This is a work of fiction. The characters and events in this story are not based on real life.
I am a new writer to the site and this is my first story. I wrote it with the help with my Dom Daddy, Gnash58. I hope you have as much fun reading it as we did writing it! More chapters are on their way!
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Jen pushed a tent peg into the soft ground of the campsite. A few feet away her dad was doing the same. They'd picked a fairly remote location just off the beach away from the more populated areas. They needed time alone. Both of them felt the need to get away from people and the strangely empty-feeling house they now lived in.
Just last week, they'd had a funeral for her mother, who'd died suddenly in a traffic accident. For that week, they'd had her sister and brother there to help fill the emptiness, but her siblings had both had to return to their lives elsewhere. Her sister Samantha, or Sam as she was called, was 8 years older than Jen's 21 years and lived in another state with her husband and two boys. Max, her older brother, was in the army and stationed in San Diego, far to the south of the family home in Washington. Now it was just her and her father in the house and both had decided that they needed to get away from that place that held so many memories for a while. They'd decided to take a trip to the ocean and do some scuba diving like they had many times in the past.
They'd settled on a location they'd visited before, a dive in a kelp forest where they'd seen sea otters diving and playing before. The little inlet was fairly sheltered from the waves and made it easy to get in and out of the dive area.
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Facing away from each other, they geared up for their dive. They each put on their wetsuit, air tanks, weight belts, and fins and checked each other's equipment.
As he was putting on his mask, her father looked over to his daughter and asked, "Are you ready, little girl?"
Already wearing her mask, she nodded to him and gave him a thumbs up. Together they walked into ocean. Soon, with her 5'7 height, she began to tread water as he continued to walk by her. Once they both felt they were out of shallow water, they dove in.
It was extraordinarily beautiful day. The sun was out and the effect as it filtered through the kelp was magical. Side by side, they swam and explored the little nooks that the fish hid in, each pointing out various treasures as they swam by.
As usual, her dad was ahead of her. She was on his tail, enjoying the feeling of being in the water when, all of sudden, she felt the air pressure decrease through her mouthpiece. With widened eyes, she looked at the gauge but it still read as full. Confused and panicking, she held her breath and swam to her father.
Having done this for years, he was able to swim a distance without realizing how far he has gotten ahead of her. As he was observing some colorful rocks around him, he had an eerie feeling. Turning around, he looked for his little girl. Looking behind him, he saw her struggling to swim to him.
Knowing she could swim with ease, and seeing her panicked movements, he knew something was wrong. He swam towards her. Finally catching up to each other, with her hands, Jen frantically signaled that she needed his mouth piece. She removed her piece and quickly took his in her mouth. Taking a deep breath, he treaded water as he patiently waited for her to catch her breath.
Taking deep breaths, she felt she had enough to swim back to the surface. She handed it back to him and reached down to undo her weight belt to shoot back up. As her hands reached her belt, his hands gripped her arm tightly. Looking up at him, she pointed upwards indicating she needed to go up. He nodded in acknowledgment but was shocked she was going to drop her weight. After all this time, how could she not remember the side effects of going to the surface too quickly. If she did, she would have developed decompression sickness and would spend a very uncomfortable rest of the day at the very least.
He took her hand and slowly began to swim to the surface. Taking turns, they utilized his tank and, in no time, they surfaced. Quickly, she laid on her back and floated.
Coughing out the water she swallow when she had to place and remove the mouthpiece, she managed to say, "Thank you Daddy...Thank you."
Focusing on getting her to safety, he swam along side her as she remained floating. Once he was able to get on his feet, he took his little girl in his arms, carried her onto the beach, and laid her gently on the sand. He unzipped her wet suit just enough to help her breathe more deeply.
Brushing her wet hair away from her face, he smiled down at her, and a tear streamed down his cheek. "I'm so sorry, little girl," he said with compassion in his voice.
"Daddy... It wasn't your fault," she reassured him.
Trying to piece together what happened, he asked, "Was your air tank empty? What made you panic like that?"
"The pressure gauge is messed up or something. Suddenly I couldn't breathe but it read that the tank was full. So I quickly swam to you," she explained as she tried to smile up at him. She felt her heart beat through her chest as she said, "Thank you for stopping me from surfacing too quickly.... " She could see he was going to say something about that but she continued before he could, "I mean I know the rules and all but I was panicking. I needed air and it was the first thing I could think of."
"Did you double check the pressure?" he asked sternly.
She shook her head no. He walked over to her tank with his pressure gauge. Testing it, he saw that the reading didn't budge from zero."That explains it," he said.
This would be a perfect time to lecture her but he could see the terrified look in her eyes. She genuinely was scared and so was he. He could have lost her, along with his wife. Instead of being a teacher, he helped her sit up and rested her body against his chest. "It is ok. I am just happy I was there with you," he said as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you Jennifer," he said.
"I love you too Daddy," she replied looking up at him and smiled weakly.