Fair Winds

One eye slowly opened…

The first thoughts through my head were what and where.

The details of where were unknown…..but I was floating...in fairly calm waters….on what could only be described as the battered remains of what was once a magnificent sea vessel.

As I laid there, staring into the blue sky, my mind struggled to recall anything about what had happened. Borderline panic quickly set in as I searched for something. Anything. Out of nowhere, the vision of the other boat speeding toward us flooded my memory. That recollection seemed to appear just as quickly as the boat itself. Suddenly the question hit me….where could it have gone? Where is everyone else? How could everything have just disappeared? Where am I?

I sat up, looked around and scanned for anything. It was like I was expecting to see something that would somehow explain the chaos I was feeling. Something that would at least give me a clue. But there was nothing.

A quick flash of light struck my eye. What was that? My sun-baked eyes struggled to focus on the object that had captured my attention. A quick rub of my eyes and a few quick blinks brought the boat into focus. Nice looking, but nothing grand...just a small single-sail craft. The sail was blue with a white eagle near the peak. I swear I had seen it before. Definitely looked familiar, but exhaustion and most likely dehydration were making my memory too fuzzy to recall any details. Living by the shore had me seeing hundreds of boats a day. Must’ve just come across it somewhere before.

As quickly as the ship appeared in that flash of light...it was gone. My heart sank in my chest. Seemingly my only hope of rescue was gone. Nothing to do now but lay back down and wait for salvation...in whatever form it should choose to take.

“Hello there!”

My eyes shot open...burning in the afternoon sun.

“Hey!”

I turned my head to see where it was coming from. Is this for real? I had heard of mirages and imaginary objects appearing to people under extreme duress. Once I began to focus, I could make out the eagle…..surrounded by a sea of blue. Oddly enough, that's probably similar to what I looked like drifting aimlessly through the ocean waters. As the boat came closer, and the people on board came into view, I realized that this was no false vision. This was real! A splitting headache and a shooting pain in my left calf assured me that my life was very much still with me. I looked down to see a pretty gnarly gash from just above my ankle to almost my knee. No explanation for it at this point...not sure it means anything anyway.

The boat came close, and its inhabitants reached over and helped me up. Once both feet were upon the solid deck, the last remaining piece of my prize boat sank out of sight. Bittersweet really. Glad I was still alive. But no recollection of what had fully happened...or where any of the others were. Maybe eventually it will come back. Not sure I want it to. Kinda scared of the possibilities at this point.

I didn't speak a word over the next hour as we traveled toward…..wherever. To say I was confused would be a major understatement. What am I going to do when we get there? I don’t know where I am or anything about what happened. I’m sure questions will be asked. Lives will want to be accounted for. And all I can do is shake my head. This should be interesting.