Flash Fiction

Afloat

She skims the water. The ocean ripples and roars beneath her. It’s ever-changing and unpredictable. The waters are bleak. Below the surface, there is a vast expanse of darkness. She stays on the raft and doesn’t dare swim.

Doing her daily morning stretches, she reaches for the sky above. The girl longs to be free of her fear. She imagines she is soaring high, indifferent to the unhappiness and monotony of her existence below, and seeking solace among the clouds.

She remembers nothing from her past. For as long as she can remember, she laid on the sturdy, yet barren, wooden raft, floating aimlessly day after day. A golden bracelet, origin unknown, gleams on her wrist. Someone in a helicopter drops prepackaged meals to her twice a day. She is vaguely aware of an evil that will drag her under the water at any opportunity. This evil force is nameless but manifests above ground.

The girl knows very little about what lurks under the waters. Occasionally, she hears distant screams and malevolent whispers snaking up from the ever-moving, endless blackness. To be underwater is perilous and undesirable. That much is absolute. The waters are to be avoided. She doesn’t so much as touch the water.

Following a cold, rainy, and tumultuous night, the girl wakes, sore and indignant. Her long hair is still damp. For the thousandth time, she slides the bangle off and examines it. All of her life’s uncertainties threaten to overwhelm her. She has nothing more to lose. Before she can change her mind, the girl shimmies off the raft and submerges in the water. She clings to the raft. All of her, excepting her head, is underwater. She welcomes any sort of escape, even that of death. She waits in dread.

Nothing happens. The girl shudders. As the minutes tick by, the icy water warms and feels almost hospitable. She isn’t swallowed up by a monster. No unspeakable horror overcomes her. The waves lap at her. She summons the last of her courage and releases her grip on the raft. An instinct learned long ago kicks in. She wades a little, away from her raft.

Soon after, she clambers back onto her raft. Equipped with choices, the girl will not be aimlessly buffeted by the waves for a second longer. She can swim any which way or devise some means of steering her boat. The strange, dark waters hadn’t pulled her down or drove her mad. Quite the opposite. Having dabbled in the unknown, she is cleansed of her irrational fears and willing to take more risks. Her destiny cannot be defined by a life of uncertainty, lies, and lack of control.