In Search of the Unknown Chaptered Version

Part 2

I had to watch over him now.

A few days later after basically stalking him, he made his move. He got in his car and drove away with all the stuff he bought. I chased him to the pool building. I saw that he broke in through the front door. He knew that no one would catch him where he was going.

He was right, not even I could save him. He jumped in. The rope harness he made carried the heavyweights pulled him down. The water enveloped him and with a calm demeanor I never saw from him before, he accepted his fate. I however did not. I swam down after him.

I was able to catch up to him. I tried to tear the harnesses off him. He fought me tooth and nail, never letting up. Throwing violent punches at me in the dark. The light from the surface became darker and darker.

My head felt light from a lack of oxygen, and I felt as the dark, uncaring liquid began to seep into my lungs.

The descent was slow, the water seeming to resist us. It was almost like it had a high salt content that hindered our advance. Then suddenly, something tucked at Joshua and pulled him into the deep. His arms above his head, and eyes of surprise. It accepted him. I saw nothing grab him. The water itself took him.

I tried to go after, but the water started to push me forcefully up. If I were not in the water I would have wept. Sobbed for the man I loved, that was taken by the awful deep.

My head raised out of the water, and I crawled out, weak and exhausted. I coughed water, trying to breathe, feeling in shock. I wanted to no longer be near this cursed mass. I shuddered in fear, looking upon this abyss.

I will never forgive myself for what happened.

I was never able to tell anyone what happened. They would believe me insane, mad, and throw me somewhere that I could forever rave such things in an isolated white room. The missing posters came up, and they weathered and broke down from where they were. Joshua's parents will never know what happened and telling them the truth would do nothing but upset them. They would see me as someone making a joke from his absence in their life.

I did not leave that town. I stayed there as its new swim coach, though I refuse to get in the water. I also keep the windows locked, and make sure I am the last to leave.

Then one day it came again. The damn thing came again to mock me.

Just before I left, I saw it. That abyss, that darkness, that insufferable blackness that wakes me up in a cold sweat. It never left. Maybe it has always been there in wait. I felt my blood boil with raise. My legs shook at the horrible shadows that played at the edge. They were even different. Moving like tendrils, they were alive and climbing, slowly and methodically.

Then I thought as I stared into that infinite well. Who else was taken by it? There were a few other missing kids. How many were taken by this pool's beck and call? To have to sink into the darkness and have their lungs be filled with water.

A chill rose through my spine. I needed to do something about this. To stop it. To find one this is.

If you are reading this, it is already too late. I will be sinking. To see what took Joshua, and hopefully to stop it.

This is the end of my story, and most likely the end of my life.

From Dalen's research, which for him was slightly easier with the name of the town being mentioned, he found that there had been a kid named Joshua who disappeared around 1995 near the end of the semester. There was no evidence of where he had gone and what had happened. There is no explanation given as to why he would have run away. Some speculate it was due to his past of being bullied, though no money or possessions were taken, only the clothes on his back, and his car was found not far from the school campus. Whether he was kidnapped or not is still disputed, and no one has ever come out as to find him. Joshua was later registered as dead by his parents, and the search for him ended.

Swim coach and Sociology teacher Eli Luther went missing around 2 decades after Joshua, near 2018. Eli was last seen by the Janitor, who explicitly mentioned Eli staying after he left. After a few days, people noticed his car was still in the parking lot, but he never attended class or practice. Eventually, an investigation was started, and the document that Dalen had read was found. Eli's case has remained unsolved.

The most bizarre fact Dalen found, was about the school itself. The name of the School was named "Far Shore Highschool". Its construction was funded and designed by Henry Gricksfeld. Gricksfeld was a fair millionaire, known for his help in Nautical engineering and later providing supplies for NASA to launch satellites.

The reason why the Highschool was made by such an auspicious person is a mystery. Jo-Lake was neither his hometown nor a place he visited often. Reporters did all they could to get any hint as to why any he never caved in at their constant questions.

At the end of the creation of the School, he was reported to have said "Our world is a mere spec in a cosmos that neither feels nor cares. We are like ants that trying to conceive Mount Everest, and we may never understand such heights. Yet we do all we can, our belief that we can know the unimaginable is greater than any other creature on this green rock called earth. So, may this grand call for knowledge be provided by this place, and give over what we know to the next generation, so they can discover new and untested waters"

The Gricksfeld family has carried over his legacy, and they continue to make deep-sea submarines and still have a small piece in the shipbuilding industry. Some in the news have speculated that the family may invest in new avenues.

This story was perplexing to Dalen. Both on the story itself and how he discovered it. He found it with all the other emails. Yet, this one called to him. Something in his mind ticked when he read it and did research into it. It felt like he was meant to find it. Something felt off though like there was more. More to what was said, and what the high school was built for. No matter how much research he did, it gave little evidence as to if this idea was anything more than a hunch.

Maybe he and his crew could travel to these places. That could add a new dynamic to the series. Trevor and David were fine with travel. David, especially since his main talent, was that of a cameraman and sound man, and he was not much for recording Dalen in front of a green screen the whole time.

What kept Dalen from going was the problem of if these stories are real. He did not want David's head bitten off or Travis to be killed by an evil swimming pool. For now, they were staying at their studio, until he felt that his team was safe.

Trevor saw his friend's worries as a bit absurd. These stories to him were just remarkably interesting lies. A nice urban legend to tell at a campfire, but never to take with any grain of seriousness. To him, these bizarre cases were just stories that sprouted from normal occurrences. The disappearance of two people whose case is only tied to that they were friends, and a priest having an overly theatrical suicide.

David was tied between Dalen and Trevor's in terms of what he believed. He was skeptical of ghost stories, but he also wanted to believe them. To add a new layer to a life he saw as dull and cruel. Though these stories worried him. He would be quite disturbed if these things existed. That humans, despite being the Apex species were still able to be hunted and have their mind preyed upon by things they do not understand.