Sinking Sand {Wattys2019}:Editing

Another Story

"Dad?" I asked shocked.

But how is he here? Is this a dream too? This can't be real.

"Is it really you?"

"Yes, dear it is," he said with crystal eyes.

"Can I get a hug?" I asked almost in tears.

He hurriedly got to my sad and hugged me so tight that I could hear his heartbeat. I also hugged him tightly because I felt like the moment was unreal and that he might just disappear.

Minutes passed with us still hugging never wanting to let go but eventually doing so because it suddenly was difficult to breathe.

He then sat on a sofa beside my bed and held my hand firmly.

Still in shock, I took a long look at him still thinking that about how unreal this whole thing was, that what I thought happened was false but the one who I remembered in my story is right in front of me and he is real!

I finally stopped trying to make things make sense and just went through with this present moment and admired all the features of the man who sat beside me claiming and even looking like the man I called father years ago.

He got some grey streaks in his hair, some wrinkles on his forehead and some weight loss from the last time I've seen him.

Weight loss?!?

That part had me scared, " Dad what happened to you? How did you get so small? Did you starve while you were missing?"

I started feeling so guilty for taking this long to finally getting this close and rescuing him but I guess I wasn't a rescuer in time.

"It's fine Hun," he said reassuringly.

Although I was still a bit worried, I tried to make conversation with him since he missed out on so much in my life.

The million dollar question was, where was he the whole time?

"I came looking for you, didn't find you and even researchers before I went searched and couldn't find you either so care to explain?"

"But you did find me and I rescued you from being slaughtered in the tunnel, remember?" He said

Wait...So if he is real and he's asking about the tunnel then that means that I wasn't dreaming. Maybe now the doctor will believe that I was telling the truth.

"But I was told it was just a fragment of my imagination or just a dream. I'll just have to tell the doctor that you remember the same thing as me and finally they'll believe me."

"NO!"

"What? Why?" I asked confused.

"The tunnel is a very sacred place and shouldn't be discovered by anyone not even I should've been there," he said

"But I don't understand, what is it for?" I asked confused

"It was made by persons who discovered the island before the organization sent their first men, being me and my group," he said with the tone of telling a story.

*~~~*~~~*

"I was getting ready for my first mission at the organization. I was so excited because at last, I was about to do something other than paperwork. You were 11 at the time and you were sleeping before the time I left but I did whisper in your ears goodbye, wished you a great day at school and gave you a kiss on the cheek, but didn't for a moment think that it would be the last for a very long time." Jeffrey started.

Finally the story I've been waiting for to know what truly happened to my dad.

Arriving at the organization two of my friends Greg, yes the present President of the organization and George which you will learn about later in the story and I went inside to wait on the other researchers since they were six of us assigned for the job.

Getting into the Jeep after a long wait, we finally drove to the seaport to board one of the organization's boats. Our captain of the boat was one of the team members namely Sean who I didn't really know that well.

It took us two days to get there since we had no way of finding it accurately, but we arrived safely although it was a rough journey.

Getting off from the boat, we set up our tents and a camping fire since it was close to getting dark. We took our dinner, Ramen noodles and I instantly thought of you, your mother and your pet cat.

My mood then changed from being happy to gloomy in seconds. You'll mean the world to me and even if your mom thought it was okay to go I still thought I did you both wrong every time I thought you two and one day hopefully coming back home.

While lying down on the sand watching the starry sky, I was calmer now and even when I thought about you'll I stayed happy. Knowing one day I'll reunite with the family again although I could never imagine how it would've taken.

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The first day went by quickly and with the sun slowly rising, I got up checked my surroundings, realizing that I was in the same position from last night.

The place was quiet and the only tents up were mine and my two other friends. Guessing that the others started the mission early, I woke up my friends to get started as well and also to eventually catch up with the rest of the team but that clearly never happened.

It took us some time to pack up our personal items and set up our recorders to be ready to record everything that happened along the way. 

We then walked into the jungle to start our research while using the recorder to have all important or interesting information for later research. 

Since it was an older version of what we have now, the device would shut off and not come back on and by that time we were only left with one which belonged to George.

The day went by so quickly and got dark as soon as the sun went down but we kept going to see if we would get a nice flat spot nearby to rest for the night. 

When it was getting a little too difficult for us to see, we stopped and pitched our tents exactly where we were.

We then searched nearby for twigs or sticks to start a fire for light, for warmth and to also cook some dinner. 

But that night was when everything changed.