The Will of The Sea

I am the Sea. I give and I take. I cleanse and I wash away.

Darkness. All I see is darkness. I can feel my last breath escaping my lungs. What a futile struggle I'm in. I am a sinner at its worst. I'm not even happy with the path I had taken. It is time to repent for my sins. . .

"Wake up," A gentle voice caressed my ears. "Wake up."
I can hear the music of the sea in the background, soft waves touching my feet, the sand beneath me emits a comforting warmth against my bare skin and penetrating through the layer of cotton under me. Despite the fact that my last memory is getting trampled underwater, I am dry, not a trace of dampness on my clothes nor my hair. Briny air flooded my air-thirsty lungs as I took my first conscious breath.

The sun is peeking the time I regain consciousness. The sky is painted with a magnificent scarlet as the blood-shot orb rises across the horizon. I squinted for a clearer look on the man sitting just inches to my left. His all-white apparel was so stark that he seems to glow on the reflection of the newborn light of the day.

"Walk with me," he stretched his legs, stood up and offered a hand.

I took his offer and he pulled me off the ground. He helped me stand effortlessly in conflict with his frail-looking body. He had this benevolent aura that I cannot put a finger on it.

Silence is filling the humid morning air and the awkwardness I feel grows with it.

"Am I in heaven?" I blurted out breaking the long silence.
He just gave me a wry smile for an answer that creeped me out. Goose bumps shrouded tip of my spine that went up to the back of my neck. The anxiety built up even more with his sarcastic smile.

"You are not yet dead, my son," he started talking with his deep yet gentle voice, looking forward.

"Where am I then?" I asked in confusion.

"The seashore, where else?" He chuckled, trying to blend some humor on it though my head's still floating and not yet ready to take in jokes.

"So I am not yet dead, but-"

"Yes, son, it is not yet your time," He cut me off.

"But-"

"Son," he intervened again before I could speak another word, "You are so much alive," he pinched me on the side of my neck and I felt a sharp tinge of pain making me recoil sideways.

"Ow!" I cringed, "I believe you, but why? Why do I have to live in regret?"

"Because, son-"

"And why are you calling me son, anyway? Are you my father who abandoned me when I was just a baby? Or maybe a priest or a preacher?" I asked just for curiosity's sake.

He just stared back at me with a wide grin plastered on his bright face and I find it annoying. I was amazed that no matter how much I felt annoyed ever since we started conversing, my temper seems not to heighten around him. Rather than feeling irritated, his beaming smiles radiate like a beacon warming up my soul, cooling my mood.

"Okay, okay, you can continue," I said with a little pang of regret for asking such a stupid question.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," he continued, his solacing voice resonated, with the sound of the mellow waves in the setting, "But only for those who really deserve that second shot. Those who, deep in their hearts, regret all the things they've done wrong, those who have a strong will that they're going to change for the better, those who seek redemption, those whose hearts are tainted but desired to be cleaned. And you, my son, have it in you. I can see it resonate within you, you came to me not to give me your life but for me to give you a life. You came to me to be cleansed."

I took a pause on our walk and asked full of sarcasm, "So you are saying, I just came here to take a bath?"

He didn't seem to catch the humor in it and answered stoically, "In a way, yes, not your earthly body but your soul. You asked me, through your heart, to be purified and I did the favor."

I am still trying to get the picture of everything he said when he disrupted my thoughts and said, "Look," he is now facing the endless body of water, "You deserve a second chance to view the world in a different perspective, there is more to what your experiences tell. Go! Live life in goodness! Live. . ."

His last word was enunciated in a fading fashion. I took a glance on my shoulder and he was gone. His presence was directed into the water in front of me. As the waves reached my feet, I can feel him, the sensation from the waves is the same sensation I felt when we had direct physical contact.

For a man who was absorbed in greed, lost in pride and drowned with lust, it is unbelievable that I am here staring at the vast ocean as it kisses my toes, basked in the first golden light of day after I try to end my life and agony.
The dawn of a new hope stares back at me. Today onwards I am no longer the filthy being I used to be for I am cleansed and bestowed a second chance to live in generosity, humility and love.

I am the Sea. I give and I take. I cleanse and I wash away. I am the Sea and this is my will.