoughts turn to her childhood dreams, always underwater with the fish and kicks all the harder, sucking on the oxygen tanks that will give her a while longer. Once in a while she steals a glance at the gauge before rechecking for rocky outcrops that could pierce her suit.