Existing (under editing)

Chapter 1

What is existence? Being of just, a presence and aware of a certain reality?

Isn't it amazing how the earth can provide every necessary thing you need. My mother and father had taught me so. They showed me how to pick and plant wild vegetables and fruits. What I could eat from the land and what was poisonous or not good for me. How to fish and swim in the lake right by our house. Made me a home and kept clothes for me, gave me a bed and stored things away for emergencies. Boxes and boxes of things I would ever need. They had taught me everything. Loved me and cared for me... but now they are gone.

Inhaling a last gasp of air, I let myself fall back into the chilly water, allowing it engulf me in its darkness. I drove down against the current, plummeting deeper and deeper into the gloom. A school of fish splashed past me, all moving as one, a synchronised metallic cloud. Their scales shimmering as they swam with their tails swaying back and forth, then they would propel them away. They would disappear in a blink of an eye, scattering and hiding in the underwater greenery, startled by my sudden movements.

Bubbles erupted around me and the mud stirred as I hit the spongy, cushiony, moss covered floor, feet first. A wave reverberated out along the ground. The fresh carpet, green and soft, swaying back and forth as it settled down into its swaying stride once more. I brought my legs up and under me to sit cross legged, waiting for my rear to thump to the ground as my movements were even harder to make through the thick liquid. Struggling to navigate my arms and legs as though they were wading through jelly I managed to get myself in a comfortable position.

I readjusted my eyes to the new light, concentrating to observe as my skirt lingered around me, moving with the waves of the current. I just sat there for a while, among the undergrowth of the lake, taking it all in under the surface. When my eyes had finally cleared I looked up as that surface glowed like a mirror above me, not allowing any sight of the air filled land above, but just reflecting the underwater environment it  now perpetually blanketed. Nothing broke its undisturbed, shiny glass, other than the light of the sun and the light pricks of tiny bugs here and there, skimming ever so delicately. Areas lit up in full luminosity as strokes of sun pierced the fluid roof, streaking beams, like spotlights, on this secret city below.

I re-adjusted myself. Clinging into the green with my fingers and toes caught in the network of stems and roots to stop myself from becoming inevitably afloat. The mud was getting under my nails and my hair had started hovering around me, like a weightless halo trailing along as I would turn my head. I almost lost my grip trying to sweep these long blond dreadlocks away, attempting to get my full vision back.

The underwater world was as alive as ever. There were shrubs and bushes, over turned logs rotting away with mossy, vine like plants growing off of them. Gigantic boulders of rock acted like shelters for the vegetation and fish, housing all types of things hidden in the nooks and crannies undetected. Dozens of these sorts of structures were spotted around in the distance. Most were long established and firmly in place. They all formed together to create this city. Like buildings and homes where the animals and fish lived, going about their business as I watched. One little, secluded ecosystem. Unknown and untouched from the world above it and held completely separate. Completely peaceful.

Fish glided in and out of view all over the place as their scales shimmered in the speedy glimpses when they hit the suns' rays. Different colours caught my eye here and there but always disappearing again before I could focus to observe their beautiful glossy rainbow scales.

A turtle nestled in the mud a meter or so away, huddled in as its shell. Its webbed feet swimming to get more burrowed, spraying up mud that settled to float around it like a fog when movement ceased. Its long neck floating up, it observed its surrounding when it became content and comfortable, with beady eyes unblinking and jet black. Absent minded and watchful.