Cherreads

Chapter 10 - Chapter 10: The Pull of the Deep

The morning fog rolled in heavy over the harbor, swallowing buildings, muffling sound. Boats refused to start. Nets tore without warning. The ocean stretched still and pale, holding its breath.

At the hospital, an empty bed sparked alarms. Nurses searched. Cameras flickered—blank screens during the hours she vanished. Nothing recorded. Like she'd slipped through the cracks of the world.

But she was already gone.

At the far end of the dockyard, hidden behind rusted sheds and old crates, she crouched, watching the sea. Around her wrist: a bracelet, damp and delicate, woven with age and memory. It pulsed like a heartbeat.

She hadn't meant to return.

But the song hadn't stopped.

It hummed deep inside her bones. A melody of sorrow, pulling her back to where it all began.

A whisper of waves.

A flash of her brother's smile.

Then—disappearance.

She moved toward the edge of the dock, drawn forward, until—

A voice behind her.

"You shouldn't be here."

She turned.

A figure stood in the mist, raincoat pulled tight, flashlight in hand. No surprise in the eyes. Only concern.

"I thought you might come," the voice said gently.

She said nothing.

"They're not sending the dive team," the figure continued. "They changed their minds."

"Why?" she finally asked.

"There are signs," came the answer. "Patterns in the sea floor—like writing. Symbols no one can read. And this…"

The figure pulled out a small black recorder. Clicked play.

A hum. Then—the song. Deep, aching, familiar.

But underneath, something new.

A voice. Faint. Garbled.

"—Return… the heart… or more will fall—"

Static.

She stared at the waves.

"The heart," she echoed. "What heart?"

But she already knew.

Her fingers closed around the bracelet.

The shell in the center… glowing faintly. A soft red pulse.

It wasn't just a keepsake.

It was it.

The object they wanted.

The figure watched her.

"You can't go down there," they warned. "That place—it's not just deep. It's aware."

She looked out at the water.

"So am I," she said.

Then stepped forward.

And jumped.

---

Below.

The water swallowed her whole—cold, heavy, endless. But she didn't resist. The pressure wrapped around her, guiding her past ruined metal, drifting bones, forgotten wreckage.

The reef loomed ahead. Dark. Massive. With a glowing split at its center.

She slipped through.

Inside the crack, bioluminescent lights shimmered like stars. The tunnel narrowed, then widened—into a chamber carved from coral and ancient stone.

And she was there.

Perched on jagged rock. Still. Watching.

Hair like dark threads drifting in water. Eyes glowing silver-blue. Body neither human nor beast—something in between.

They stared at each other.

One above.

One below.

"You came back," the voice echoed through the water—ancient, layered, unearthly.

She floated closer.

"My brother…" she began.

The creature circled her slowly, trailing one clawed hand across the water.

"He broke the seal," came the reply. "He freed what should've slept."

Her heart pounded.

"What did he take?"

"The heart," said the creature. "The key."

"To what?"

"To what sleeps below."

A tremor shook the chamber.

Far beneath, something stirred.

A sound. A pulse.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The bracelet glowed.

The creature stared at it. "You brought it," she said softly.

Eyes narrowed.

"That's why the song followed you."

The girl looked down at the threads on her wrist.

The object wasn't taken.

It was entrusted.

Given to her.

She never knew.

"You must choose," the creature said, voice sharper now. "Return it—or the sea will not show mercy again."

Above them, the ocean surface rippled.

Storm clouds gathered.

The sky darkened.

And from the deepest trench, something enormous began to rise.

Not angry.

Not wild.

Just hungry.

---

To be continued.....

More Chapters