161 Meters Down

Diana's Hesitation

On cue, Kristina's attention snapped to the direction opposite to where she was aiming at. It was at this moment that she met a pair of molten charcoal-colored eyes burning with intensity as he stared at her. A surge of relief flooded her lungs when she saw that he was not in the waters.

'He's safe,' Kristina sagged at the back of her mind. 'But who is the person in my peripheral vision?'

Kristina shifted her attention to her left direction and was left with a gaped mouth when she saw a familiar patch of brown hair.

'Chad!'

Her mind screamed for her friend whom she had known ever since she started as a diver in Poseidon Hotel.

Chad was a young man, barely at the age of twenty-two. He was a Mexican who was born and raised in Yucatan, Mexico. Before he was hired as a bartender, he worked as a janitor at the port. An employee, who knew of Chad's talent in bartending recommended him to the hotel management and the rest was history.

Ever since Kristina knew of Chad, she could only describe him as a hardworking young man with a tropical personality. He brightened up the day around him with his sunny disposition and a set of pearly white teeth.

Because of this, Chad was the first one who became Kristina's friend when all she wanted was to be left alone as a newbie diver. Though their first meetings were unwelcome for the grieving Kristina, eventually, she learned to open up to the young man whom she started to see as a younger brother.

'Why? Why are you here, you dimwit?'

In a tear-stricken gaze, Kristina screamed in anguish at the back of her mind. Her knuckles were now numb from being clenched as her jaws locked to stop herself from screaming her lungs out. She knew that the moment she would make a noise, her camouflage would be discovered by the twelve-foot apex predator.

'But what about Chad?'

A part of Kristina's subconscious knocked the air out of her.

'I talk big about not repeating what happened to my little sister, but why is every fiber of my being screaming for me to use this chance and let Chad be the final bait? Are all of my righteous talks just... talks after all?'

A shiver ran down Kristina's spine as she realized the darkness within her. She was afraid of herself and she was scared of how the human mind works. When push became a shove and when prey was cornered with no chance to escape – would it devour its brethren for the sake of surviving alone?

A single cold sweat trickled down her throat amid the wetness of her skin from being submerged in the water.

"The fuck are you waiting for, woman? A freaking holiday before you swim here?"

Lucas, who watched Kristina's ashen face spewed profanities.

He hit the water below him with his harpoon intending to wake the fuck out Kristina, creating big and small splashes around him – sending ripples down below. With his arms supporting his body as he leaned forward, Lucas witnessed how Kristina went from relief to a complete mess of terror.

"Kristina!" He screamed her name again. Veins protruded around his neck as droplets of saliva left his cracked lips. But to no avail, Kristina remained lost in her world.