Alone on the sea

Desperate and alone I cling to my makeshift raft with all of the strength my weakened body can muster. The sun, once my friend is now a fierce and foreboding enemy. Glaring relentlessly overhead, heaven's great orb of fire which is often looked upon to bring life, is now quickly causing mine to evaporate, rapidly dissipating into its searing rays of death. Alone on the sea, this massive body of water that surrounds me, engulfs me. It tosses about my raft as if laughing at my situation, waiting patiently for me to become its next meal. Minutes seem like hours and hours feel like days as I have no food or water to sustain life. Not a cloud hovers above to perhaps bring a shower so that I may partake of its sweet and refreshing moisture and not a single fish have I seen which might satisfy my raging appetite.

 

My mind becoming delusional now, finds objects that seem so real but do not exist. On the horizon, a large vessel which once appeared to be sailing towards me is nothing more than a distant wave teasing my thoughts, my hopes and my dreams of somehow surviving this ordeal. I do not know how much more of this I can take as I feel I am slipping away, losing myself in the vast dark abyss. I float in and out of consciousness, finally coming to the realization that the end is very near.

 

It is now that an angel appears to me, her silhouette moving nearer. She floats so gracefully above me, golden hair blowing in the breeze. This must be it, the end has come. "Oh speak to me angel. Tell me what is to become of me," I cry.

 

Then her voice calls out my name, "Will."

 

It is clear as anything this lonely castaway of desperation could understand. The sound brings my mind back to reality, as suddenly the severity of my predicament is once again revealed. My time is up, no matter how much I plead, this is it, the end.

 

"Time to get out of the pool now; lunch is ready."

 

"Aw mom, do I have too?"

Author's Note

Just a change of pace

Reviews

[New Yorkshire]

The twist at the end was completely unexpected. II usually struggle with enjoying present tense; they are so often not well crafted that they just come off as clunky and immature as a writing style, but with this I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am glad that I was able to suppress my usual prejudice as it gave me joy to be snapped back to reality with Will.

Thanks for sharing such a fun piece. :)

[willweb]

Thanks, I am glad you liked this. I was just having a little summer fun with it.

[Dave Brown]

A great little adventure with relief by reality even supplying a decent meal

[willweb]

Thanks so much Dave. Come on in, the waters fine.

[Dave Brown]

Splish splash

[Fabian G. Franklin]

What? No pirating on those high seas? (smile) I would have at least had my paper towel roll telescope (slightly wet from the pool) scoping out for land ho and barkentines off my starboard bow. Arrgh. Of course if the Tom Hanks Cast Away thing is working for you, that's cool. lol

[willweb]

Thanks so much Fabian. I appreciate your time today. Yep, we could play with almost anything when we were kids.

[Lorry]

And you better clear your plate laddie, or there'll be no Robinson Crusoe read at night night dreamy sleeps young man! 😊
Ah, the imagination of youth! I don't remember it so well anymore!
Where one minute you could be tarzan, swinging from the vines, which grow from the ground by the way, but Hollywood doesn't need pesky facts getting in the way of a plot line that resembles a colander, and the next you could be that French git called Jacques, who can't even spell his own name correctly (it must have been all that having his face submerged in the sea, which didn't half make his voice go funny) or Captain Jack Sparrow, who could spell his own name correctly and didn't speak all Frenchese either, with tales of adventure and derring do....(i can't remember the last time I did derring do)...
But although your high seas adventures were ruined by mom's interruptions, at least you got a nice lunch and didn't have to go all yo sushi on yourself! 😊
Now, I must dash. Its 3:40 am and I have to go put up mu pop up tent and gather supplies from Oreo and chupa chups, and check my batteries, just in case the yeti man returns for another fight to the death (???) And this time it is personal! 😊

[willweb]

You must be thinking of Hollywood and Vine?
Thanks my friend. I seem to be blacklisted around here, glad you didn't sign the petition too. As for the Yeti man...he's a wimp, I know, you can take him.

[Lorry]

I know. I have to use another device to update or post, as capt ha is having a midlife crisis and depending on whether you use chrome or Edge is causing problems fir many.
Poor Emmajoy is locked out both accounts that have been shut by the mythical and oxynoronic "administrators" who by the looks of it last shifted their arse into gear pre covid.
Shocking in this day and age the best site for writing and poetry was MYSPACE, in the long long ago and the so very far away.
I'd call them **** ******** ******, but I'd get locked out too! And we all know how much of a disaster that would be 😊

[willweb]

You can certainly call them anything you like if you use asterisk and I will back you up on that because they really need to *** *** **** *** ** *****!!!!!

[Lorry]

Totally agree and well said 😊

[willweb]

I can't post from my computer, I have to create a new poem on my phone, save it blank, just a title and category then copy the poem from my computer, come in through my phone, edit the poem and paste my poem on the page. What century did you say this was?

[Lorry]

The upside down, in the long long ago, in the far away 😊