Jonah

Here's a little something new I cooked up a few weeks ago.

I was teaching a few weeks ago and I found the story of Jonah very intriguing. I have my own take on what might have transpired during Jonah's three days in the belly of the beast, and I want to turn that idea into a short story. This is the introductory bit. Tell me what you think and mayhaps I will write more...

"Jonah"

Infinite black swelled before my eyes, an eager darkness. I barely felt the air as it whirled past, so heavy was the fall of rain and the mighty heaving of the ocean's waves. Thunder crashed and roared as if the sky itself would split in two at any moment.

I tried to take a deep breath, but it was hopeless. The moment the wildly churning sea caught me in its endless grasp, I was utterly powerless. I barely managed to keep my mouth free of saltwater, let alone fill my lungs. I soon found myself ten feet under the surface, no sign of the ship I'd been tossed from.

No sign of any hope at all.

Silence reigned. All the great noise and flash of the storm above grew muffled. I could still hear it, but now as if from a distance. After a few seconds beneath, the world lit up, only to highlight the emptiness surrounding me.

Even so, moments after I hit the water, the storm abated, and the waves began to calm. I saw the lightning cease, and no longer heard the banging. I was so deep I barely saw the sunlight when it peered around a raincloud, but peer it did, reaching into the waters with weak fingers of light.

I knew what it meant. It wasn't the storm that had softened, it was God's wrath. Now that I'd been sacrificed, he had no call for anger upon the poor sailors above.

Out of air. How long had I been under already? I wasn't sure. Seconds? Minutes? It all seemed to be happening to fast. I kicked desperately for the surface, spots dancing before my eyes. My robes clung to my skin, weighing be down.

No matter how I struggled, the surface never seemed to get even a little bit closer. My limbs quickly turned to lead, starved from lack of breath.

Suddenly a great rumbling filled the water, coming not from above but beneath. I looked downward, certain my dizzy mind was playing tricks on me. An immense fish, the like of which I'd never seen and could scarcely describe was swimming towards me at a steady pace. It looked as big as a house. As big as the ship I'd been hurled from. I tried to paddle away, but it was useless.

I was dying.

Only seconds remained, if that, before I gulped in and flooded my lungs with saltwater. I was beginning to forget why I kept my mouth so tightly shut. Shouldn't I open it? I needed to breath! I needed to scream!

Mouth gaping wide, the fish came upon me like a monstrous angel of death. I soon found myself sliding past its great jaws. I fell into the deepest blackness imaginable.