| Love In Undertow | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 21 2008, 01:13 PM (192 Views) | |
| D. Black | Jun 21 2008, 01:13 PM Post #1 |
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I'm not breathing, I must be in heaven
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His first memory was waking up. Judging by the sounds of water crashing and gulls complaining, he concluded that he was on the beach. After what may have been a few seconds or several years passed by, his eyes opened. A quick burst of salt water and sand rushed in, blinding him for a second. Lying there in the tide, he turned over on his back and let his eyes dance through the cosmos. It was the early morning, and the man was cold lying in the wet sand. He slowly managed to get to his feet, feeling the water dripping off from him like tears. Slowly and steadily, he made his way from the tide to a rock further inland. He sat on it, shivering in the cold ocean wind. It wasn’t a very good place to rest, but it was better than having the cold water wash against him. He sat there freezing, serenaded only by the slow beating of his heart and the waves still crashing on the shore. Eventually, the sun tiptoed out from under the Earth and teetered on the horizon. This startled the man as the light crept up to his body. In a flash, he was warm and dry. Strengthened by this new energy, he rose from his pedestal and began to walk. He kept walking along the coast, following the clouds that had materialized above him. He wasn’t sure where he was going or why he was walking. It was just a feeling in his heart that whatever he was looking for would be found somewhere along the shore. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for either. He only felt something inside of him that pushed him forward. He eventually reached a rock peninsula jutting out from the beach. At the end of it was a lone lighthouse. Beacon in emptiness. Stopping to decide if he should continue or take this detour, he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. His head snapped around, but it was gone. Shaking the fear from his mind, he started towards the lighthouse. The sun was high in the heavens now, and it beat down on his back. The trek along the rocky peninsula was difficult, his bare feet slipping on the jagged stones. He trudged on, tired and chipped. Eventually, the rocks grew bigger and his hands and feet became cut and bloody as he clambered his way toward the lighthouse. The bleeding that all men do. He was cracked, the porcelain shell of his skin dripping from wear. He finally reached the lighthouse and entered, not knowing what was inside. An ornate spiral staircase corkscrewed upward as he ascended it. About halfway up, he thought that he could hear singing and music. He convinced himself he was hallucinating, but still kept the thought of it in his mind. He thought about this as he reached the top. He could see everything through the windows, mirrors of the past. He saw all the way to the shore beyond the infinite path of rocks. He could see the rock where had sat freezing. His birthplace, where he sat frigid in the first moments of his life. It had seemed so long since then, yet it had only been a few hours since he woke up in the tide. The flash came again. It was out beyond the rocks. His eyes caught it this time, but he could still not quite make out what it was. It was moving, almost dancing, with a slow-quick, quick-slow motion. Suddenly, the beacon ignited and the light streaked across the field of rocks, zigzagging and lighting the way out. The man descended the spiral stairs and began the journey back across broken glass. The path was easier this time, following the maze of light back. Whether the path itself was easier or that he had acquired new strength, he didn’t know, but the man sensed it was a mixture of both. He covered the ground much quicker, discovering the wounds from the first trip had healed. He finally exited the field, greeted by his old friend the beach. He noticed that the beacon was still shining. His eyes darted to where it rested. A girl was dancing in the breeze, moving perfect syncopation with the waves. He could not hear what song she danced to, but he knew it must’ve been as beautiful as she was. Smooth skin, brown hair flowing like ribbons, her white dress made of the shards of the clouds. In an instant, the whole world froze as she first took recognition of him. For a minute, they stood staring at one another, not knowing what to do next. The girl reacted first. A smile. A million emotions and words captured into a single expression. It in some way reminded the man of something he had never lived, he had never felt. Love. She gestured the way back to where the man had come in the morning and began to walk. He followed. Hand in hand, they slowly walked together, stealing glances and quietly laughing. They spoke no words, for there was nothing that could be put into words between them. There were times where the silence drowned out the noise of the ocean. The only thing piercing an ear was two heartbeats thumping simultaneously. In this quick moment of near silence, the man heard music. A thing so strange yet so familiar. He had stopped walking to comprehend the noise gently breaking his eardrums. She seemed to have heard the music too. He realized that this was the song she had been dancing to. Not knowing what to do next, he put his arms around her waist and they began to slowly dance. The held together for what seemed years and then kissed. Words, sounds, feelings, dreams, hopes were all in this one moment. After a while they broke apart. He looked into the face of his love and saw crystal tears trickling from her eyes. That same radiant smile that first greeted him was shining on her face. She turned away from him. The sun was low in the sky, preparing to take its plunge into the horizon. He watched her silhouette walking slowly towards the horizon. He wanted to cry out, tell her to come back to him, but there was something telling him this was how it had to be. Her steps brought her closer and closer to the water. By now, she was waist deep in the ocean. She turned around and looked back at him. Then she looked out at the vast expanse before her, and went under. The man wiped a salty tear running down his cheek and turned around. The rock. He was here, where he breathed his first breaths. It seemed fitting that it should be where he breathed his last. He lay down in the tide. The cold no longer chilled him. He had been through enough. “I’ll be with you soon,” he thought. “I’ll meet you just below the horizon.” The sun had sunk under the earth, and now the world was in darkness. The waves carried the man out to sea, his final resting place just below the ocean’s infinite horizon. THE END |
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| +Linden | Jun 21 2008, 11:10 PM Post #2 |
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awesomesauce
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I think she's a mermaid and he suffers from short-term memory loss. Every night he lays down into the ocean and she brings him back - when he wakes up, he remembers nothing. Then she comes back to the beach and they find each other again. Okay. I'm happy with my theory now. :P I thought it was very good and it flowed very nicely too. |
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| ** Death's servant | Jun 22 2008, 03:57 PM Post #3 |
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Reflection
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powerfull words.. |
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