A special birthday

Night was falling in Italy. Although it was dark, the full moon shone especially brightly this night. It illuminated the otherwise dark corners of the beach and the city where he was. But still, it was a humid and dry night, even though he was by the sea. He wondered how it could always be so unbearably hot and humid in the summer months. His rather long hair did not really help him to distract himself from the heat and that it was rather dark. He believed he had heard that darker colors get hotter faster in the sun because they absorb the light instead of reflecting it. But just complaining about the heat didn't bring him here. It was the sea. The dark, wet, cool sea full of secrets and things to be discovered and feared. Although it should be easily visible through the moon, he recognized nothing in the sea. It was only a dark, large spot, at which one would rather think of ink, than of water. Aided by the full moon, the tide strongly washed its water masses onto the nearby beach tomorrow the beach should probably be empty… He stared out the window at the moving water, which pretended to be ink, and thought. 

"Why shouldn't I go for a little swim. It should be cold, but it'll hold up. After all, it's 40 °C hot… And in the middle of the night…" he thought to himself. But something inside him held him back from following through with this idea. He was aware of his fear. On the one hand, there could be dogs on the way and on the other hand, there was this… deep Black Sea. He told himself that there were no sea monsters this close to land, but he didn't really know if his mind could be trusted in this regard. He persuaded himself to go to sleep and forget the idea. But even a few minutes after he tucked himself in, later, which felt like hours to him, he decided to get dressed and go to the sea. He checked out at the front desk of the hotel and went outside. Strange… Suddenly it had been a bit colder than earlier…

 "Must be the night, nothing to worry about…" he thought to himself. Not even five minutes had passed, and he reached the beach. He mentally prepared himself to face his fear and conquer it for good. He took off his shirt and exposed his quite muscular and well-built body. Even though he was attractive and generally seen as extremely attractive, he was not aware of this himself and kept denying any statements and thoughts that put this into words. He took a deep breath in and out and repeated this five times. He looked at his smartphone and saw that it was now 11:58 pm. Only two minutes left until his birthday. He was entering his 23rd year of life in just two minutes. And before he reached this, he was going to fight with one of his fears and win. With the fear of darkness, of the dark. What was better suited than the seas at night? It should not happen so late and especially so close to the shore… He stepped into the water. It was warmer than he thought. It was even nice and warm, like a sunny afternoon in spring. Another step and another. And another step, and the next step. He was now 4 meters from the mainland, and he was up to his chest in water, but it wasn't getting any colder. This was enough. He submerged and closed his eyes before. Everything was dark, as if he wanted to sleep, but he forced himself to open his eyes. It was still black, and his eyes burned slightly from the salt water. He panicked, no protective light to see by, no air to breathe and no cold to make him aware of his situation. He swam upward, further and further upward, but no surface, no starry sky and no moon in sight. Everything was black. Sounds he didn't know, the urge to breathe. Heck, even the urge to see a dog came up in him. He wanted to be sure he was alive, but he wasn't going to get that confirmation anytime soon. It was just black. An empty, but also full, nothingness in which he swam. I felt sick from lack of oxygen, and he wanted to breathe. He looked up and saw the stars and the moon. He surfaced and gasped for air. Relieved, he turned around, expecting to see the mainland, but there was nothing. Thinking that he was probably looking in the wrong direction, he turned again, but still no land to be seen. 

"What the…?" he thought to himself.  But before he could think further, he felt something grab him by the leg and pull him back down into the depths. The starry sky became more and more bland, and finally it was completely dark. Again, no air and no light. He felt sick again, but before he lost consciousness he saw big round eyes in front of his face, which were moving and shining. More and more similar things, like the one that dragged him down, wrapped around his body like tentacles. Finally, the eyes came closer and disappeared as they had come. At the same time, he lost consciousness and fell asleep. A deep and quiet sleep.

When he awoke, he found himself in the dark. He was swimming in something warm and thick. He did not feel his body, but he did not care. He was no longer afraid. The darkness could no longer do anything to him. It felt… good. He couldn't wait to tell his mother and brother about it… But when should he tell them? He just didn't want to leave the place he was in. It was so nice and quiet, warm and just comfortable.