Lost

Art by: Vishnu PS

4 nights. It has been 4 nights since the incident. I lay awake on my boat, exhausted, staring up into the dark. My patience to forebear seems to have withered away with my constant will to stay alive.

I chuckled as I hummed the tunes of 'Lonely day', which seemed to be the recurring theme every night.

Was it better to be lonely in the middle of the ocean or was it better to have someone with you?

The stars seemed to shift piecemeal, tip-toeing along the clear night sky, following my boat. It's shimmers danced upon my iris, arousing feelings of mixed emotions.

As I began to nod off, I hear the silent echoes of the night. A cry. 'Was it my cry for help?' I thought to myself as hallucinations began pushing me to the brink of insanity.

The sweet echoes, now obscure, reprised in my fuzzy mind. The shivers of the winter breeze made it all the more challenging to keep myself focused on doing one thing: survive.

The cries grew louder, emerging from within the ocean of blue; both happy and sad, in search of something.

Like the calls of a vagabond, it kept searching, looking, wandering alone.

I closed my eyes and tried counting to fifty. My fingers twitched with each count, as it tapped the wooden floor.

The boat quivered as more cries pierced into the dark. I glimpsed through the corner of my eye to see the stars shift faster.

Consuming some of the energy that I had reserved, I grabbed onto the edge of the starboard, pulling myself up into a seated position.

The fuzziness in my eyes caught a movement in the deep. I rubbed my eyes and bent over; I caught my breath, as I stood on the boat like a speck of dust. The giants hummed as it loomed underneath me. The majestic beings waded through the blue, like masters of the ocean.

Their cries broke through as they called out to each other; cherishing the company.

They swept through the blue and played with each other, like two friends meeting after a thousand years of searching for one another.

I eased back onto the floor and closed my eyes. Although there was an essence of fear lingering inside, a slight smile appeared on my face knowing that I wasn't going to be alone tonight.

I realised that fate shows you irony, or sometimes mercy, in the strangest of ways while you are put through austere trials.
Maybe this was a message, asking me to hold onto my patience; maybe there was hope.

I closed my eyes, listening to the call of the whales and the slight whistle of the ocean breeze.

I felt at peace.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Often, when faced with a trial, people feel stranded; they feel lost among an endless ocean of problems. And in such situations, the very problem may shine a light in the strangest of ways. Holding onto hope, we must learn to cope with the situation and keep striving to find a solution without giving up.