Cozy Beach Adventures

-3-

Ow, my head hurts. My whole head is throbbing. I hear a voice somewhere in the distance. I try to open my eyes, but the light is painful. Is it my turn to man the helm? I don't even know if I'm on the ship.

"Mrmph..." I mumble. "Just...gimme five more minutes..." I need to rest a little while longer. Oh, the pain. It hurts so bad. I don't even know how this happened.

...

My mouth tastes like saltwater. I hear the voice again, but I can't make out who it is. I do know that I didn't order salt in my water. Or did I even order anything? I can't remember.

"Waiter, someone put salt in this water..." I mumble. I think someone is tapping me on the shoulder. Is it the waiter? What happened to me? I want to open my eyes to see, but it hurts too much. I let myself fade into darkness again.

...

I'm lying on something soft. I begin to realize that I'm cold and a little wet. I have a terrible headache. I don't know where I am, but for some reason, this seems familiar. I try to remember how I got here, but nothing comes to mind. The throbbing pain in my head isn't helping me at all.

I hear the voice again, and this time I am able to make it out. It sounds like someone I know.

"Gulliver, can you hear me?" the voice asks. I try to respond, but nothing comes out. I groan and cough up a bit of sand. Why is there sand in my mouth?

I start to open my eyes. Through the painful light, I am able to see someone standing over me. I can't figure out who they are.

"Hello there, Gulliver. Please get up." the voice says. I can tell that they're impatient. Whoever it is must have been waiting for me to come around.

I don't want to get up, though. My head is pounding and my vision is blurry. I still can't remember how I even got here.

I realize that I'm lying on the sand, with cool water lapping at my feet. I'm on the beach somewhere. I try my best to look at whoever is standing next to me. It's a human, with short brown hair, a brown coat, and gray pants. I blink a few times and their face begins to come into focus. It looks so familiar...

I slowly bring myself to my feet, my headache making it difficult. I turn to face the person.

"Hello, stranger," I manage to say. "Do I know you?"

"Gulliver, it's me." the person replies. "I'm Mia, your good friend. I hope you remember me."

"Yes, I do!" It's all coming back to me now. "I'm sorry, I'm really out of it."

"Oh, it's fine." Mia says. "I'm used to seeing you like this. How are you feeling?"

"Well, my head hurts like crazy, and my mouth tastes like sand. Other than that, I'm all right." I put a wing to the back of my head, where I can feel a small bump. I wince in pain when I touch it.

"What happened to you this time?" she asks.

"That's a good question." I reply. "I know I probably fell off my ship, but I can't remember much else."

"Oh, you poor thing. Do you want me to stay with you for a while?"

"Yes, that would be great." I definitely don't want to be alone right now. "I just need to contact my crew first."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." she replies.

"All right, I'll just text them with my handy-dandy communicator." I reach into my pocket to grab it, but I find that it isn't there. "Wait a second, where is it?"