Sleep~
There was a strange sensation, an eerie calm, no one seemed to know why but you could tell by the faces, it was their eyes that gave it away. Something had changed, the air was different, little did I know my life was about to change.
The waters had been receding for many years, slowly day by day, hour by hour. This area use to be so lush, full of life, sandy beaches with grass that would not wane. As a kid I can remember running through it, It painfully whipped against my legs leaving red marks where my skin screamed with irritation but none of that mattered anymore. Where there use to be fish and slugs, now lays dried up seaweed that turns to dust in the wind, rocks cracked and crumbled. You could see the desperation of roots reaching for the water only to be quenched by the sun and left to find another way or die. We had decided to explore the waters that day, it was a good 4 mile hike just to get there. There had been a storm the night before, one like we hadn’t had in years. It was a shock, it had been 25 years since the last big storm… it developed quickly the night I was born devastating the town but people still remembered what to do. After tucking in their live stock safe and sound in their old rickety barns that had seen the passing of time, families gathered together by the light of the fire telling stories old and new, children laughing, songs being sung, as if the storm raging outside had ceased.
After it had passed, I looked through the telescope, as was always the case after a storm but this time I was particularly giddy with excitement. The water was like glass not a ripple to be found, the birds in a daring dance between air and sea, quarreled with each other in confusion not trusting their instinct to land. A thick fog was rolling in so we grabbed our gear and got going. Wading into the waters now up to my waist, the sky a thick gloom cast with orange, pinks and a blue silver like you’ve never seen. On the other side the fog cleared and that was our aim until something appeared out of the fog, something that had been lost for decades, I didn’t see it until I almost ran into it, a ship!. A beautiful ship even the sails where still attached, though a little tattered from being in the water all this time. That should have been the first red flag, how could cloth last that long….decades with out looking like mere string. It was still in fairly good condition in fact it was hard to tell why this ship even became shipwrecked in the first place, it sits there in all its glory on the sand bar, the water reflecting its every imperfection ……Alamar!? Alamar!? Where are you?
You have to see what I found! I turn the corner and there he is already aboard the ship, hanging off the mast as if it were as sturdy as a redwood, in reality though the mast was splintered, rotten, there were deep crevices where you could see little crabs angry that they had been exposed. “Get down from there, you don’t know how safe it is,” where did it come from? I didn’t know there were shipwrecks up this far.” “I don’t know, but it’s a glorious ship in deed! Let’s take a look shall we? Alamar tumbled down the mast, slipping and sliding on wet seaweed as it covered the main deck. Id never seen anything like it before. Since the storms started Alamar and I took up a new hobby of investigating the shipwrecks that appeared as the water left more and more. It was an interesting and intriguing hobby, I’ve always been fascinated with the stories of old, you never saw ships like these anymore, the smell of adventure and desperation still clung to them, each one having a story to tell. But this one was different, like its story wasn’t finished, stepping aboard a gust of wind out of nowhere almost blew me off my feet, sending birds squawking in the distance. Alamar: “ay we better hurry looks like another storms about to blow” “just a few more minuets then we can go I promise” I was so glad I brought my camera that day, snapping pictures of every nook an cranny, the ship had a certain feel about it, like it knew me. Id never felt more home than I did while aboard……. Its name…..Alamar did you find its name? Alamar: “ay I’ve searched high an low, it’s like this ship was meant to remain a mystery and you know how I feel about ships and mysteries.” Again… that eerie feeling crept its way back in as if we were being watched and then a breeze began to blow and a gust began to wale, the sails flapped, metal clanging above us and the fog was lifted to reveal the last glimpse of the sunset disappearing below the horizon brilliant beams of light, red, purple, orange, green ,pink, and the darkest blue like the depths of the ocean. The storm clouds rolling in made it seem like there was a whole other world straight in front of us and all we had to do was sail letting the wind guide us to another adventure.
For a moment all was forgotten as the sun captivated my attention I followed the silver lining up to the black velvet night, stars gleaming as if singing a song. And then Alamar: ‘ay we better hurry this storm is coming in quicker than I expected” Thunder booming in the distance sudden flashes of light, “Wait, wait!” “Now! we have to go” “but I need to know its name! let me circle the ship once, just one picture,” “now! we have to go now!” we jump in the water surprisingly frigid, sending painful spikes through my body. There was a current that wasn’t there before, too strong to swim through we clung to the ship by a tattered rope, fear pulsating through me like an electrical current, we should have left sooner. The wind picked up and a whirl pool surrounded us, not knowing if we will survive I don’t focus don’t pause just shoot, grab my camera from around my neck and start snapping. Alamar: “would you put that blasted thing away!, hold on with both hands!” But this could be my big break! “foolish girl!” And then it happened…. We weren’t in the water anymore but picked up in the air like mere chaff it was too forceful for us to hold on any longer and then.. there we were, in a cyclone, flailing 30, 40 feet above the water it was surprisingly a small little thing. In hopes that it didn’t carry us very far or take to land we did our best to hold on to each other. After what seemed a life time and many prayers it began to falter like an old beat up engine that finally ends it life with a sputter, a clunk and clang one finial grunt and it dies. We began to fall 30,20,10 feet, the water approaching more quickly than we can say goodbye and the cyclone gives one finial grunt just enough to slow our fall and we land in the water like some grand finally of a circus show. Once again the water is still so much so that our movement comes as an annoyance, an agitation to even the tiniest snail that clings for its life on the sea grass. We breathe a sigh of relief look at each other than “Bwaaaahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!” Did you see that! I can’t believe! Just wait till they hear about this back home! “Thank our lucky stars” we turn, wondering what sort of damage was done to the ship, only to find her standing ever more majestically as if she were new. The sails no longer torn and tattered, the mast solid and strong, the wood glowed as if she were just built and was freshly stained. One last longing glance and a little un-easy I look at Alamar to find his expression displaying exactly how I feel “Perhaps we ought to keep this to ourselves…..there be no explaining this one. Let’s come back in the morning when we have more light. Perhaps we will find ourselves a name to explain this Mystery ship.
~Awake
Quotidian Reverie 