Beneath the Painted Ocean Read online

  Beneath the Painted Ocean

  CS Patra

  Editing by UltraEditing

  Cover by CoverMeDarling

  Formatting by exnihilo

  To the fans

  Chapter 1

  The ocean was a dark and wonderful place that had a lot of mystery behind. Most people couldn’t explore below a certain depth yet, everyone wondered about it. What was the ocean truly holding underneath? There had to be something that people hadn’t seen yet. There needed to be more beneath those waves.

  That was what Dr. Callum Caldwell believed. At least, that was what he believed on most days. Today wasn’t the best of days. Aside from the fact that it was a Thursday and one day before the weekend, he was exhausted. He had been staring at his computer and desk for the past hour. It wasn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his mornings anymore. Taking off his glasses, he rubbed his eyes and took a sip of coffee. He needed to wake up.

  Come on, Callum. You are a marine biologist. This is also part of your work. He told himself. Yes, it’s the boring part of your work, but it’s necessary. You need this part done before you move to the next.

  Work was fun from time to time, but some of the research could be tedious. There were days that seemed to drag because of the office and lab work. The hours went on and he would find himself falling asleep in his chair. It was a terrible thing to do, but it happened. Callum didn’t get much sleep sometimes.

  He brushed aside his dark hair and pushed his chair back from the desk. For the past few hours, he had been alone with a few coworkers coming in and saying good morning. As of yet, he hadn’t seen his boss and that was good. He didn’t have very much to give anyone today.

  This morning dive went smoothly. He was able to get the samples that he needed without much problem. The only thing that was bothering him was this funny feeling inside. He didn’t know what it was, but it felt like someone was watching him work. He would look up a few times but there would be nothing there. He tried to concentrate but that feeling wasn’t going away. He decided to explore a little bit after he was finished. He looked behind rocks to see if someone was hiding there. Unfortunately, he found nothing.

  “Good morning, Callum. How are you?” Dr. Campbell, his boss, finally entered the room. “I see you’re already at work.”

  “All right.” Callum looked down at his notes. All the words and numbers seemed to blur together. He wasn’t wearing his glasses or contacts, but that wasn’t the reason why things were bleeding with each other. “I didn’t get much sleep.”

  “I noticed that. You seem distant lately. Did something happen?”

  “No.” Callum looked from his work. “It’s just the same thing that I’ve been feeling all the time. I think someone’s watching me.”

  “A stalker?”

  “Not really. I go to do my work in the ocean and I feel like someone follows me around. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. It seems like there’s a person watching me and it’s not any of my coworkers. It’s something else,” he murmured. “Call me crazy, but I think I have a guardian angel.”

  “Guardian angel?”

  “I know. I’m a scientist. I shouldn’t think about things like that. However, I’ve always felt like there might be someone helping me out. That same person saved me years ago and they’re still looking after me.” Callum went on. “It’s silly, isn’t it? I should be logical and here I’m talking about angels.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with thinking about other possibilities. Maybe you do have a guardian angel. Maybe it is your twin sister watching after you.”

  Callum felt the lump in his throat growing and Dr. Campbell realized he had crossed into sensitive territory. “I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to make you upset! It’s just...”

  “I know, sir. You may be right. Maybe it is Dani trying to keep an eye on me.” Callum smiled. “At the same time, I feel like it could be something else. I want to find it. That’s part of the reason why I took on this project. I want to find who saved me.”

  “You’re sure they were here?”

  “I’m positive,” he nodded. “It was here that I almost tried to end my life. I couldn’t because someone reached out and pulled me out of the water. Then they disappeared. I’m wondering if I keep looking, I’ll find them.”

  “You think they’re in the ocean?”

  “If they’re not in it, then something in the ocean will lead me to them.” He thought out loud. “I’m sure that’s where they were. I don’t know how they got to me so fast, but they were there. All I remember are a pair of brown eyes. I was barely awake but I could see them. Somehow, I knew I would be all right.”

  “Brown eyes aren’t enough to give anything away. A lot of people have brown eyes.”

  “That’s true but these were special. This person, whoever it was, made me feel safe. They made me realize what I wanted to do.” He leaned back in his chair. “I’ll be honest when I say that my family doesn’t quite understand what I’m talking about. Everyone thinks I’m crazy.”

  “Well, you do have a big family. Surely someone out there does believe you. You get along with your siblings, right?”

  “I get along as best as I can these days.”

  Callum was the third of Jacob and Elizabeth Caldwell’s children. Most kids had one or two siblings and that seemed like enough. Some had about three or four. Callum had fifteen of them. They were all named in alphabetical order because it was something fun that his mother wanted to do. Abigail was the oldest at thirty and Pearl was the youngest at ten. Granted, they also had three sets of twins and two sets of triplets in their family. No one ever expected the family to grow so much and his mother had given birth to all of them naturally. It was a feat that blew his mind.

  Out of all of his siblings, his twin sister Danielle was the one he had been the closest to. She was seven minutes younger than he was and she looked up to him. Despite being twins, they were very different people. Callum was more on the reserved side whereas Dani was a bit more outgoing. He also focused a lot more on his studies and liked school, while she preferred having fun and hanging out with friends. However, they also shared a few similarities such as a love for fajitas, classic rock music, RPG video games, siracha sauce, elephants, and the ocean. The family hit the beach every year, but Callum didn’t think much about exploring it. He just liked how it looked from the distance.

  He didn’t know how things went out of hand one night, but he and Danielle got into a fight. Apparently, some guy was trying to feel her up and he caught sight of it. That led to a fist fight that was only broken up by Dani. Instead of getting angry at the other guy, she was angry at her brother. The other guy had been her date for the evening and her brother ended up ruining it. Callum was infuriated because he didn’t like seeing anyone touch his sister that way. Danielle told him she hated him, went off with her date, and vowed that she’d never talk to him again. While Callum was fuming, he did feel a little guilty for getting so violent. He vowed that once Dani came home, he would make it up to her.

  Dani never did come home. Two hours later, they got the call with the worst news. Her date had been drinking heavily and got behind the wheel of his car. Things seemed smooth until his car merged into the other lane where another vehicle came from the opposite direction. He rammed straight into the other driver. Danielle, who hadn’t been wearing her seat belt, was killed instantly. The boyfriend suffered a few injuries but he was able to get out of this alive. Dani was the one who died. She was the one who disappeared from the world forever. Her death was not pleasant in any means. It was violent, cruel, and so sudden.

  Her death hurt everyone but Callum got the worst of it. He lost more than his sister that night; he had lost a part of hims
elf. He had no idea what he wanted to do with his life anymore. No one could understand what he was going through. He had to keep living while she was gone. His family still went to parties and visited people but he wasn’t in the mood. He was stuck in some rut that he couldn’t pull himself out of it. He was eighteen, ready to go to college, and so depressed that he could barely focus. He had no idea what he wanted out of life. In the end, the only option that seemed to make sense was suicide. He didn’t want to live if it meant living like this. Everyone was talking around him but he felt like he had gone deaf. He was done with his existence.

  Fate intervened one night at a party on the beach. It was the usual shindig and people were having a good time. Only Callum seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Some folks tried to talk to him, but he waved them off. He had no desire to see or speak with anyone. After he excused himself from the table, he ran outside and went out to the dock where the waves were crashing violently. Although he could swim, he hadn’t done it in years. With how hard the waves were rolling, he knew he could be dragged under the current. It didn’t matter though. He was crying hard and no one knew why. No one could help him. With one last breath, he dove into the cold water below and expected that to end him. If he didn’t drown, perhaps the cold would take care of everything. He didn’t care how he died. He just wanted it to be over with.

  He didn’t know how long he was in that water but he was brought out of it almost immediately. He felt the cool sea air against his face when he surfaced. He didn’t know why the waves weren’t dragging him down but he couldn’t fight them. Someone’s arms were around him. They were the ones pulling him to the shore.

  “No...” He tried to get out as they lay him on the sand. “I...I want to...”

  He never saw who saved him but he had an epiphany at that moment. Something told him it wasn’t time to die. The ocean wasn’t going to take him, no matter how hard he tried. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into deep brown ones. They didn’t belong to anyone that he knew. His parents and siblings all had blue eyes so it couldn’t be them. Someone caressed his face but before he could say anything, they were gone. All he found himself staring at was the night sky littered with its stars and the crescent moon hidden behind the gray clouds. He was still crying but it wasn’t because he was sad. He was crying because he was safe. For once, he felt like living. He didn’t know why but this moment made him want to survive.

  After a few minutes, his family and a couple of friends found him lying on the shore. He was cold, wet, and weak but very much alive. They took him to the hospital where doctors and nurses checked him out. Physically, he would all right. No one knew why he had taken a dive into those waters. Some people thought he had been knocked over by a heavy gust. Others thought he was drunk and walked off the dock. Only his sister Hannah came up with the right guess; her brother had attempted suicide.

  “Why?” She asked him when he was sitting in his hospital bed. “Were you that sad?”

  “I’m still a little sad.” Callum admitted, looking out the window. The water seemed so inviting and his guardian angel was still out there. Maybe he or she was hiding in the ocean. They were waiting for him. The only way he’d find them was going back into the water himself. There was a diving school close to where they lived and they gave diving lessons during the summer to kids that were eighteen and older. “You know what? I think I know what I want to do when I get out of college. I know what I want to study now.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to be a marine biologist,” he decided. “Not only that, I’m going to learn how to scuba dive. I’ve got some time before school starts. I can do it.”

  Hannah blinked. “That’s...new. What led you to this decision?”

  “Last night, when I was in the water, I think someone saved me. I don’t know who or where they came from. However, I feel like this person or creature is my guardian angel. I think they came from the ocean.”

  “Like a mermaid?”

  He laughed at that. “Mermaids aren’t real!”

  “How do you know?”

  He wanted to reply but he had no idea what to say. Hannah was right. People said mermaids were myths but that didn’t mean they couldn’t exist. After all, there was so much of the ocean that hadn’t been explored. There were probably a million creatures out there that they didn’t know about. Maybe he could find something that would make scientists jealous.

  Once out of the hospital, he told his parents about his plans. Although they were a little apprehensive, they agreed to let him take the scuba lessons and change his major. If this could help him with his grief, so be it. He signed up for them and soon found a new love for the ocean. He didn’t just want to admire it from a distance anymore. He wanted to be in it forever. He grew to love everything about it and being down there was the one time he felt happy. He felt freedom.

  That had been eight years ago. He worked damn hard in college, graduating early, and got his PhD quickly. Then he got work and was diving into great new things. Now he was a well-respected marine biologist despite his young age. Some people thought he didn’t deserve his accolades but Callum proved them wrong. He worked hard to get where he was. The ocean saved him. The angel in that ocean gave him life again. He vowed that he would find them once again. He just didn’t know where they were.

  “Take a break.” Dr. Campbell told him. “You’ve been working non-stop since morning. You must be hungry by now.”

  “A little bit.” Callum pushed his chair back and saved everything on his computer before shutting it off. “I probably should get something to eat. It might help me focus a little better.”

  “A couple of us are going to that little Italian eatery that just opened up. Do you feel like having some pasta?”

  “Sounds good. I’ll just clock out and we can be on our way.”

  Dr. Campbell left him alone to clock out so Callum did that, locked up his computer, and grabbed his things. A group of coworkers were waiting for him outside of his office. Once he stepped out, they began talking to him. Everyone wanted to know the same things. They wanted to know how he was doing, what he was working on, and if he needed any help. He smiled at them and assured them that he was okay. He was just busy with everything.

  “The coral needs our help.” He reminded them. “I want to keep those reefs for as long as possible.”

  “Nothing has changed with you, Callum.” Dr. Campbell chuckled. “You’re a valuable asset to our facility. You put more work and effort into this than anyone else.”

  “It’s not like I have much else going on in my life.” Callum pointed out. “My work is everything to me.”

  “You say that all the time. Surely, you must take a break now and then. You can’t wear yourself out.”

  “I know that. Logically, I know I should look after myself,” he sighed. “I hate to admit it, but I don’t have much of a life outside of work.”

  “You’re so young and so dedicated to your work.” Dr. Campbell said. “I appreciate everything you do but try to relax. I don’t want you to burn out like this.”

  Callum forced himself to smile. His boss meant no harm with these words. “I will try to have fun. I am going on vacation soon after all.”

  “Ah, yes, the good old family reunion! I do hope you have a good time! You’ve earned that vacation!”

  “I hope so too. It’s been a long time since all of us have been together.” Although we’re not going to be together anymore. Dani’s gone. We’re not complete. He added silently at the end.

  “Don’t take your work with you, Callum. It’ll be here when you get back.” Dr. Campbell promised. “For now, have fun. Smile a little. Just be happy.”

  Those words dug into Callum but he let them slide. Dr. Campbell meant no harm with them. He just had no idea how much Callum hated hearing it. He had no idea that ‘smiling’ wasn’t as easy for him as it was for others. “I will try.”

  After Dani’s death, Callum’s depression became worse
. His suicide attempt was enough to convince his psychiatrist that he needed a stronger dose of medication. His lack of friends and social life certainly didn’t help. He did try to smile when people told him that. However, he didn’t like smiling when there was no reason to smile. There were days when he was happy and calm but it didn’t show on his face. Because of that, people assumed he was depressed. They weren’t wrong but they didn’t need to make a big deal about it.

  When lunch was over, Callum thought about his family and the angel who saved him. He felt drawn to the ocean now. Every time he went down to the shore, he could sense someone was watching him from a distance. That feeling was always there. He tried to track it. Whatever it was, it followed him in the ocean. It was watching his every move. While it felt heavy, he also felt safe. It was his vow that he would find his angel again.

  I know you’re still out there. I know you’re still watching me. He thought. Don’t worry. I’ll be with you soon enough.

  Chapter 2

  The family reunion was something that Callum didn’t look forward to very much. It wasn’t that he had anything against his family. All his siblings loved him and he adored them in return. He didn’t mind spending time with them. In fact, he was looking forward to that part. He only kept in touch with everyone through social media and the occasional phone call. The reason he was dreading the trip was that he would have to see his father.

  Callum’s relationship with his father was strained due to their different jobs. It hadn’t always been this way, but he never liked the companies that his father worked for. Yes, it brought in a lot of money and stability yet it did a lot of harm to the environment. Callum began to see how harmful all the pollution was to the oceans. Behind everyone’s back, he joined an environmental group that often protested the companies and tried to sabotage their line of work. One night, the group decided to protest the company that his father worked for. Since many people in the club were also fellow divers, they decided to attack from land and sea. The company had many boats that dumped out all the waste into the ocean. They wanted to make sure their message was heard loud and clear. It sounded like a good plan on paper. It just didn’t go as smoothly as expected. They had expected the area to be quiet. Instead, too many people were around.