The next weekend came, and Nate was nervous, yet excited, to see what Kai had in store for him. Kini drove them down to the docks, and they went to Kai’s boat. Only it wasn’t Kai’s boat sitting there. Instead, there was a boat fitted with a shark cage. Nate stopped dead in his tracks as he stared at the cage.
His first instinct was ‘Hell no!’
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t feel ready.” Kini squeezed his hand in hers.
What was Kai thinking?
Nate swallowed the fear rising in his chest, as he thought about visiting the two older men. One had moved on, the other was bitter and still living as a victim. He was tired of being the victim. He saw a future with Kini, but not if he remained imprisoned by the PTSD. He took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”
He strode confidently to the boat. Kai popped out of the cabin. “Hello, cuz. This is Paolo Rodriguez. He’s been doing this for years, and he’s the safest there is.”
“Fuck you, cousin.” Nathan’s jaw was stern even though he was laughing. He saw the logic in it, but it did nothing to alleviate the instant fear that rose inside of him.
Paolo stepped out of the cabin to shake his hand.
“Any sane person should be afraid to get in that cage. Now, mind you, it’s the safest there is, but the idea of being submerged with sharks all around should rightfully put the fear of God in anyone. The thing is, we must learn the difference between fear and respect for the creature.”
Nate shook his hand as he listened to the spiel. It made sense, and yet, it terrified him.
“What happens if I panic?”
Paolo showed him the equipment, showed him the hand-held button box that he would use to signal if he needed to come up. “Kai’s got the boat for the full day, so if you need to come up several times, we’re good.”
“OK, let’s do this!” Nate blurted out before he changed his mind.
Paolo stopped the boat at the best spot according to his monitors. Kai donned a wetsuit along with Nate.
“You don’t think I’d have you do something I wasn’t willing to do, did you, cuz?”
Nate shook his head. He figured it would be him alone in that cage.
“I’ll go down first, and then Kini can go down with you if you want.” Kai checked his gauges.
“Leave me out of this!” Kini’s eyes went wide. “I’m not getting in that thing.” She ducked inside the cabin beside Paolo. Just in case they thought to convince her otherwise.
When the men were ready, Paolo opened the cage, showing them how to use the button, testing their communicators, and then directing the pair into the cage. Slowly, they were lowered into the water. Five meters, then ten. At fifteen meters, Kai grabbed his arm pointing to three sharks swimming off to their right. Surprisingly, Nate didn’t panic.
When they swam closer and one bumped into the cage, Nate moved back startled. But, when one came forward, biting the steel cage he pushed the button, yelling, “Now, we need to come up!”
After a short time, he had calmed down sufficiently enough to try it again. This time he resolved himself that this was the best way to tackle the fear head-on.
Once they were at fifteen meters, he commented on the beauty and how serene it was being in the deep blue. Reef tip sharks swam by. A great white lumbered along, turning back to check them out, but showed no interest. Then, some smaller quick darting Mako sharks swam around the cage. Nate was concerned that some of the smaller ones could fit inside the larger opening that was about chest high when one poked his snout inside the cage. This time Kai pushed the button.
“Time to go. Seems we’re drawing a crowd and these smaller ones are fast.”
He had done it. He had faced his fears. Nate had learned a lot from the therapist, how to calm himself down, what to do when he had nightmares or waking dreams. He knew the coping techniques to use when things got stressful. He felt that he was truly on the road to recovery!