The Seeds of Wrath

3

[AETEIA]

The first thing that I recognized when I woke up was the urge- no, the need– to breathe. I pulled myself from the water, lunging towards the sand ahead of me. Gasping for air, I forced myself to struggle through the sand until my entire body was out of the water. Dropping to the ground, I nearly got a face full of sand. I felt as if I'd just tried to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and had fallen off halfway up. My entire body ached violently, my breathing reflecting with shallow breaths. Coughing, I regurgitated any and all water that I'd inhaled earlier.

Only now did I realize that it was no longer nighttime. The warmth of the sun on my skin felt heavenly. I flopped on my back, soaking up the sun's rays gratefully. Never before had I been so grateful to be alive. The sand almost felt soft beneath my skin, reminding me that I had lost my shirt in the altercation somehow.

How long was I out? I finally came back to my senses, my mind beginning to race with questions. I sat up, shaking my head of any sand in my hair. The sun was surprisingly low in the sky, on the west side of the city; it was about to set over the water. The sky was as beautiful as a painting above me, boasting orange and pink hues. I must've been out all day long. How was that even possible, though?

Maybe that thing you saw in the water saved you.

I frowned at the thought, but the reminder of the form I'd seen beneath the surface made my heart leap in my chest. Now I didn't want to be anywhere near the ocean; what if that thing came back? I scrambled to my feet, stumbling dumbly for a few steps as I half-ran in the sand, which shifted chaotically beneath my feet.

As I stepped onto the asphalt of the road, I looked at the palms of my hands. I was met with even more questions than answers. My hands were smooth as ever, seemingly not affected by the water-exposure. If I had been in the water all day, as would be evident from the positioning of the sun, shouldn't my hands look like dried prunes at this point? I rubbed my head, which had begun to ache dully.

Maybe I just needed some time to recuperate. I had just gone through a traumatic experience. Dad used to tell us stories about people that went into shock after a traumatic event in their lives; apparently sometimes they would go into such deep shock that nothing made any sense to them. Being assaulted and the victim of an attempted murder would probably do that. I stumbled a few more steps, falling against a building on the opposite side of the road.

I had apparently lost my land legs in the process, though. Ugh.

Now that I was safely far enough away from the ocean, I leaned against the wall of the building I'd just fallen against to help me stand. My body felt as if it were the cinder block at the bottom of the ocean; water-logged and heavy as all Hell.

Examining my surroundings, I recognized exactly where I was nearly immediately. This had been where dad had come and saved my ass from Whit and the Posse. Now that I recognized my surroundings, I hoped that I would be able to find my way home from here. Turning around, my eyes fell upon the alley just behind me; it was the dead end that I'd been trapped in. Looking down it, I checked to see if my broken phone was still there but, as I'd expected, the phone was no longer there. A chill ran down my back as I looked down the dark alley, though.

Yeah, it's officially time to go home. You've had enough of the ocean for a lifetime and a half.

As I wandered the streets of my city, I realized that the world seemed...empty around me. I hadn't seen a single man, woman or child in the entirety of the walk so far. Confusion edged into my mind like a fog over a plain. Had something happened that would shut down the entire city? It felt unnatural, creepy even; it was as if I was walking through a ghost town or an abandoned city. I quickened my pace, hoping to end the unease I felt.