She flicked the switch in the light, hoping she had simply turned it off accidentally. Several times she moved it from side to side, with no results. She shook it and tried again. Finally, she hit it with the palm of her hand, hoping to jar something inside and force it to produce illumination, as if whatever was responsible for providing her with light had gone to sleep and only needed to be awakened.

Having exhausted her options, she looked around for Brian. But she saw no reassuring glow. All around her the water was inky and cold. She shivered, afraid. Where was he? He’d been behind her just seconds before. Now she was alone. Instantly her mind filled with images of sharp-toothed sharks and many-armed creatures (not like the shy and gentle little octopus) that wanted only to drag her into the depths. Even as she thought these things she knew she was panicking, but she couldn’t stop herself. She spun around, searching for any sign of human life, and saw nothing.

She went up, up toward the surface and light. It took her all of five seconds to get there, and when she arrived she pulled her mask from her face and breathed raggedly, convinced that she was suffocating. She found the lights of the wharf, and this calmed her somewhat. She wasn’t far from shore.

Then the water beside her broke, and she screamed as something rose up, black and wet. When a light burst forth, blinding her, she stopped abruptly, and her fear turned to anger.

“Where the fuck did you go!” she yelled at Brian, hitting him with her gloved hand.

“Ow!” he protested. “Fuck. I was just playing with you. Didn’t you turn your light out on purpose?”

“No,” Caddie said. “Why would I do something stupid like that?”

“Sorry,” Brian apologized. “I thought you were trying to see if I could find you. I took a heading on you and turned my flashlight off so you wouldn’t see me coming. I was almost to you when you went up.”

“My fucking light went out,” Caddie said. She hit it again, and this time it flickered weakly before dying again.

“Those halogens are temperamental,” Brian remarked helplessly.

Caddie ignored him and began the swim to shore. As had happened so many times lately, she understood that she wasn’t mad at Brian, she was mad at herself. Not because she had allowed herself to lose track of him but because she had been afraid. She had lost control of her feelings, been blindsided by the maelstrom of emotions that had sent her reeling and forced her to the surface. It wasn’t unseen dangers from which she’d run, it was the ones lurking inside of her.