Hitting Bottom

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words: Search, Giant and Money

Hitting Bottom

The crack in the glass kept the time.

John watched it grow, not seeing it as his mind’s eye went elsewhere.

There was no order to his thoughts; at least chronologically so. His subconscious mind had a script and John was content to let it play out.

The crack jerked to the left and then paused for a moment before beginning a slow extension.

There was a first kiss and a last argument. A marriage with children was chilled by an obsession that took over his life. The Search, as it had come to be known.

The crack forked, doubling its progress, and then doubling again.

She’d been supportive but when the money ran out, she’d left him. “You don’t lack of dreams. You just never dream of me,” she’d said, pushing the kids out the door ahead of her.

Ah, but there had been good times; times that made John smile.

The crack circled back onto itself and John noticed the first drip of water.

It wouldn’t be long now.

Funny, he thought. None of his “precious memories” covered any of the time he’d spent alone, pursuing his dream; conducting the Search.

Only now did it finally strike him that he’d become so obsessed with his goal, that he hadn’t noticed the ride along the way.

More water began to make its way in as the glass began to groan.

He’d finally achieved his life’s ambition. He’s found the giant squid of legend and followed it to the bottom of the ocean where it now held him like a snow globe.

The bathysphere was his deathbed. There was no fear. There was only the pain of knowing that he’d missed the point.

Next time, he’d do better.

John spread his arms and willed the crack to grow faster.

Word count 300


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