"This Earth is a land of marvels and mysteries, a land where chaos pursues order and splendid sunny days end in bold starry nights, a land where time is simply the ticking of a clock and space is as far as your arms can stretch!" ~ Spider
Wander out...
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August lay asleep on the bed, entangled in blankets and a chaotic web of rope and owls. The bed bobbed up and down ever so slightly in the dark icy water as the silvery moonlight danced along the ripples. A spectacular demonstration of green, blue, pink, and purple lights slithered around the pale moon and departed far beyond the horizon. August's arms matched the hues of the aurora, turning green, blue, pink, purple, and then green once more. The night was the starless sky's share of the world and it was made apparent that it had no intent of wasting the last few hours preceding twilight; the somber sky had puked out an impeccable array of life out of the mere darkness and warm still air. August opened his eyes, blinking once, twice. He sat there, resting on his elbow, disoriented and woozy. August stretched his arms out and yawned, filling his lungs with the warm breeze. The harsh reality of the merciless land seeped in through his green eyes and penetrated his soul, making his heart go numb. Amelia and his aunt were now no more than dried up tears on his cheeks, he just sat there, unsure what to feel, thinking "Where the hell am I?".
Billowing white clouds were clumped around in the sunlit sky. The turquoise water stretched for as far as he could see in every single direction. Small shiny peaks simultaneously arose and drowned under low rolling waves. A bizarre noise he had never previously heard haunted the water, the wind and the sky, a noise similar to the backbiting paradox of a large classroom filled with kids holding their fingers over their lips all trying to shush each other but ultimately failing and producing a horrid buzz louder than whatever had sparked the never-ending cycle of shushing.
August leaned over at the side of the bed and pushed his hand down into the cool water, watching his wiggling fingers over the uncharted darkness below; he pulled his hand out and let a single drop of water plop onto his tongue, as salty as tears, just like she had said. August stood up and walked to the bottom of the bed, a mass of owls with widely spread wings floated in a cloud of clear blood, little striped fish were nibbling on the drowned owls.
August got Amelia's bag and unzipped it; socks, a skirt, underwear, lemon drops. August took out the small bag of lemon drops and chewed on a handful as he stared up at the clouds. August couldn't think of home, the series of unfortunate events all occurred too rapidly and he was still living in the past, unable to catch up. The inevitable question, which anyone who's been stranded on a bed in the middle of the ocean has had to ask themselves drifted into August's mind, uninvited."Die slowly or die quickly?"There were still quite a number of emotions he's never felt, days he's never lived, tears he's not cried yet, jokes he's never laughed at. No not yet, he wasn't ready. August rolled up his pants, took off his shoes and socks, and dangled his feet down into the water, wondering if he's just flown out of one death-trap and into another. He looked down at his toes, beyond his toes the ocean extended down forever yet at the same time nothing existed, he could be floating a few meters over a smooth seabed with starfish slowly making their way around the seashells, however he could also be floating hundreds of meters over a rocky ridge where deep sea monsters waltzed and snacked in the darkness and rose up, possibly less than a meter under his tiny toes, to take a glimpse of the sky. With the thought of deep-sea monsters, August pulled his feet out of the water and sat down on his knees, staring into the water. He sat there staring for a few dozen minutes at least, sometimes he'd think he saw a pair of blank eyes, flapping flippers, a long tail swinging from side to side, a gaping mouth rising to the surface, but then he'd look closer and the incarnations of his fear would slowly dissolve into the darkness. August was bored, yes he was in the middle of the ocean, far away from what was his home, Amelia and his aunt had both failed to survive the land, but in the end, he was on his bed with nothing more than clothes for two.
