In Between

Life is like a boat.

A sinking boat at that, littered with piles of shit that just keep getting added to.

We're all in it. Damned to this little peice of wood that just keeps sinking under the weight of everything, until the tip of the bow is completely submerged beneath those roiling waves of black water. Then it pulls us down with it, and until we take our last breath, we pray to the man above the clouds who is supposed to save us, to forgive us and to pluck us off this hatred ridden planet and take us somewhere else. Somewhere better.

So when we turn to our families and hold them close, awaiting the mysterious end. Which gets us thinking, "Is there really another side? What's it like?" and just as soon as we open our mouths to question, the answer arrives before a sound can be uttered.

Finally we take our last breath, and quiet our chaotic minds as the air escapes our lungs, and with it, any hopes of living. There is no land amid this dark churning water, this we are sure of.

Our minds slowly begin to shut down, our memories being released from their cages and fluttering away like a flock of birds. Our lungs no longer wail for the air we know we cannot get, and simply give up. Our hearts resign from their duty gracefully, giving a short, vivid pulse, and then fade.

The silence is welcoming, and for one last fleeting second, we take pleasure in it. To know peace, to finally, at last, know peace is what living is truly about, for in that moment we died, we also lived. Because life is like a boat, and when it sails away, we do too.

Now we are on a different boat, one not so different from the previous one.

Except there are no burdens to weigh it down, no anchors to tie us to the blackened water we left behind long ago.

This boat is free, and so are we.

Now we are sailing away, leaving behind a life left on pause, and continuing onto a new one. But leaving doesn't always mean never going back, despite our departing events, just as living doesn't always mean life. Some people are just dead inside, just broken and undeniably cruel. So hold on to the railings, let the wind race through your hair, and enjoy the In Between, because we only have so long.