After a certain depth, everything turns to blackness. The only light down this far is the light you bring with you and the occasional blips of bio-luminescence. It’s beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. As the lights on the submersible dimmed, the bio-luminescence became more and more visible until it was all that could be seen. Even the LED lights inside the pod faded away and the hum of electricity and motors died out.

“I guess that’s it, then,” Sophie said, letting go of the controls. “We’re completely dead in the water.”

Only the depth and pressure gauges still worked and their glowing dials displayed a slow but continued descent.

Everything had been going along fine until they struck against the side of the underwater canyon they were exploring. Their proximity sensor had failed to notify them of the danger and it was too late now to wonder what had gone wrong there. All that mattered was that the damage had shorted out their controls. As they lost power, they lost contact with the surface and ultimately lost the ability to maneuver. Now they were sinking. It wasn’t a fast descent, only a foot or two per second, but it was enough that they didn’t have much time left. Once they reached crushing depth, that would be it. The submersible would implode and that would be the end. A quick death, at least.

“It’s not a bad view, at least,” Benjamin pointed at a shimmering squid of some kind that floated passed.

Neither panicked or raged, which was a relief to both of them. It was an eerie calm that settled over them as they accepted their fates.

“You know,” Benjamin began hesitantly, “I was going to ask you out for a drink after this.”

“Really?” Sophie asked, surprised. “I thought you were, you know…

Benjamin shrugged, “A little of column A, a little of column B.”

“Well I’m flattered, that would have been fun.”

“Yeah?” Benjamin beamed. “You would have said yes?”

“Of course,” Sophie replied, “You’re a great guy, funny, and not all hyped up on yourself like someone else I could mention.”

At the same time, both of them said, “Harvey!”

They laughed.

“It’s so hard being this handsome out here with all you ladies,” Benjamin said in a deeper, macho voice. “There’s only so much Harvey to go around.”

“Watch out ladies,” Sophie mimicked the voice as well, “I’m taking off my shirt and don’t want you all to swoon.”

“What a douche,” Benjamin said, shaking his head even though he knew Sophie couldn’t see him. “Though he was hot.”

“So hot,” Sophie agreed.

“Well let’s not waste any more time on him,” Benjamin stated. “Tell me about yourself. What does Sophie do when she’s not out surveying the ocean floor?”

“Well, I enjoy doing watercolors,” Sophie said.

“Get out, really?” Benjamin asked. “That’s awesome. I always admire people who have the dedication to build up a skill like that.”

“Well I’m not very good.”

“You’re probably the best painter I know.”

“That means you don’t know any other painters.”

“Eh,” Benjamin shrugged. “That doesn’t take away from how cool I think it is that you do it.”

“Well I’ll take the compliment. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

A groan shuddered through the hull of the submersible. Both of them paused and tensed but nothing else happened.

“And what about you?” Sophie asked after a moment. “What do you do when you’re not out here?”

“Oh, I do a bit of painting too, you could say, but not the same as what you do.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I paint minis.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I assemble little plastic miniatures and then paint them.”

“Oh my gosh, I have a brother who does that. He plays a game with them and everything.”

“I don’t play any of the games, but yeah, that’s the right idea. I just pick any cool minis I can find and paint them up.”

“Do you do like, painting competitions?” Sophie asked. “I know my brother’s talked about those before.”

“Nah, too much stress, you know? I just want to paint them for me and put them on my shelf.”

“We could have done a painting night or something,” Sophie said and a heaviness settled over them both.

“That would have been nice,” Benjamin sighed. “Usually I just put on a movie or something while I paint.”

The hull groaned again and this time water started dripping down onto them from above. Neither of them commented on it since there wasn’t really any point. The depth and pressure gauges were both in the red now and they didn’t have much time left.

Benjamin reached out in the dark and found Sophie’s hand. They gripped tightly to one another as the water began to pool around their feet. A hiss of water began to spray somewhere in the the back of the submersible and the water at their feet began to rise faster.

“Aw, come on,” Benjamin said, “I was hoping for a quick smoosh. At this rate we’ll just drown.”

“A quick smoosh?” Sophie was trying to sound relaxed but there was a tenseness to her voice. “Who says that?”

“I say that. What’s wrong with smoosh?”

“Nothing, I guess, it just sounds like smooch.”

“Well, a quick smooch would be preferable to a smoosh but I don’t think now’s the time.”

“No? Why not? Go out with a bang, right?”

“Don’t think there’s time for a bang,” Benjamin chuckled nervously.

The water was halfway up their shins. It was freezing cold and they were both starting to shiver.

“That’s not what I meant,” Sophie scoffed. “Just, you know, get a kiss, a smooch in before the end.”

“Oh, well I could be convinced to do that,” Benjamin said as his teeth began to chatter.

The water was up to their knees as another leak erupted from below and began to shower them in more freezing water.

“Not ideal conditions,” Benjamin said as he leaned over, trying to find her face with his hands while she did the same.

They found one another and managed what had to be the worst kiss either of them had ever experienced.

“Well that’s one for the record books,” Sophie joked.

“Yeah, I–