So
Dark The Water
By
R. L. Keller
(Presented
for the Picture Contest “The Pier”)
“Everything is lost,” he moaned softly. “What am I going to do? I don’t know how to go on.”
The indomitable – until now – figure of Admiral
Harriman Nelson (Ret.), head of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research and
designer/builder/owner of the futuristic submarine Seaview stood forlornly on
the wooden pier, metal railings standing silent vigil between him and the
ocean, watching as a full moon illuminated that very same submarine sailing
away, never to return. Lee Crane, the
man Nelson had chosen to pilot Seaview, to take over when he himself could no
longer go on, to lead the Institute into the future, was dead. Seaview’s XO, and Lee’s best friend, Chip
Morton, quit because he didn’t want to serve without Lee at his side, and most
of Seaview’s crew had left as well, unwilling to work aboard the vessel without
either the CO or XO to depend on to get them safely home from whatever chaos
Nelson’s projects got them into.
The sweater Nelson wore over his khaki’s did nothing
to stop the shivering that came straight from a shaking heart. Nelson wasn’t sure who was taking Seaview
away. He just knew that it was never
going to return; that nothing was ever going to be the same. All of his dreams were dying and there was
nothing that he could do to stop it.
Maybe he should climb over the railing, fall into the sea, and die as
well. Why go on when there was no
reason; nothing to live for. He slowly
stepped over the railing, holding on for one last second; one last look at
everything he’d wanted his life to be, now forever out of his grasp. As Seaview sailed over the horizon he simply
let go, allowing the cold water to take him to oblivion.
And woke up in a cold sweat, shaking and shaken, but
safely in his own bed, in his own house, on the hill overlooking his
Institute. Seaview was just visible in
the distance through a large window, snug in her open berth, gently riding the
tide.
“A dream,” Nelson muttered softly. “It was only a dream.” It was still several minutes before he could
take a normal breath from the hyperventilating that he’d awakened with. Deciding that he could walk with legs no
longer quaking he got up, stripped off his now sweat-soaked pajamas, and
climbed into the shower, letting the water wash away the nightmare. He knew that he’d have to control his
expression when he met with Lee in just over two hours, to go over several
proposals that had come in for Seaview’s use.
The younger man was extremely perceptive to Nelson’s moods, and Nelson
in no way wanted to discuss the dream.
He took a deep breath and shoved his face into the hard stream of
water. “This one stays firmly buried?”