A Bird's Wing

I woke up in cold sweat, with a headache, and in the wrong side of the wrong bed.

Prologue

I began walking toward the beach on a cloudy Wednesday night. It wasn't busy here in town, so I walked on my own as most people slept. You could see a few stands here and there, but they were closed by now. The chilly weather made it all a better scene and it was nature’s way of saying hello to winter, every year.

I stood staring at the ocean view as the sun set, and the clouds moved with the wind. I wished I had taken a camera with me, but I never did have one in hand when I most needed it.

When the sun was completely gone, disappeared from the horizon, I got closer to the freezing water. The waves came closer to shore, as they did every night.

Everything was in place as usual, except there was a feeling at the end of my stomach that, that night would be different from what I was used to.

Somehow, I remembered to take a blanket with me, which would really come in handy later on. I sat down on it after I set it just perfectly on the light brown sand. I felt as the ocean embraced my toes, anyone else wouldn't have sat down so close to it, but I was different.

It relaxed me to be alone, to feel as if I was one with nature. I suppose you could say I wasn’t very smart, as I got sick a lot because of my silly ideas.

 

After a few minutes, my feet felt numb, and the water rose a bit more. Now, it could cover all the way up to my legs.

I stood up, and then went for my blanket. Just a minute earlier had I left it in another place, just so it wouldn’t get wet.

Half way through the beach, I looked back one more time, as if saying good-bye to the place for the time being.

In the distance, the moon reflected the sun’s light. It felt brighter than other times at midnight. I shivered, I knew I had to leave.

Something was holding me back from taking off. As my eyes searched around, I spotted a dark figure squirming.

Since I saw it in the ocean, I thought (at first) nearly nothing of it, waving it off as an animal. However, just before turning around, I saw ‘’it’’ trying to stay out of the water, and then slowly fading.

I don’t know how I knew back then that it was a human drowning, and not just an aquatic creature. But, we’re both lucky that I noticed.

I ran in the direction of where I thought I had seen the person, throwing the towel to the side as it were a monster. Yeah, I was nervous. I threw myself (sadly, without thinking twice) into the ice-cold water.

 

I felt nothing.

Author's Note

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