A repost of an older story.
Julie took a deep breath and submerged right in front of the opening to the main tank. With a strong kick and a burble she squirted through the gate. That’s when she headed straight for the wheel valves on the opposite wall, less than 20 feet away.
‘I can DO this!’ she told herself confidently. ‘I can swim all the way across, turn all three valves, and then swim back out all in one breath!’ After all, that was what was expected of her for this audition.
She was at the first valve in a matter of seconds. It was the one nearest the glass wall. Immediately she went to work on it.
She prided herself on totally ignoring the videographer as he filmed her through the solid sheet of glass off to her left. He’d already told her she needed to act as though he wasn’t even there. She was to pretend the wall was solid. After all, this was supposed to be taking place inside a sunken vessel.
Julie was wearing her skimpy silver bikini. The scene wasn’t designed for her current attire. But the videographer had agreed to allow her to wear whatever she felt comfortable in for this particular audition.
There was a reason for her current attire. Julie desperately wanted to impress him with her sexy curves as well as her acting skills. She vowed to do anything that would help land the role that might just launch her career.
She made a show of grunting, releasing a few bubbles as she turned the circular iron wheel. He wanted to see some effort on her part. In the scene it wasn’t supposed to be all that easy.
She focused on the task at hand. Supposedly her character was trying to help other trapped passengers by counter-flooding another compartment. A moment later she turned the wheel a full revolution before moving over to the next one.
Julie bubbled as she feigned straining with all her might against the second valve. It gave just as easily as the first one. It was up to her to portray how difficult it was.
This was to be her brave sacrifice. In this scene she was to be condemned to a noble, yet tragic death. She was helping to free the other.
She did her best to make it appear as though she was struggling mightily. Then she completed a full revolution with the wheel. She had one more left to go.
‘Not bad,’ she told herself as she moved over the remaining few feet to the third one that lay next in line. “I’m turning all the wheels on one breath. I think I’m going to get the part!’
Julie felt proud of her underwater abilities. She’d been struggling to hold her breath long enough to stay in the tank. She was supposed to turn all three valves on one breath while trying to portray the difficulty of opening each one.
According to the videographer, the director wanted the entire scene in one take. They would be able to film her running out of air later on. In the scene it was supposed to occur as she tried to get back through the corridor. Basically the hard part was this particular scene where she needed to turn all three valves on the same breath.
Julie felt her lungs start to heave ever so softly. Yet she was confident she was nailing this scene. She allowed herself to lose a little burst of air out of her nose as she “struggled” with the final valve.
She threw herself into the last one, grunting and struggling with it before starting to turn it. A moment later she made it look as though it was starting to give way. She burbled again as she slowly rotated it all the way around.
Her lungs were beginning to show the strain now. But it was only a brief swim back out through the gate to this makeshift tank that had been built for auditions. Hopefully with this final effort she was winning the part for herself.
With an inward smile Julie completed the rotation. She turned away from the camera so she wouldn’t instinctively look right at it. Then she kicked hard back toward the gate…
To her surprise she saw it was closed. What the hell? Was this an additional part of her audition??
Julie felt a surge of panic rise up in her throat. But she forced it back down. She had to be professional about this.
She and the videographer had idly talked about risking her staying in the tank a few extra seconds to make the scene look better. Perhaps he’d closed the gate just to see how she would convey her fear at being trapped underwater. After all, her character was supposed to get trapped and drown shortly after turning the valves. Was he testing her dramatic portrayal of the situation right here?
Julie assumed it was part of her audition as she swam up to the gate. She pulled on it as her lungs began to burn. She tugged and bubbled as anxiety naturally welled up within her.
She didn’t need to act to portray fear at this point. She had a natural anxiety, a legitimate fear of drowning. It was something she had to overcome just to get the chance to audition, much less win the part. But she’d told the guy she was confident she could do it.
She’d tried to hide her fears from everyone. Besides, she’d believed her natural anxiety would come through, adding to the overall scene. All she had to do was hold her breath long enough.
He’d agreed to allow her a couple of do-overs, allowing her a chance to improve her breath-hold times. It was also helping her overcome her natural fears. This time she’d proved she could swim all the way in, portray herself struggling to turn the three valves, and then swim back out.
This one was going well so far. But now she was feeling that anxiety. If only he hadn’t closed the gate on her.
Had he sensed her fear? Was this a part of the audition he needed her to pass? Either way, this was really starting to make her feel anxious!
Julie tugged hard on the gate before giving up. She tried lifting it up, growing more anxious to get out with each passing second. She was almost out of breath.
She could feel her lungs straining in her chest now. She could feel those uncomfortable spasms as her body clamored for another breath. But she couldn’t get the gate open.
Giving up altogether, Julie went straight for the long glass window. She could see him filming from the other side. Then she began motioning as she tapped against the glass…
“Hello? I can’t hold my breath any longer! Open the gate; ok? Hey… need a little help here?”
She waved and motioned at him, trying to get his attention. He just continued filming as though this was all part of the scene. His face remained directly behind the camera; she could not see his eyes.
Julie pounded on the glass as her lungs heaved. “C’mon – I want OUT now!” Then she motioned over at the barrier… “C’mon already… open the gate and let me out!”
The spasms in her lungs were getting painful. She was almost out of air. Yet the videographer – Russell, as she recalled his first name – didn’t appear to be in any hurry.
Did he have some sort of remote control device that would open the gate? He’d better damned well hurry up and get to it! Otherwise she might…
Julie didn’t want to think about that as her anxiety intensified. She pounded on the glass with her palms. Then she spasmed hard, losing a burst of air.
Something was wrong here! What the hell was he doing?? Didn’t he understand the trouble she was in??
Julie instinctively covered her mouth as the urge to inhale became almost overpowering. She pounded on the glass with her free hand as her cheeks began to bulge. Her mind screamed at him to let her out as bubbles slipped out through the fingers covering her lips…
“ALL RIGHT – ALL RIGHT! THE SCENE IS OVER ALREADY! GET ME OUTTA HERE BEFORE I DROWN! OHMYGAWD – DON’T LET ME DROWN IN HERE??!!”
She turned and kicked hard for the gate. It was still down. Julie screamed her breath away as she reached out and pulled on it with all her might.
The gate rattled in its confinement. But it did not give way, nor did it slide open. A moment later the urge to inhale became almost overwhelming.
Julie instinctively shot upward. She smacked up against the wire grating at the top of the tank. It was in place to add to the nature of her audition so she would be forced to go in and out through the small opening. At several inches below the waterline it had now become a part of her entombment.
Her fingers clawed through the small openings. She desperately started yanking down on it, trying to break out of her prison. Then Julie inhaled with a gurgle as her lungs gave out.
Instantly she went into a series of convulsions. She reflexively tried to cough out the water that had just been sucked down her windpipe. It was her fear of drowning coming horribly true.
Her eyes flew open in horror as she pounded on the wire grating above her. It rattled with a muffled underwater metallic sound. But it too refused to give way.
Julie tried to scream, but it came out in a muffled gurgle. She grunted and hitched as her lungs flooded. She drifted upward until her body convulsed against the wire grating above her…
**
It wasn’t quite what he wanted. But it would have to do. After all, telling her the truth would not have worked, right?
Originally he’d hoped to have her drown while facing him. He wanted her to pound on the glass before instinctively shooting up for the surface and the grating above her. But he supposed it was only natural she would make one last attempt for the gate, a gate he’d arranged to close the moment she was distracted with the first valve.
He was proud of the way she’d been able to hold her breath for so long. She’d previously displayed some anxieties while being underwater. But she’d held her breath long enough during this last take to work on all three valves, plus the closed gate, plus pounding on the glass to get his attention before panic had set in.
He watched carefully, eagerly recording every move poor Julie made as she drowned in his tank. Her body jerked weakly as it splayed itself up against the grating that kept her well short of the surface. Her arms waved feebly, her legs twitching in spastic kicks. A moment later she sighed with a gurgle before going limp, her body coming to rest face up against the grate.
Russell left the video equipment running because he didn’t want to miss anything. Sure enough, if he would have turned it off he would have missed capturing the view of her body as it slowly settled to the floor of the tank. A couple of solitary bubbles slipped out past her parted lips.
He smiled with satisfaction. He could just make out her expression. There was a delicious combination of horror mixed with utter astonishment.
He looked upward at the metal grating near the top of the tank. He made a mental note to rig up some sort of camera above the grating to catch the next woman he planned on filming. He wanted to capture her panicked expression from above.
Russell sighed contentedly at Julie’s sexy body. He was pleased with his ingenuity. After all, there was a market out there for those who shared his perverse drowning fantasies.
2007; 2019 (written Dec 26 ’07; ed. Apr 14 ‘19 by riwa)