Page 39 of Styx

I had never been fully immersed

in any water, either of this cave

or in the oceans and rivers outside.

So when we fell in,

I immediately started to struggle.

My legs lashed out at nothingness,

and when I felt it,

the smooth, slimy feel

of Styx’s creature,

my heart thudded, and in my fear,

I kicked out at it,

only to find my foot met

a crevice in the cave’s

underwater wall,

and as I tried to pull

and pull, my foot

would not free itself.

I was trapped underwater,

unable to get out.

Fear

I had never known it

until this day.

Never felt the way

it could wrap around

your very bones

like a serpent holding

its prey, just before

it sinks its fangs

deep into its neck.

The voices in my head,