The world around me was blurry and lacked real definition. I sat there helpless.
Vaguely I saw a tall outline separate out of the waves and come toward me. It was him. I could pick out his large framed form even with the blurriness of my vision.
He'd brought my bag with him and I prayed that my glasses were still intact. I reached for the front flap of the carry-on bag and pulled my glasses out that were thankfully unbroken.
Putting my glasses on I immediately gasped at what I saw.
"What's wrong with the sky?" I exclaimed in awe.
Looking around I exclaimed further, "Where's the sun?"
I turned to my nemesis and he shrugged before looking up at the sky himself and saying, "I have a theory."
I waited impatiently for him to explain further.
He glanced from the sky over to me and said, "I don't think we're on the surface of the planet anymore. I think we've fallen down into an inner world of some kind. Something like that Jules Vern book."
I looked away from him in astonishment at my surroundings.
I drew my knees up to my chest and I hugged them to me as the awful realization that he was right came fully real to me. I'd never see the world above again. I felt sure of it.
Tears came to my eyes as I realized that I wouldn't get the chance to explain myself to my adoptive parents before the incriminating package arrived. In some ways that was the least of my worries now. Where was my brother?
*****
Koke lifted his head off the seat cushion. It was impossible to tell time in this sunken world, but if he had to judge he'd say something like twelve hours had gone by. It felt like he was in a current of some kind, but no land was visible anywhere.
Resolutely he held onto the seat cushion hoping that something positive would occur before he lost the strength to hold onto it or some sea monster came along and took a chomp out of him.
Resting his head back down against the wet cushion he relaxed in the knowledge that at least one thing was a positive. He knew without a doubt that his sister was safe.
That was something, but he hoped there'd be a salvation of some sort for him to. At twenty-eight he didn't want to cash his chips in just yet. Perhaps his promising career as a surgeon in the finest hospitals on the planet was gone from him, but there was probably ample need for a surgeon in this sunken realm. That is if there were other people here.