The Continuous Man

The fallen log was covered with notches. Four hundred and eighty-nine as of this morning. Serving as a record of time past, the log had grown soggy and burdened from desecration. Above the notches, another carving read: Jett Coleman survived here for (the four hundred and eighty-nine notches, with room for more) days.

Beneath the relentless searing sun, a heavily bearded man holstered an old bone-handled buck knife and wistfully regarded the markings. The frantic crashing of waves on the shoreline brought Jett out of his reverie. Jett scanned the horizon, rain clouds looming. Something far off caught his eye. The outline of something that could only be a sea vessel of some kind. Dread flooded over Jett like a dam bursting.

A seagull squawked.

What started as a light jog, turned into a sprint, as Jett made his way inland towards his encampment. Jett slid to a stop underneath his rudimentary man-made shelter and started rummaging through a cardboard box. After moving aside a tattered old Playboy with crispy edges and a case of half-eaten Oreos, Jett stopped rummaging. Jett removed a pair of binoculars and hurried off back towards the shoreline.

Jett scanned the horizon with the binoculars and found the vessel. After some adjusting, he could finally make out a few blurry details. It appeared to be a medium-sized boat. No sails. There was something or someone moving near the port side bow. Jett calculated that the ship would arrive tomorrow, possibly early afternoon.

“Damn it. How did they find me?” Jett muttered to himself as he lowered the binoculars from his eyes.

Time on the desolate island crept by like a dying snail, leaving Jett to pace frantically back and forth as he pondered his predicament. Whereas time here dillydallied, back at his previous home over four hundred days in the past, time had been accelerated. “An unexplainable nightmare” was how Jett had once described it.

It had felt like any other morning. Jett slowly succumbed to consciousness and made his way downstairs. His wife and son stood at the bottom of the stairs, but he barely recognized them. They had aged about twenty years in one night. Jett ran to the bathroom. In the mirror, he remained as had been the previous night.

Jett frantically checked the date on his phone and confirmed that only one day had passed. The world around him spun like a dryer. The dizziness had overcome Jett and he had to take a seat at the dinner table. He had looked upon his family in bewilderment.

“What’s happening, Daddy?” Jett’s son Darren had gone to bed an eight-year-old boy and awoken as a twenty-eight-year-old man. Darren’s voice was now deep and raspy, puberty had come and gone overnight. Darren shook his head and started to cry. Jett hugged his son and tried to comfort him, but his mind was furious with anxiety.

Jett’s wife, Samantha, was standing at the sink absently looking out a window. Her once jet blonde hair was now streaked with grey. Samantha turned her hands slowly as she stared at them in a daze. “How about I make some pancakes?” Samantha began to slowly gather supplies from the cabinets as Jett continued to hug his son. The next morning when his wife woke up in her eighties and his son in his late forties, Jett had decided to leave before his family woke up as skeletons.

Jett shook off the memories. “I’m cursed!” Jett screamed out into the vast sea. Sinking to the sand, Jett pounded the sand with his fists. “Alone.” Barely a whisper into the infinite grains of sand. The waves reached his knees. To reassure or to mock? Jett grabbed a handful of sand and squeezed. Blood mixed with rock and mineral particles as the sun started to sink out of sight. Jett sulked back to camp and started a fire. As some leftover fish from yesterday heated on the fire, Jett wrapped himself in a blanket. The stars were out in full force as the rain clouds started to swallow them up.

Languidly, the cold pain of midnight seeped into bones. Marrow became hardened, as dreams howled at the waning moon. Jett stirred beneath his shelter haunted by lost time. When Jett awoke, he screamed. He screamed until his voice broke. Then he closed his eyes. Jett was too scared to die but also too tired to live. The rain clouds had consumed the sky and rain began to pelt the sand.

Jett broke through the tree line and made his way down to the water. The boat was hovering about two hours away. Jett didn’t need the binoculars, he knew what was coming. He waded into the sea and disappeared beneath the waves. The cold water stung Jett’s head. He held his breath and sank deeper, letting the crisp water envelop his body. Jett emerged from the depths of the ocean feeling refreshed. The rain stung Jett’s face as he made his way back to his camp.

The shivering was excessive as Jett pulled a satellite phone from his bag. Making his way through thick foliage, deeper into the island, Jett could not feel his hands as they pushed the bushes aside. Breaking through to a small clearing, Jett finally stopped shivering. A small boar stepped out into the clearing. The boar seemed to size Jett up. Then as if unimpressed, the boar turned to reenter the woods but stopped suddenly and fell to the ground. Jett approached the boar and nudged it. It remained motionless. Dead. Aged far beyond liveliness in a matter of seconds. Jett lowered his head and whispered an apology to the fallen creature.

In the middle of the clearing was a hole. Jett had come here many times to commune with the island. The hole was seemingly endless. Jett had dropped several coconuts down the hole. Disappearing into the darkness, Jett had waited for the coconut to hit the ground, but the sound of impact would never come.

With his feet dangling into the hole, Jett turned on the satellite phone. The phone beeped and whirled. The battery indicator had two bars left. Plenty of power to make one last call. Jett dialed. The phone was silent for several seconds and then there was ringing. Jett pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the hole as the phone continued to ring. Finally, there was a click.

“Dad? Are you ok?” The connection wasn’t great. Darren’s voice was filled with static.

“I’m ok, but they found me. They’ll be here within the hour.” Jett kicked off one of his shoes and it disappeared into the abyss of the hole.

“Why don’t you just come home? It will be ok.”

“You know it won’t. They’ll poke me and bleed me until they find a way to weaponize whatever is cursed inside me. I’ve already done enough damage. I’m sorry for what I did to you and your mother.”

“It’s wasn’t your fault. I know you never meant to hurt us. I love you.”

“I love you too. So much. It’s not fair that so much has been taken from us without reason.” Jett kicked off his other shoe and a tear dropped from his face and followed the shoe down the hole.

“Please just come home.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” Jett pulled out his buck knife and buried the blade into the grass nearby. “Have you been to see your mother?”

“Yes sir, every day. She just stares out the window, not responding to anything. They have her on an IV. The doctors say she’s already gone, but her body just doesn’t realize it yet.”

“You’re a good boy. Thank you for taking care of her.” The phone beeped. One bar left.

“What are you going to do?”

Jett pulled off his pants and let them fall into the hole. “I’m gonna see what’s at the bottom of the hole. Maybe I’ll make it to the other side. I’m proud of you kid, you are strong. Kiss your mother goodbye for me. I love you.”

“I love you...see you soon.” Darren managed through the sobs.

“See ya on the other side.” Jett dropped the phone into the hole, then he followed it down into the endless dark.