From Raging Seas to a Tropical Bliss:

As I dragged myself out of the sea stabbing the wet sand with my blade. I managed to crawl away from the feeble waves that tried to grab my tired legs, and was finally able to rest on the dry delicate sand under the blazing sun. I laid down at the border of land for which the sea could no longer touch with its surging waves. Although the ground was soft and hot, it was still no less a firm cushion for me to finally gather my strength after being chewed by the ravenous waves.

As I took a deep breath of the fresh tropical air, I coughed out the last of what salty water remained within, I sat up and crossed my legs. I took a moment to recover and unwind, allowing my senses and my mind to take notes around me. The waves of the sea landed gently on the soft sands of the beach that I’ve crashed on. I saw white cotton clouds float by on the blue clear canvas of the sky. It was these little details that flew by when one travels and battles on the high seas.

The winds felt soft as they carried the clouds high above, in the same way as a mother walked with her newborn in her arms. The palm trees and their shadows danced as they rocked back and forth, however their roots remained deep within the sand standing tall and proud. The sun was strong as it soared high in the sky. I was decently dried from the rays of heat and light of the sun, from my curly black hair, my captain’s outfit to my leather brown boots. The smell and taste of salt occupied the air with tyrannical rule, however this salty fragrance was what we, Devils of the Seven Seas, tend to get used to.

The caws of seagulls echoed high above from where I was, some perched on rocks while others swooped up and down in the clear tropical skies. Everything looked so picturesque, as if out of those paintings where the artist painfully tried to capture every single wave, ray of sunshine and flutter of shadows. Then a big, bright red crab, simply popped into this romantic paradise and crawled on the pale hot sand. It stopped at front of my dagger, still lodged in the sand when I stabbed it firmly into the beach. This crustacean simply crawled around it, continuing on its journey to wherever it wanted to go.

I looked at this dagger, which poked out from the sand, how I relied on it along with its lost partner back at that treacherous ship. It looked alone, waiting for the strong grasp of a man and exposed flesh to meet its blade. The recent memories of the loud clangs of steel on steel, the croaks and creaks of the wood beneath us, the suffocating smoke of gunfire and the dance between men fighting for dear life. The ship was marked with the crimson blood of fallen sailors and comrades, furiously splattered across the deck. The taste of copper and salt seemed to mix well, breathing the salty air along with the odour of blood that reeked our clothes and blades. In those memorable moments of raging fire and steel, I smiled and roared in the onslaught ready to claim the spoils of the battle.

Yet that feeling was only short-lived as I had my second blade, the partner to my dagger, was knocked out of my hand and then kicked overboard and seeing the gleeful smile of my own first mate. I plummeted down into the sea and its ferocious currents took me away, far from my own precious vessel. I was shocked and enraged that the treacherous bastard have stolen the glory for himself. For I managed by some miracle, to survive long enough by these manic currents, after being chewed up and spat out by the sea, I was to land here able to breathe fresh air.

After a while of reminiscing on those chaotic memories, I finally stood up on the sinking yet firm wet sand. Fed up of sitting idly remembering, I stripped bare from my captain’s outfit, and walked carefully into the embrace of the ocean. For any normal sane man, to stride back into the sea having almost drowned, it should be the last place I wanted to be in. Yet as a man living of the high seas and grand adventures, it is where I needed to be to think clearly.

The stories of the tumultuous seas that I’ve heard about long ago, sounded so fantastical. The great expanse and the wondrous blue, almost supernatural and deified as a god. Yet, it wasn’t a god or a grand complex mechanism of this world, rather a simple element of nature. The only thing, that matched these mystic stories, was no more than the very colours of this great body of water. The ocean was coloured with the various shades of blue from its tropical turquoise to its ominous dark navy. The ocean was freezing to my naked skin as I slowly entered inside it, yet it appeared with such bright radiance and shine that it seemed as a warm pleasure than a harsh and bitter cold.

I held my breath and dove down, as I submerged my naked body into its watery embrace. As I resurfaced back up, the wind blew and rushed at my face as it brought a powerful chill and tingle within the very vertebrae of my spine. I smoothed back my hair, thus exposing the full frame of my face to the treatment of the elements. I then gently laid back and floated up, for my body to adjust and get use to the temperate mood of the sea.

My body was limp, floating on the tranquil waves of this tropical beach watching the clear blue sky. I listened to the whoosh of the waters, felt the wind nip at my face, and the blazing sun bring warmth to my cheeks. The memories of sailing through rocky seas, battling through the raging fires with steel in hand as blood drips on the deck. These violent memories, were cooled and washed away, by these calm soothing waters. I laid there, still as can be, floating with every wave that smoothly passed by. As I finally fell to rest on the blissful and serene peace of the tropics.

#tropics #flashfiction #shortstory #inspiration