Second In-Class Writing

When the stairwell stretches the text becomes stretched out and shifted around the page. This forces the reader to slow down and emphasize each word as they go, sometimes each letter. This scene really ends with Navidson by himself as the bottom of the stairs. His text is at the bottom of the page in a clump while, on the next page, Reston's text is at the top of the page.

Johnny comments on the part where the rope snaps with a story about his trip to Tex's that he'd forgotten. Tex tells a story about sinking ships and then Johnny loses himself to the image. At first things are fine, but soon the ship is aflame and the crew lets water into the boat to put out the fire. But they let too much water in and the boat starts to sink. It kills the crew. But one man locked himself in an air pocket, a room within the ship. As the ship falls to the bottom of the ocean the darkness, cold, and pressure close in on the solitary man. There is nothing to see so he drops the flashlight, letting it break, and waits to die.

Both of the stories are about a seperation of impossible magnitude. Somebody is left all alone in the dark at the bottom. What makes these two stories matter is that Johnny , the old him, is the person who was left behind in the dark. He could not remember Ashley because he was eighteen when he met her at Tex's and by the time she found him again he was already gone. Did he leave the old him behind or was it out of his hands, or an unfortunate accident like in the stories? The person he is now is locking himself within the air pocket of his mind and slowly drifting downward as the darkness, cold, and pressure close in on him.