The lecture hall was half-empty, the late afternoon sun casting golden streaks through the high windows. Students murmured among themselves, some pretending to listen to the professor, but most were already elsewhere—in their minds, at least. The weight of finality hung in the air.

Jake slouched in the last row, idly spinning a pen between his fingers. He had spent the last four years immersed in marine biology, learning about the vast, unknowable depths of the ocean, but right now, the future felt even deeper—more unpredictable. What comes next? That was the question gnawing at him.

A sharp nudge in his ribs jolted him from his thoughts.

“Yo, dreamer. You hear a single word he said?”

Jake glanced to his right. Alex Carter—his best friend, his brother in all but blood—grinned at him, his usual laid-back energy barely contained. Alex was the type of guy who could walk into any room and immediately make himself at home. Unlike Jake, who thought things through too much, Alex lived in the moment.

“Not a single word,” Jake admitted.

“Figures.” Alex smirked. “I say we celebrate our academic mediocrity with a trip.”

Jake arched an eyebrow.

“Our beach. Calamitjaneta, Menorca. One last wild adventure before we get sucked into boring adult lives.”

Jake exhaled, considering it. Calamitjaneta wasn’t just a beach—it was their sanctuary. The place they had first bonded during a summer study program, diving into the unknown, feeling like explorers instead of students. The thought of going back was… tempting.

“Come on,” Alex pressed. “No deadlines. No research papers. Just sun, sea, and a whole lot of irresponsibility.”

Jake smirked. “And beer?”

Alex grinned. “An ocean of it.”

Jake felt a flicker of something—excitement, anticipation. Maybe Alex was right. Maybe, before stepping into the next chapter of their lives, they needed one last escape.

“Alright,” Jake said, shaking his head with a small laugh. “Let’s do it.”

Little did they know, this trip wouldn’t be just a vacation.

It would be the beginning of something far more dangerous.

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Jake pushed open the door to his small apartment, tossing his bag onto the bed. The familiar scent of salt air and old books filled the space. He was exhausted—mentally, more than physically—but a strange energy buzzed inside him. The future was here. No more exams, no more lectures, no more sitting in the last row while Alex schemed about their next escape.

Sunlight streamed through the half-open window, painting golden rectangles across his desk. The warmth mixed with the soft, distant hum of the city. A perfect afternoon. He grabbed his headphones, pressed play on his favorite album, and let the music wrap around him like a familiar embrace.

Then, on impulse, he turned to his bookshelf and pulled out an old storage box—the one filled with university memorabilia.

Memories of the Deep

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Jake flipped through the scraps of the last four years—

Old research papers with scribbled notes in the margins.

 Photographs of their Marine Biology group, some taken during deep-sea excursions.

 A yearbook, half-covered in doodles Alex had drawn when he wasn’t paying attention in class.

He smiled as he found a picture of him and Alex standing in front of their first research vessel, grinning like idiots. They had no idea what they were doing back then.

As he sifted through the box, a sudden gust of cold wind blew in through the window, sending a few papers scattering across the floor.

One of them—a worn-out photograph—fluttered onto his lap.

Jake picked it up, brushing his fingers over the faded surface. The edges were burned, the colors muted with time. But he recognized the man in the center instantly.

Dr. Adrian Voss.

His Marine Biology professor. His mentor.

The man who had died years ago in the fire that engulfed their university’s research wing.

Jake stared at the picture, his chest tightening. He hadn’t thought about Dr. Voss in a long time—not since the accident.

Something about the picture felt… off.

The way the edges were singed. The way Dr. Voss’s gaze seemed to pierce through the photo, frozen in time.

A shiver crawled up Jake’s spine, despite the warmth of the sunlight around him.

He shook it off, exhaling slowly. It was just an old memory.

Jake placed the photograph back into the box, but the uneasy feeling remained. He had gone years without thinking about Dr. Voss, yet now, on the eve of a new chapter in his life, this picture had resurfaced. It was like a forgotten piece of a puzzle he didn’t know he was trying to solve.

Trying to shake off the feeling, he turned his attention back to the rest of his old university things. He skimmed through some old research papers, some of which had Voss’s handwritten notes in the margins. The professor had always been meticulous, always pushing Jake to think beyond the textbooks.

But something caught his eye.

One of the papers—a marine seismic activity report from five years ago—had been marked up in red ink.

The notes weren’t just corrections; they were warnings.

Phrases like:

• “Unusual deep-sea disturbances—further study required.”

• “Classified zones? Why no government intervention?”

• “If they continue, we risk waking something we don’t understand.”

Jake frowned. Had he seen this before? Why was Voss so concerned about seismic activity?

Before he could process it further, his phone buzzed.It was Alex. He exclaimed in an excited voice- “Dude, start packing. Flight’s booked. We leave in two days.”

Jake exhaled, setting the paper aside. Whatever this was, it was just old research.

Tomorrow, he’d be leaving all of this behind.

Or so he thought.