Waves

Surrounded by onyx waves, the island that for years has been my home and prison. There’s a myriad of doors, all leading to the same place differently.

To a room with walls studded in paintings of stormy oceans.

To another submerged, eggshell corals growing on window sills.

My favourite opens up on the beach. Burgundy grains of sand, engraved with every step I have ever taken. I am the only one who comes here. Or so I thought.

Every day I have ever lived through has been spent here. I have no other choice. I’ve tried leaving. I swim until I’m surrounded by water and all I can smell is salt. But I always wake up on the shore, with no recollection of turning back.

Yesterday I tried again, I think. I woke up this morning, sand and seaweed clinging to my skin, for a second I thought I was bleeding.

I wasn’t alone though. There was someone on the beach with me, making a raft.

‘It won’t work.’ I warned them.

They ignored me at first, but then ended up replying.

‘Might as well try.’

‘Suit yourself.’ I said.

I watched them finish making the raft, to then push it into the ocean. The water didn’t fight back like it always did with me. It let them go, softly pushing them away from the shore. They disappeared within minutes.

I waited on the beach for what I was so sure was their unavoidable return, but it never came. Their footprints had disappeared the moment they had stepped into the water.

It was then that I knew the island had been designed for me and me alone. Others could come and go, while I waited for eternity to come to an end.