White and Black Pearls 2 - One Remaining Pearl

Chapter Fifteen

Jack looked around slowly. The world was tinted blue and bubbles swirled about him as he clutched a stalactite tightly and stared upwards. His cell was flooded, right to the stalactites, and if he let go right now, he would float right up to the ceiling and be impaled upon them in a very unpleasant death. What had been rather pleasant looking decorations to look at as he lay on the floor for these last two weeks were now dangerous death traps above like hundreds of jagged teeth. He thrashed once as his lungs burned; he couldn’t hold his breath for much longer. The waves had been coming in and staying in for longer, and rising higher these last few days as he’d expected – there was going to be a full moon tonight, and it was only afternoon right now. Tonight, if he wasn’t released from this prison, he was going to die, either by drowning or by being impaled on those stalactites… likely both.

He thrashed again, feeling the edges of his vision starting to blacken and the pressure and ringing in his ears elevating to a piercing shrill noise. Jack’s mouth opened against his own will and the air in his lungs came flooding out in a pillar of bubbles as he thrashed again, and his grip began to slip as he sucked in water.

That was it. Jack’s arms both released the safety grip on the low-hanging stalactite as he thrashed and let out a silent scream in the water, his lungs filled with it and his heart pounding hard in his chest, struggling to stay alive. Jack twitched and arched his back, lifting his head to the light above from the hole he’d spent a good deal of time looking into during his stay here. His vision blackened further as he felt the seconds ticking by and his life slipping away, again, again…

The stalactites seemed to rush towards him as he began to float up to the ceiling, face-up, and as he gave no resistance he began to move faster and faster to the surface. Jack closed his eyes and turned his face to the side, preparing to be stabbed through and through all over his body. At least this time he wasn’t even able to call out for the woman he’d always reserved a place for in his heart; this time he was dying with some small amount of dignity, though not much. Not once had he given her name up, not to his captor, not to his guard… and now, not to the gods as his life was snuffed out.

_____________________________________________________________
More to come...