Chapter 2 - The Descent Into Silence
The suffocating silence of the underwater world swallowed Elena's panicked cries into a flurry of frantic air bubbles.
Her dark brown hair drifted around her pale face like silk ribbons caught in an inescapable whirlpool.
The pool floor loomed colder and darker as the heavy steel frame descended steadily toward the bottom.
Elena’s lungs burned instantly, screaming for the sweet oxygen that had been so violently stripped away.
Her trembling hands fumbled blindly beneath the swelling curve of her belly, searching for the release latch of the safety harness.
The heavy nylon strap was pulled agonizingly taut by the immense drag of the water.
Every desperate tug of her fingertips yielded nothing against the unforgiving pressure of the locking mechanism.
Inside her womb, the unborn child shifted violently in response to the mother’s surging adrenaline and terror.
Elena clamped her lips tight, her cheeks swelling as she fought with every shred of maternal will not to inhale the chlorinated water.
Above the churning surface, three seconds after the murderous shove, the heavy glass doors of the penthouse whipped open.
Maya sprinted onto the polished stone terrace like a coiled spring unleashed by catastrophe.
Dressed in a crisp white blouse and tailored black trousers, the athletic twenty-four-year-old took in the horrifying tableau in a fraction of a heartbeat.
She saw Victoria standing alone at the pool’s precipice, her blonde hair sleek, her stance devoid of panic.
Maya’s eyes tracked the fading ripples of the massive splash directly to the sinking silhouette beneath the illuminated water.
"I'M COMING! HOLD ON!" Maya screamed at the top of her lungs, tearing across the wet tiles with blistering speed.
Her flat shoes found instant purchase on the stone, bypassing the paralyzed Victoria without wasting half a second.
Maya launched herself into the air with a soaring, athletic dive that split the evening sky.
She pierced the water with knife-like precision, sending a clean shockwave through the glowing pool.
Victoria stepped back, her cold composure suddenly flickering with the first twinge of rabid irritation.
Beneath the surface, Maya kicked her legs powerfully, cutting through the turquoise depths toward the trapped mother.
Elena looked up through burning eyes and saw the dark silhouette rushing down toward her like a guardian angel.
The precious air remaining in Elena’s chest was escaping in thin, desperate trails from the corners of her mouth.
May you like
Her vision began to vignette with creeping black edges as the heavy wheels touched the ceramic tiles of the pool floor.
Maya reached the submerged wheelchair just as Elena’s hands began to lose their strength and fall away limp into the water.
