#eheee...

You knew that far before your trip. The sub was designed for one person, after all.

(It had a main front “window”, shaped like a dome that provided a sort of “360 degree view”. The control table sat at the base, with you sat right behind it. It’s sides were metal and had side windows as well.)

But now that you’re here in the deep, far from any other human... from any other living being, seemingly surrounded by nothing but vast, empty waters... it’s quite the experience.

When you went down the continental slope, it looked more like the moon’s surface than anything earthly, not to mention the various creatures that passed by your lights. The bioluminescent creatures especially (you were lucky to come across a giant siphonophore on the way down) made your descent feels like you’re traveling through a portal to another world, unfamiliar to your own.

Surrounded by darkness, the only lights coming from your sub, with only the company being the sounds of the water outside, along with the little beeps the computer would make... it felt lonely, and to be honest, made you a bit nervous.

But you were still thrilled to be here, anyway.

You’ve travelled maybe for a couple of hours down here, and you were closing the distance that marked the transition from to the midnight zone. As you keep descending, you keep seeing less and less creatures. You haven’t any in over an hour by now.

950m - 3120 ft . . .

You watch the marine snow fall, and you’re feeling a bit restless from the inactivity. You’re nearing the end of your journey; after you reach the midnight zone, you’re supposed to maybe stay for 15 minutes before returning to the surface. You hope you’ll see something before having to return.

You’re just starting to wonder if you could place your elbow somewhere on top of the controls without pressing any buttons when you notice something moving around through one of the side windows of the submersible.

You immediately sit up as you lean into the window... two dots of white were floating by in the distance, and from the way it moved you know that’s not marine snow.

It’s... glowing? For a second, you think they must be eyes- only to shake your head on yourself. That can’t be it, can it? It’s probably some fish or other that had lights on its head and tail... who knows, maybe you’ve discovered a new species?

Yeah... that must be it. You try to reason with yourself, even as your heart starts to thump faster, keenly feeling like you’re being watched.

You hear the water burble and swish around you, and it sounds like... something big swimming around you.

You swallow nervously. When you keep staring at the white dots (lights?) you start to feel anxious, but you keep watching anyway. You almost jump in your seat (almost hitting your head) when you start to hear some sort of rumbling(?) coming from the outside. It was low and almost resembled some kind of old engine. Maybe it’s because you’ve been in the quiet for so long, but it felt like the sound shook you.

You try to keep your eyes on the- whatever it is out there, wary of what it actually is. Is it just you, or are those lights getting bigger? Closer? You find yourself leaning a bit away from the window, and watch as they slowly float its way above the sub, out of your view. You turn around and lean to the other window, expecting it to appear on the other side- when you see something out of the corner of your eye.

You gasp when you see a shadow slowly float its way across the lights, still a bit away from your sub. You can’t see the creature’s head, but you see... tendrils? Slowly making its way upwards to the left, before disappearing back into the darkness.

“... fuck,” You say emphatically as your brain provides you with the thought of is that a giant predator? It was attracted by your lights and is trying to figure out what you are. You might be in danger if it decides to attack.

You know it’s not very logical of you to assume that but... better safe than sorry, right?

Your eyes dart to the control panel. You turn off the engine before turning to the light switches. You flick them all off, including the internal lights, and you’re plunged into a world of darkness. 

The constant whirring of the engines shut down, and for a few moments, you only hear the sound of the water swishing around you, that rumbling sound gone.

... and then you heard a sound that resembled an otherworldly shriek(?!) before it returned back to that rumble, but this time, it resembled a growl. Your heart leapt in your chest as you look around for the creature.

You spot the white dots, and it’s definitely closer. Your breaths are shallow as you’re praying to whoever’s listening that it’s going to leave (the behavior of deep sea creatures are largely a mystery, but it looked like a predator stalking you)... widening your eyes when you see it.

A string of light appeared from what seems to be a spine(?) all the way down, and you see that it does have tentacles, dotting across it up until the tips, lighting a very dim blue (if you weren’t surrounded by pitch black darkness, you probably wouldn’t be able to see it) that fades in and out of darkness.

In this poor lighting and your human eyes, you can’t really guess what the creature is aside that it had tentacles, but if you had to guess it’s size... it was about the size of the sub? Bigger?

You don’t know how far it is from you so you don’t know exactly, but from the sounds it makes and the brief shadow you saw earlier, big is probably not far off.

You could only hear the sounds of your own breaths as you wait it out, always watching where the glow was, wondering if its getting closer or if its just the trick of your mind. Your eyes weren’t built for this...

You stare at the feeble light for what feels like hours (though it must’ve been just a few minutes at most) when you realize you can’t see it anymore. You look at the windows, and your eye widens instinctively (you’re not going to get more light by doing that). You strain to see if the creature’s still out there, and you hate how completely helpless you feel because you swear you could see shadows just beyond the window, but you don’t know if you’re actually see something or it’s just your brain trying to make sense of the complete darkness.

Maybe it’s gone...?

You feel your whole body flinch when you see a blink of light nearby, and when you turn you see it’s your depth gauge.

1000 m - 3280 ft . . .

The midnight zone.

The glow of the numbers, resembling a digital clock seems like the brightest thing you’ve ever seen as you lean in to it. You turn your head up towards the main dome-window of the sub...

This time jumping when you see the two definitely lights looking back at you, closer than ever before. It was stationary now, and you realize those ARE eyes when you see a wide, gleeful grin appear just below it.

Suddenly, you see how the creature comes back to light- this time much, much brighter than before. It shoots like lightning, flashing from its spine down to its tentacles- which you realize were completely enveloping your submersible.

It’s suckers made rings of light on the windows and were squirming all over, and you scream when you followed them back to its owner.

It really was a skeleton- ribcage, arms and all. It (he?) almost looks like a human skeleton, except that his skull was much rounder, his jaws were fused, practically all of his bones were thicker than any skeleton model you’ve seen, and his hands were fused to make palm-like shapes.

And they were pressed right onto the window in front of you. 

That clicking, rumbling sound started up again, and this time it actually shook you, coming from his skeletal part. You see how his expression changes into something dreamy as he tilts its skull and his eyelights settle on you. His cry starts to sound lighter, joyfully(?), as if he was happy to see you.

He closes his hand around the window and you see his tentacles (each about as thick as your torso!) waving from somewhere a human pelvis is supposed to be. You look back up to the skeleton when you hear a whine coming from him, a distressed look now taking his face as his fingers curl into fists in front of you and his tentacles look even more restless.

You lean away, into your seat. There’s this look of... want on his face, obsessively looking at you. Your heart sinks into your stomach when his face turns into something dark... angry... another frustrated cry coming out of him when he looks around you, and he tries to sink his fingers into the window.

You’re confused as to what he’s doing when you hear the metal around you groan under a pressure- a pressure he’s applying.

This sub was made to withstand extreme pressures, and he was able to to put it under stress.

And it looks like he’s trying to crack it open like an egg.

Adrenaline pumps through you and you throw your hands onto the control panel- if he can do that, now you’re in real danger! - and you turn the engine and lights back to life and take the lever for stirring the submersible, pulling it as hard as you can backwards.

You hear the engine rev and eventually whirring that sounds more like a drill than it does a propeller, and the sub starts to move back as the creature’s tentacles slip away from the windows.

The skeleton(-deep sea octopus?)’s sockets widen and a scowl appears on his face as it’s tentacles snap towards you, catching you back in its slimy hold- and in horror, you watch and feel as he tugs your whole sub towards him. This time you could see the muscles becoming taught all around you, his tentacles glowing almost angrily as he redoubles his efforts to crush your sub. He was snarling now, eyelights mere pinpricks, baring his teeth at you (or the sub?), the joints of his phalanges raised as he tries to break inside.

An alarm surprised another cry out of you, the warning symbol flashing on your computer’s screen. You didn’t have to read it to know what was happening- there was a dangerous amount of pressure around your vessel, and you have to do something.

Panic takes over you as the lights flash and you hear the metal groan and squeak even more, and even with the engine at full power, you can’t escape the monster’s clutches.

You turn into a ball, your vision blurring (with tears?).

Is this where I’m going to die? You sob. At least I got to do something I’ve always wanted to do... You laugh almost hysterically, hugging your knees, covering your head. You start to cry, sobbing and sniffling as the lights blink around you again.

It’s the end...

...

......

...........

... The sound stopped.

You sniffle for a little longer, your eyes feel dry from the sudden burst of tears, and then you dare yourself to look out from your arms.

... the creature is still in front of you, but he looks significantly calmer. His entire body looks like its gone lax, and there was this look of... surprise? On his face. His sockets were wide but so were his eyelights, and his fingers don’t look like they’re clawing at your window any longer. He locks eyes with you, and you feel like he’s looking deep inside you, and you can’t look away.

... slowly... he blinks, and his sockets are relaxed now. He’s not smiling, his teeth neutral, and you wonder what he’s doing now when you hear a sort of shhk noise coming from all around you. You realize he’s released his tentacles from the submersible, and is now floating in the middle of your lights.

He gives you one last look before he twists, and almost in the blink of an eye, he’s returned into the darkness, his bioluminescent lights becoming dim until you can’t see it anymore.

Your heart is still hammering in your chest, and at the back of your mind you note that panting and gasping like this probably isn’t doing your oxygen supply wonders.

The alarm is still sounding, and you see its warning you about minor damages to the sub and dwindling air supply. Thankfully, you still had quite the surplus for going back to the surface.

Considering the... events that just transpired, you decide its best to cut the trip short and return to the surface.

You think it might be the fastest ascent you’ve ever made.

----

You return to the surface without any further excitement, and your crew is surprised from how fast you returned to the surface. Thankfully, no one blames you for the short journey when they see the apparent dents in the submersible. You walk off the mothership and onto the dock tired, and you tell the others that you think you’ll be taking a break from using the sub for a while. You don’t want to look like a complete coward in front of them, and you hope you’ll be able to go again... so you tell them you’ll go again sometime, just not in the near future.

... it’s probably for the best, anyway.

You had no way of knowing, but a shadow had been following you through your whole trip back to the surface.

He’s never been to the surface before, and the world he sees is just as alien to him as his world was to you.

But he didn’t pay attention to that.

He stayed underwater, but he got a view of you, walking back off the dock, beautiful, lovely...