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The Mariana Trench: A novel of suspense and supernatural horror

Page 7

by Matt Shaw


  ‘Other than the crew, so far.’ He frowned. All of this was seeming too similar to him. Becca noticed the troubled look on his face.

  She asked, ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Just… I mean, yes. Deja Vu, that’s all. All’s good,’ John said, half-attempting to reassure himself as opposed to anyone else. He turned back to the ocean and stared out in the hope Becca would changed the conversation.

  Becca stood next to John and looked out into the ocean. ‘It really is beautiful, isn’t it?’

  John just smiled. He could see why some would find the ocean beautiful but, to him, it was just haunting at night, mainly thanks to his imagination and the fear that, really, there could be anything lurking within those waters, unseen and waiting to strike. There was also the thought of how many people had lost their lives in the sea; not just this stretch of water but all around the world. As John looked out into the vast blackness, he couldn’t help but to wonder how many lost souls were out there, in the darkness and unable to find their way back? The longer he stood there, the longer he was sure he could hear their cries with each lapping of the waves against the shore. Imagine all those souls lost out there, or forced to re-live their mistakes over and over, he thought. A shiver ran the length of his spine and he turned his back to the ocean, unable to look at it any longer. As he started to walk away, Becca quickly followed.

  ‘I just wanted to say thank you for this,’ she said.

  ‘Not a problem. I’m glad you came.’

  ‘Are you kidding? I feel like Dr. Alan Grant when he was invited to go and visit Jurassic Park.’

  ‘Does that make me John Hammond?’

  ‘You do share the same name.’

  ‘Hopefully this expedition will go slightly better than Jurassic Park,’ John continued. That creeping sense of dread still hanging heavy over him. Something felt off, he just couldn’t put his finger upon it. Hopefully, he thought, everything will be fine by morning. Probably just over-tired.

  The ending explained:

  Look I get that you’re smart cookies and don’t need things spelled out to you. Unfortunately some people do and by the time they read my work, I’ve normally moved on to something else and my memory is shocking. So, for the sake of clarity… What if below the Mariana Trench lies Hell? What if upon discovering it, those who see it are killed? Those who die in Hell go on to live their most guilty moments of shame over and over. There is no escaping the pain they have caused themselves, or others. In this case; John blamed himself for putting everyone in this position so, for him, he would keep re-living those days over and over. But the real question is then, the one to really fuck with your head, is…. Was the start of the book the start of the story or had it already happened? With the BEFORE and NOW running at the same time throughout the book, what if they’re running at the same time because they are actually happening at the same time?

  With regards to why it flickered back to the book BELOW DECK, well that was just me having some fun really. In Below Deck we never know what happened during “the storm which came from no where”. It was hinted at within the book, a worry from one of the characters which suggested the super-yacht could have gone to Hell. With that in mind, it made sense to explore that more within this book. The quakes caused the ground to open, Hell to reveal itself (if only for a few) and some of the evil to leak out. The demon creature in Yolanda (for I hope you realised they were demons as you neared the end of the book) said that some people would be turned (bad) and some would just be outwardly killed.

  In fairness, just writing this down here, I realise this book could be a bit of a head-fuck to some people but, honestly, sometimes that is fun, right? Sometimes it’s interesting to sit back and think about a story as opposed to just be taken on a gory little road trip. I mean, that is right, isn’t it?

  Hello?

  Anyone?

  HELLO?

  Ah bugger….

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