It's bumpy in here again. Fourth time today I'm being tossed around, bashing into Josh and Alfie and that new guy with the extra long tail. Ben, I think he's called. He's a strong swimmer. Gonna have to watch him; learn from him.
I try to focus, throbbing headache, tumbling until I don't know which way I'm facing, crashing into the sides of the pink sphere. I try to latch onto its mottled surface, grappling with every molecule of strength to steady myself, catching a break as the movement of the orb slows.
The wall contracts slightly, like it did a few hours ago when I missed the last stream out of here, maddeningly just out of reach as Tom and Kyle and a few thousand others I barely knew rocketed towards the light at the end of the tube. Lucky bastards.
Gripping with all my might, the nauseating motion of the globe lessens. Just a gentle swinging to and fro as I try to increase my purchase in preparation for what prior experience indicates will become the more violent phase.
This close to the surface I can hear commotion the other side of the wall. Staccato shouts accompany the usual vibrations of the voice. Short and positive bursts like, "Yes!" and "Take it all!"
In the distance, something else filters through the membrane. Something higher pitched. Repetitive. Lots of the same vowel: 'O'. It sounds rapturous, euphoric as I sway gently, forwards, backwards, in, out.
The wall to which I'm clinging expands a tiny bit and I almost lose my grip. It's fucking hot in here. Usually, when we're not being buffeted, a temperature increase precedes expansion, then everything cools before contraction. But this time, just like those few frantic occasions earlier, the heat is unbearable and there's no expansion in sight to regulate things.
But I bear it, only because there's a half chance this may be the one.
My time.
My way out into the light. To finally find if the rumours are true. Being catapulted to freedom. Landing on mountains capped with cherries. Dense, wiry forests. Or the banks of the pink ravine.
The swinging starts again in earnest and the cries from outside increase in intensity. All my friends can sense it and there's nervous energy throughout as the liquid in which we're encased heats up, becomes a fraction more viscous. It makes it easier to hold on as we dangle and swing around the enclosure but I know there's work to be done.
Timing is everything.
I've missed the last three and I'm sure as hell not going to make the same mistake. The wall shrinks twice in quick succession, pinching my hold. It's stifling but the nerve endings nearby fire electricity into the water and it simultaneously excites and calms me.
It's like everything is coiled, ready, spring-loaded, and time slows. There's a deep vibration far above me. Almost a growl of satisfaction. I nearly lose my grip at the sharp crack outside. Sounds like a whip, and the high pitched 'O' in the distance grows louder, turning to a sustained moan, an imploring, desperate, needy quality to it. It's arousing beyond compare. Nothing like the far gentler previous time.
The CRACK is repeated, over and over, each one jarring and making me shiver. Arousal grows, swells as more electricity arcs into the soup and I clutch firmly. I need to time it just right.
Casting a furtive glance alongside, I grin at my best friend Jimmy, sharing a connection, a bond that warms me until it's unceremoniously severed as he breaks free amid a savage thrust. I see him tumbling away, head over tail, a chasm wrenching my insides. Too soon, poor guy. I'm determined not to suffer the same fate.
The motion increases, hammering faster and faster, the walls shrinking further, heat amplified to an insufferable degree. The small mercy is the reduced space in the sphere means less motion, which is good for my headache.
Vibrations envelop me everywhere at once. I dig in and sense a tingling. We all do. A collective prickling that fizzes through the liquid and energises us. Far in the distance, there's a high-pitched cry of unbridled joy. In response, the chemical balance alters in the fluid. I swear I hear, "Yes! Fill me up!" screamed through the wall but it's eclipsed by a throaty roar and some ferocious jabs, our cocoon slamming against something pliant, yielding and deliciously wet. Once, twice, three times, four.
This is it.
As the water swirls and turns opaque, I take a deep breath and let go.
A moment of weightlessness overcomes me, everything losing focus, plunging into the centre of the frothy river below, along with thousands of friends who chose the perfect moment. Everything's too fast, too intense, too much, but unbelievably exciting and a broad grin breaks out as the acceleration is off the charts.
"Woohooooo!" I yell. "Freeedommm!"
It's the wildest ride of my life, sloshing into the tube, spinning and being fired up, up, up. Pulsing neurons and blood vessels rocket by, their clenching rhythm propelling me forward at lightning velocity. Yes! Escape!
I reach the end of the tube and arc out, flying, carefree, crashing against a spasming wall into a spacious cave and splashing to a foaming river that's both sweet and salty. I have to dive as the flared tip of the tube from which I flew continues to pummel above me, gradually slowing as it showers the cavern with more spewed white ropes.
I take stock of my surroundings. Something's not right. Panic sets in, the freedom and light I expected, hoped and dreamed not visible.
Fuck.
As the eruptions above cease, and erratic, higher pitched vibrations pulse through my new home, I bob in the sticky river and catch sight of Ben already zipping off ahead of me to the mouth of the cave through the mixture.
Bastard. Fuck him and his super tail.
I grit my teeth and with dogged determination, swish hard, following him into the unknown.
