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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/abiroadwrites on 2024-11-07 05:53:01+00:00.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve been fascinated with the ocean. My mom hated it, she used to tell me all the time “If God intended for us to know about the ocean, he wouldn’t have put so many obstacles between us and the bottom of it.”

I thought that was… a bit reductionist, but when I insisted on studying biological oceanography and ocean engineering she was as supportive as she could possibly be. College was the best time in my life. I loved my studies, my mom and I even bonded over it as she let me tell her all about what I was learning about the ocean. Even though she didn’t love the field I chose, she still pitched in for my education and encouraged me to live at home until I was done. She was my biggest supporter.

Two weeks after I graduated college my dad died, and with his death my mom seemed to lose all her will to live. She tried to hold on for me, but every day I could see the light slipping from her eyes a little more. She died the day after my interview for my dream job, and to this day I’m convinced she did that on purpose. She knew her time was coming, and she waited so I wouldn’t miss my interview. My friends always tell me that’s a little morbid, but when I light candles for my mom spirit I can feel her there with me and I know it’s true.

Anyway, I got the call with the job offer a few days after her funeral, another small blessing that I knew came from her, and despite wanting to just lay down and give up on everything I accepted the job. I was still heartbroken about losing both of my parents within a few months of each other, but the job was everything I had dreamed and more.

After a few years I was given the opportunity to join a team that was researching previously unexplored parts of the ocean, I got assigned to the coolest place ever: the Bermuda Triangle.

I know, I know, we all grew up hearing stories about the Bermuda Triangle and most of them can be explained by science and weather patterns. But the stories that can’t be explained by science, unfortunately, I can offer you an explanation for. Turns out my mom was right, sometimes obstacles are there for a reason.

The first few weeks of our research expedition were exciting. We had a place we were staying in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, but since that’s still a good 640 miles from our research site we also had a fairly nice boat we were staying on, and the team got funds for a submarine. I won’t bore you with all the scientific details of our expedition, but after about two months we were granted permission to send four people into the bermuda triangle, in a submarine.

Our team lead decided she would select three people to go with her, and out of our eleven person team, we knew there would be a lot of disappointed people. She said she would give us her decision individually, to avoid the awkwardness for everyone who wasn’t selected. I was a bundle of nerves for the whole week it took her to decide, but on a bright beautiful Sunday morning Marnie found me in my bunk and told me I had been selected.

To be honest, a part of me knew deep down that I was going to be picked. There was no way all of these things would have lined up so perfectly, just for me to be left behind while someone else went on the submarine trip. As it turns out, we would all be better off if someone else had been selected.

Three days later we were ready to take the submarine down to the ocean floor. The people in our group were myself, Marnie, an older man named Jacob, a guy about my age named Evan, and the ninety person crew running the submarine. We all had our hopes for what we would discover, but I think everyone was just elated to be a part of something so big.

The first few days in the submarine were mostly spent getting our bearings, charting, mapping, and getting used to being so deep under water. After that, we were able to use some pretty high tech equipment that looked a lot like the suits astronauts wear to actually leave the submarine. I still lay awake at night and think about what that was like. The ocean was dark, it reminded me of fog actually, the way you can see up to a certain point before it all blurs into one meaningless color. Only instead of fog, we were in an inky darkness all the time. I could see a few feet in front of me at any given moment, the wonders of the ocean hidden behind a cold, wet, dark veil, all there for me and my team to uncover.

After a couple days of collecting samples and specimens Jacob and I made a huge discovery. Caught between a rock and the ocean floor was a scuba suit, in a design neither of us had ever seen before.

Our suits, top of the line equipment not currently available to the public, looked a lot like space suits. This one looked like a toddler had tried to copy what we were wearing, but lacked the ability to really do it justice. The hands looked like mittens, almost exactly the way a small child would think to draw them. The helmet was oddly oblong and looked like a large bucket with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth. The eye and mouth holes were covered with glass, and the top of the helmet was rounded instead of flat like a bucket would be, giving it an odd misshapen appearance.

The body was misshapen as well, with a barrel-like torso and uneven arms and legs. While I couldn’t tell what the helmet was made from, it was clear that the body seemed to be made out of leather. The helmet and body almost seemed suctioned, or glued together. There was no zipper, no buttons, no way I could see to dismantle it in order to put it on. More importantly, it was clear the suit was very old, but it showed none of the signs of damage that something like that should have after sitting at the bottom of the ocean for so long.

Jacob and I glanced at each other, then rushed toward the strange sight as if we were both thinking the same thing. We worked together to move the rock off it, then cleared the debris that had gathered around the suit, mostly fish bones and small carcasses.

We did so in complete silence, but despite the lack of words I knew we were both beyond excited. Whatever this was, we were on the cusp of an incredible discovery.

We freed the strange looking divers suit and carried it back to the submarine. An hour later Jacob and I stood with the rest of the crew, everyone hovered around the table we had placed it on.

We had debated for a while if we thought it would hold up, bringing it out of the water and into a strange atmosphere, and Marnie logically decided we needed to resurface as quickly as possible, so we could get the suit to a temperature and moisture controlled storage facility. She told the submarine captain, and he said he would prepare us to resurface first thing on the following day. In the meantime, Marnie told us to work our asses off to get as much done as possible before departure. She told us that if the submarine went back down she would probably give other people on the team the opportunity to be on the crew. That was disappointing, but I agreed it was only fair.

We put the suit in the storage room we had reserved for samples, locked the door, and went back to work. That night was when the first unusual thing occurred. Around one in the morning I woke up to piercing shrieks and raced out of my bunk, into the hallway.

One of the crew members, Rodriguez I think, was kneeling on the floor clutching his head and screaming. The captain knelt next to him, trying to talk over the sound of his screams, but all we could hear was Rodriguez repeating over and over “the eyes, it’s eyes”.

Nobody knew what that meant, but his fear was both palpable and contagious. The captain assured us that sometimes people struggle with being underwater for very long, and Rodriguez would get the best medical and psychiatric care possible once we got back to the surface. He insisted we all go back to bed, and everyone complied, slinking off to our bunks like a bunch of chastised children.

The first thing I did in the morning was go back to the captain and ask if Rodriguez was okay. The captain smiled in greeting and assured me that Rodriguez was a bit sick, but they were sure he would be just fine.

I thanked him, and as I was leaving I heard him call out, “If God wanted us to explore the ocean, we would have gills.”

It was my moms favorite joke. Every time I talked about new advances in oceanic technology she would say that to me with a smile and a pat on the arm. I turned around and stared at the captain.

I said, “What was that?”

He was already facing away from me, and glanced back over his shoulder, “Sorry, what?”

I knew my face was tight, my voice reflecting my nerves, “What did you say? As I was walking away, you said something about exploring the ocean.” He gave me a concerned look, “Are you okay, Dr. Williams? I didn’t say anything.”

I nodded, every muscle in my body feeling like a tense rubber band, “Yeah, yes. I’m fine, thank you. I guess I was just lost in my thoughts.”

As I walked out he muttered, “Can’t have another crazy on my ship.”

I made my way back to the sample room, which was once again unlocked, and joined Marnie where she stood next to the area we had reserved just for the diving suit. Marnie had sent Evan out after Jacob and I came back to chip some pieces off the rock that had pinned the diving suit to the ocean floor, and he had also collected some bits of detritus around the area as well like fish bones, and other carcasses.

I walked o…

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