Black Sea

Chapter 4

I'm depressed, depressed and alone and without hope. No one is coming for me and I have but one day of supplies left. I had thought the day of the sinking that was doomsday but I was wrong; doomsday is yet to come.

Dream Palmer had been right; I was the cause of the divorce, the cause of her affair. I had indeed given a huge part of my life to people who could have cared less and indeed I got very little in return. I gave everything to others, I gave my all to that girl and left her high and dry when she became pregnant.

I wasn't a good person, am not a good person I guess I should say but I don't deserve to die like this; do I? God I may not have always been a praying man; never been actually but if you're out there right now listening to this I really could use some help to get out of this mess.

I drifted along laying on my back watching clouds pass overhead occasionally eying the last of my water and wondering how long I could hold out and how long it would take before I went mad with thirst and attempted to slake my it with sea water.

What would it be like; what will it be like I should say as it will be; soon. Soon the sky dimmed and the clouds became pale and then reddened and then the stars appeared and it was dark once again and I am alone.

I might as well be the only human being left alive, hell I might be, for all I know there may have been some cataclysmic event and all human life was wiped from existence except for little ole me but then even I, the last surviving remnant of humanity must ultimately meet my demise; and then the last light in this corner of the universe will go dark.

At this juncture I see no point in closing the top of the raft; what does it matter now if some hungry denizen of the depths clambers aboard and swallows me up, it would probably be preferable to what lies ahead.

Out of the corner of my eye I notice an unexpected brightening in the night sky which quickly becomes more intense. I hear what sounds like several jet engines approaching fast out of the west; they would have to be low to be so loud.

And then a huge flaming ball appears and the night is obliterated by its light, it flies over head at enormous speed leaving a huge trail of smoke behind. I can feel the heat on my face and I am temporarily blinded.

Then I am rocked by the loudest explosion I have ever heard, the air itself seems to explode around me. I fall into the bottom of the boat and cover my head with my hands as a series of smaller explosions mark the passing of the fireball.

I reemerge form my hiding and watch as the ball of flame disappears into the ocean some distance away and I hear another explosion as it hits the water. All of this is followed after several minutes by massive waves which at first raise my craft to great heights only to drop me to what seems like to the bottom of the ocean and then back to the top of the wave once again.

This lasts for some minutes before gradually easing. I now know it must have been a meteor and it crashed into the sea some distance from my location. It must have landed somewhere beyond the horizon as it disappeared from sight before crashing

I sat there staring at the heavens musing about the event I had just witnessed when I noticed an illumination on the roof of the raft. As I watched it grew brighter and brighter. I looked into the sea and saw a brilliant white light rising up from the ocean beneath me.

It was deep below the rippling waves but was rising quickly. I was becoming slightly concerned when the light moved away from under the raft and began to circle around me. It would loop around my raft for a time and then move away from me and just sit out there and then return and move away.

It continued this for some time before I realized there must be some sort of intelligence connected with the light strange as that may sound and I believe it wishes for me to follow it.

I rowed towards the light and whenever I was close it would move a distance away once again. This continued until daybreak when the light abruptly disappeared into the depths. I languished through another intensely hot and humid day just waiting for the coolness of night and wondering about that strange light and if it would reappear.

I wondered just what it was and if it had anything to do with the meteor and why did it seem to have some sort of intelligence. Maybe I was dealing with some sort of alien life form and that wasn't a meteor after all but a spaceship.

An alien craft, that's rich, I have never believed in such a thing but in the situation I am in nothing would surprise me. If some sort of alien craft were going to land on earth this would be the place out here in the vastness of the ocean.

I have not bathed in what seemed like ages and I must smell something terrible. My entire body feels raw and it is becoming harder and harder for me to move without excruciating pain. There is no way for me to clean myself as the saltwater further irritates my skin.

I need to be rescued and quickly because I fear I may not be able to continue much longer and I have now pinned my hopes on this light or alien creature whatever it may be. If it kills me it kills me but I am hoping my prayer is being answered as they say god works in mysterious ways.

The day passes slowly and my water container has had exactly the same amount of water since this morning, when I take a drink the level does not go down. This whole thing is very perplexing and odd but I'm not going to question it now.

I began to laugh about my predicament and I wondered why; why would any of this be funny? I laughed hysterically out loud without trying to control myself after all who would hear; no one that is who.

I laughed until I had no more strength, this is the beginnings of madness I told myself, and you are going utterly mad. My water that never ran out, the strange light in the ocean that exhibits intelligence, the meteor all have to be part of my madness; am I mad even now and just don't realize it?

If I am mad why do I not just jump into the ocean and try to swim to shore in some fit of utter futility? Whatever, none of my musings make any difference right now because if I am mad; wait would I be asking myself if I was mad if I were indeed mad?

Sometime after the sun passed below the horizon my guiding light returned and we resumed or dance from the night before. What does this thing want; better yet what is this thing? It comes from deep below the raft as I can see it as it starts out dim when it is far below until it is brilliant closer to the surface.

I cannot see any form and it does not disturb the water as it moves about. As it passes under the raft I put my hand out into the water but there is nothing to be felt as if it I just a light not emitted by anything, but just a free floating light.

It sounds crazy but this thing is leading me somewhere, it wants me to follow it my only hope is that this thing is not leading me off to kill me but why not just kill me here? I start paddling and as the night before as I near it the lights moves ahead and waits for me to catch up.

This goes on for several hours until just before sunrise it once again descends into the depths and I am left to wonder. I lay back in the raft and wonder what the hell is happening here? This is nuts, I have been out here for over a month now and now all of this is happening, insanity!