While the sun hits my skin, I bask in it. This is the most warmth I’ve felt in a while. I stand comfortably as I look down into calm, clear, blue water. Usually, I’d get seasick pretty quickly, but today just isn’t the same. I’m not dreading being here. Instead, it’s leaving me in awe. It’s so beautiful. How could I be so blind before? 

I’m standing on an old boat with my grandfather, looking down at the coral and swimming fish. He always takes me fishing and even though I hate fishing, I always come along for him. I want my grandfather to be happy and smiling for the last few years he has. After he goes, I’ll be alone. I’ve already accepted the thoughts and feelings of being lonely and alone because after all, everything is only temporary.

It’s been a couple hours and we caught a lot of fish, but the sky isn’t as blue or as warm as it was. Now everything’s gotten darker. I can no longer see my reflection in the water. The waves keep getting bigger and more rough. My granddad told me not to worry about it and that the roughness will soon go away. But, that was thirty minutes ago. I hear thunder now as I feel my clothes getting quickly drenched with rain water. Before I knew it, I was suffocating, gasping for air but choking on the little bit that I got. I can’t see or hear anything but the water. It sounds louder- more deafening- than when we first got here. I feel my grandfather’s arms wrap around me as I realize. It wasn’t rain water drenching me, it was a massive tidal wave that had hit our old boat. And I wasn’t suffocating, I was drowning. In a matter of seconds, I was thrown overboard into the ocean, being knocked around by the currents going in different directions. My grandfather held onto me as he tried to get us both up to the surface, but after a few minutes, it’s too late. The anchor had already been dropping into the water. It’s lowering itself directly on my stomach and it’s falling so fast that I can’t get out from under it.

I’m not scared of being alone, I’m scared of my grandfather being lonely. All I can think right now is how all of this could happen so fast. One second we were enjoying the beautiful view of the clear, blue ocean water surrounding us. Now, I’m dying. I suddenly feel a hard surface on my back and at the same time, I feel all the weight of the anchor collapse onto my entire torso and part of my legs. I am hearing cracks and feeling unimaginable, inexplicable pain. I’ve fallen into the hands of darkness.