Fishing For Love

Chapter 10- Time After Time

At first all I could hear was the machine clanking and shuttering with brute force, my heart stared beating out of my chest while air fills my lungs for what felt like the last time, I see something through the weightless plastic blockades; a dim red light.
At that moment I kick my legs with all my might, numbers began ticking down in my head while my feet pushed the water behind me with great force, Axel swims ahead the fastest I've ever seen him go before. The water feels heavy between my feet, the friction is pulling me down when I want to go up, the number tick from 5 to 10 to 15 and right when my brain ticks over to the last few seconds, I spot one of the thick iron bolts a foot away that was hidden from view by the ever-present darkness, my heart jumping around my body like a train off the tracks. I reach out and hold onto the cold metal disk on the side of the tube with dear life, not stopping for a second to care if the other two had found a bolt.
Suddenly a loud familiar noise starts up again, the fan slowly begins to warm up, the current gets slightly faster, then the noise starts roaring and stuttering and the current becomes an unbelievable nightmare, it threw me around like a rag doll in a washing machine, spinning around and around and getting increasingly more intense. My fingers start getting sore, this was one of the most nightmarish struggles I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Before I know it I've let go of the only thing keeping me grounded, I thought I could hold on longer but it seems my efforts were futile and the powerful fan washes me away without a second thought.
The faint green glow from Grace and Axel becomes smaller and more opaque the farther I get pushed back from the bolt. My weightless body glides through the cold slimy streamers, they rub up against my back and neck sending chills down my spine. When the fan begins preparations to stop I hear a loud echoing noise from the void "Frank," yells Grace "are you alright? Axel and I are going to float back towards you when the engine starts up again."
I sit in silences as my face reddens with the embarrassment of being the only one to not able to pass; Even Grace who is middle aged can get past the first bolts without much trouble.
The fan's loud engine starts up again and I see two fast traveling luminous green people drift towards me, they roll uncontrollably until they reach the streamers.
"Oof! That shaking was really painful" Grace says while palming her neck in hopes of soothing the whiplash "For someone who presumably hasn't been in water for years, you've made it a fair distance Frank."
"I don't see it that way, whilst I appreciate the sentiment, you weren't the one who failed to get past this."

I was too weak. Don't be impressed.