Into the Murky Depths

"What's that?" Jake jerked up in bed listening in a kind of terror. His face cold with sweat, his heart beating fast, his breath short and painful. He just knew someone was downstairs coming for him. He sat there staring into the darkness, clinching at the mattress in a very strong grip.

"Just calm down", he told himself "your just having a panic attack, there is absolutely nothing down there, that is absurd". By now he should know better, ever since he and his wife and two sons moved into the ocean front house the panic attacks come nearly every night. Unfortunately, this night his wife is not sleeping next to him, he can't look at her face and take comfort and calm himself so easily.

Eventually though he does calm down a bit, and lays back down taking deep breaths trying to calm himself...it wasn't easy though, he could hear the waves crashing outside. God, how he hated that sound, he hated the water, he wished they still lived in their first house that was nowhere near the water.

Ever since he has been a kid Jake has had a strong fear of death...which isn't anything surprising as a lot of people suffer from this phobia, but not only did he fear dying, he also feared the water. His fear of death could be explained from a loss of his father at an early age, but his fear of water was totally unexplained. He just was terrified of it; he somehow felt that one day he was going to drown. This fear of water had only grown stronger since he moved to the new house, he never told his wife of this fear cause he was ashamed of it and she and the boys always dreamed of living on the beach so what could he do? He loved them all dearly, and would do anything for them.

Ever since they moved here though the fear has taken a strange twist. Every time he sees the water, every time he hears the waves he feels as if there is something out there. Something that wants to drag him into the murky depths of the water, something that craves him. In the day it is bad, but it only worsens at night. He has woken up numerous times during the time they have lived here, each time he feels something is in the house and it is there to claim him for itself and the sea. Each time he looks over to his wife and feels comforted, and the panic goes away sometimes quickly, sometimes a little longer. Tonight it was rough, because she was not there. He, however, made himself proud by calming himself without her there. She was visiting her parents, he would have gone and wishes he did, but he had to stay and wait for the roofer to come over and give him an estimate. With that being done, he plans to join his wife tomorrow.

He looks over at the clock and it reads 11:55.

"Man, still a long way till morning", he thinks quietly to himself. He was hoping it would be three or even four, but this night had barely begun.

He thinks to himself, how he has concealed this night terrors from his wife. It has been relatively easy thanks to the fact she is a very deep sleeper, when they lived at their old house she could sleep through the tornado sirens. Nothing could wake her up before morning when she woke up nice and refreshed.