Washed Away

I remember dodging behind a tree. Avoiding the arrows whizzing past my head by an inch. The wind wildly blowing my hair into my face. The stampede of the horses hooves behind me. The overwhelming feeling of the chase. They thought they were chasing me. Was it the other way around?

The hounds barking at me, trying to sniff me out. The roar of the waterfall up ahead. Could I jump? More importantly, would I jump? The moonlight flickering between the tree branches and leaves as I ran towards the cliff's edge. Louder barking. Men laughing. Horses neighing. My quiet panting breaths. The silent crunching of the dry leaves beneath my feet.

The water was beautiful at night. The moonshine reflecting off of the crashing water beneath. What lay in the turmoil? Vicious sea monsters? Or just sand and rocks?

No time to dwell. Hearing the men shout out ‘there she is!’.

One.

Two.

Three.

The rush of the wind as I dropped.

The plunging feeling in my stomach as I fell. Possibly to my own demise.

The numbness I felt as I had struck the water. The scratching it made as the hard surface broke my fall. I had rested on the surface of the water for a moment, and then it shattered. I fell through, the numbness but a distant memory.

I remember forgetting about the men with weapons above. I couldn’t hear them anymore... I hadn’t wanted to hear them anymore. I knew I had to get out of the water;, the growing frosty cold of the moving water hit me.

Yet I wasn’t able to move. I drifted out to sea. No longer caring if the men found me or not. I just floated, bobbing up and down. My body slowly grew colder... colder… colder. Slower... slower. I had become tired all of a sudden, the stamina from the adventure had worn off long ago.

No longer worrying about what lay beneath the unrest ocean.

My eyes closed, the moon disappearing, only a far away memory, out of reach. My breathing slowed.

And then I was washed away in the ocean, letting the darkness drag me away with it.

~ Marie A.