Jason slid down the rocks to his favorite beach, excitement running through him in anticipation of his early morning dive.
The tousle-haired teen came here often before heading off to work and it was a stirring way to start an otherwise dreary day. He opened the nylon bag he had slung over his shoulder, and retrieved his clear silicon dive mask, his rocket fins and his weight belt and looked over the calm turquoise sea awaiting his entry.
It was a place few visited, up the coast from the St. Lucia dive resort his family operated. This place belonged to him, a quiet unspoiled reef where he could explore the many caves and caverns in the pocked sea wall, and explore himself once he was well inside.
Jason spat in his mask and rinsed it and, looking around to assure he was indeed alone, he doffed his jean cutoffs. He preferred to dive nude with his undersea friends, the eels, the turtles and the rays who frequented this unspoiled spot. He was a natural freediver with a lean build and the confidence of someone who spent countless hours underwater, swimming effortlessly through the deep.
He finned out 50 yards to the point when the shallow bottom dropped into an abyss, drew three deep breaths, tucked and effortlessly propelled himself downward. He finned deeper as the light dimmed and the colours of the spectrum narrowed to shades of blue and grey. Sixty feet down he found the entrance to his favorite cavern and a shimmering curtain of silvery fish parted and darted away as he entered. He finned into the darkness, the buzzing of distant motorboats fading and soon the only sound he could hear was the gentle, regular thumping of his heartbeat in his ears.
Until he heard the bubbles and the distant hiss of shallow breathing. He immediately halted finning and looked about. A scuba diver? Here? This far from the popular sites? He scanned his memory and recalled no dive boats on the surface above before he entered the surf, and he was annoyed that there was a trespasser -- or trespassers -- exploring his personal underwater playground.
At this point he would normally turn and fin back to the surface for a breath of air, but his curiosity got the better of him. He proceeded gingerly into the deeper recesses of the cave and soon saw a glint of light off a scuba tank.
He was surprised to find a solo scuba diver, a short, stocky older woman with shoulder length silver hair swirling over her head. She was wearing a beavertail shortie suit and carried a small tank on her back, the kind his folks' resort would assign short, squat divers. In spite of his quiet approach, she quickly turned and trained the beam of her light on him. He noticed the sharp eyes behind her mask and a confident air despite her petite frame. She noticed the boy's hesitation and knew his lungs must be nearing their limit. With a small smile, she gestured to her regulator, and pulled it out, offering him a breath.
Jason hesitated, then nodded. As he neared, he watched her eyes checking him out, but his need for air surpassed his modesty at the moment. She put the reg in his mouth, retaining control of the mouthpiece as he drew three deep breaths. Their eyes locked -- a fleeting connection in the silent, alien world of the underwater cavern. He returned the reg and gave the woman an "OK" gesture. She nodded and gestured at the surrounding beauty of sweeping sea fans and rock formations girding the chamber they'd entered, as if to say, "Impressive, isn't it?"
After a minute of drinking in the beauty of the chamber -- Jason suspected she was also inspecting his junk while he hoped his cock would remain deflated -- she offered another breath. He took it, mindful he would have to exhale the compressed gas in his lungs as he returned to the surface. When he returned the reg this time, she winked and motioned toward a sandy chute leading down to another, deeper chamber, someplace he'd never be able to explore on his own as a freediver. Her eyes glimmered with an unsettling mix of warmth and something unreadable. She tilted her head, smiling behind her regulator, and gestured downward, tapping her reg to assure the boy it would be safe -- and fun! -- to join her.
Jason hesitated but she firmly took his hand and almost propelled him deeper with her. "She's stronger than she looks," he thought to himself while admiring her form, as James Bond would say. They descended another 30 feet and indeed the chamber was worth the trip, this time stalagmites greeted them, evidence this was once a dry cave in ancient times when the seas were much, much shallower.
Jason felt the adding pressure on his ears and mask, now far deeper than he'd ever been before as a freediver. When he motioned to the woman's regulator, she offered it with a knowing smirk, and playfully withdrew it before she finally passed it to him. "Not funny," he thought darkly, realizing he was a good 200 feet from the cavern entrance and another 60 to the surface. Like it or not he had a new best friend for the remainder of his dive. He took a deep, satisfying breath, his chest relaxing as precious oxygen filled his lungs.
She motioned again, indicating she wanted to explore the cavern further. Jason looked about, the walls of the chamber shimmered with bioluminescence, casting eerie patterns across their faces. It's breathtakingly beautiful, but he was beginning to feel the weight of the rock above him and the growing distance from the open sea.
He gestured toward the exit, but the silver-haired temptress only beckoned him further into the labyrinthine cavern. Her eyes narrowed, the warmth replaced by something sharper. She points deeper, as if to say, "Trust me. Just a little farther. You know you want to."