LI LIES

1: Ocean of Laze

There was laughter. I can hear it vividly as a couple of images move in blur in front of me. A faint sound of an alarm clock slowly merges from my ears until I can hear the laughter no more. The alarm grew louder till it feels real and I open my eyes. The first thing I can see is the blue sky and the chunks of clouds. The numb temperature of no sentiment. I look beside me and realize that I'm on a boat.
Why am I on a boat? Where am I?
Questions filled my head as I try to sit while balancing my body cautiously, suddenly my eyes caught a sight on something under my toes. A small, black rectangular thing that shines and has the sun's reflection on it. I look around, but to no avail see the endless horizon. I'm in the middle of the sea, it seems. But why?

"Happy birthday." The sound suddenly came from the device that I dropped it at my foot.
"Who are you?" I asked, but the thing remained silent.
"Where am I?"
"......."
"Who am I?"
"You are loved." it spoke. "So that's why I'm thrown? What am I doing here?"
"Laze Sinnerman, 16."
"Laze...Sinnerman? Is that my name?"
I picked up the thing again and examined it. There seems a note stuck
Behind it that says: "cardboard"
What does it mean? Is there any compartment here that I should look for in this small boat? Could it be...
I lifted a small plank of wood underneath me which to my surprise can even be moved and saw a black bag with a black letter on top of it. The letter is sealed with a red melted whatever and a crest of what looks like two opposite triangles overlapping. A hexagram..
"....Solomon's seal." to my surprise, I held my mouth shut as I recall the words I just uttered. What the hell did I just..?
How do I even know about that?! Still pondering from the thought, my hands open the envelop and a white paper appeared. A beautiful handwriting crafted by a printer mutters words of unknown to me. "Find the will of Solomon. Then I'll tell you everything."
After reading so, a blue light emerged from the interface of the rectangular thing and the voice that once confused me, once again surprise my brain.
"Escape in ten minutes. Countdown starting. 9 minutes and 58 seconds remaining."
"WHAT THE HELL?!" You want me to escape from this endless sea?! How am I going to do that? There is absolutely nothing here! I don't think I know/knew how to.
What am I?..
"Nine minutes and thirty five seconds remaining."
Oh, right.
I grab the bag in case there's something useful there. What appeared before me is a folding..
its a computer or more like...a specialized underwater communicator. This is one of the latest series of blacksea mini traveler's compass which allows communication with less hassle and even lesser weight, minus the wires and antennas. It was said that it can send SOS signal in any aerial, and water transportation capable of receiving so. And I dont know where the hell this knowledge came from but my hands might remember what my brain has forgotten. However, its no time to reminisce crap, I got time to lose. Whatever this countdown is for its something I dont wanna know. So, hands..what do we got?
Wasn't it colder earlier? I opened the device and found numerous selection on the screen. There's a small compass icon too at the bottom of it after the time display of 11:34. This is the first time I've encountered....I can't actually say that for sure. But...DAMN IT!! I seriously do not know what to do. One look on the phone screen reminded me how limited my time is to learn about this thing. "Seven minutes and twelve seconds." I clicked on the settings and manual overview. "SOS emmiting signal?" Found it! Wait...
This stuff is so long! Well I don't think I can read in superhuman speed in a matter of seconds. This isn't helping at all! I found my way to the screen menu and gamble a minute to explore the buttons, which I never dreamt of existing to be overwhelming as this. My brain battled over air and water searcher and selected Air Transportation Locator in the end. There's no way that there will be no plane passing this vastness of sky I'm seeing. There's no way that no one out of billions of people wouldn't want to engage themselves in various culture and nature. There's no such thing as contentment. "Send SOS?" Yes or No?
........
......
Oh. "Yes...please."
.
Shouldn't there be a sound? Is it broken?!
Nah, just kidding myself. This sure is boring.
After some time, I'll be out and then..my time that stopped here, every second of enthusiasm to struggle for my life

might be the only memory that I will value and look back before the moment I can escape no more. What comfort awaits me after, might also only be seconds to waste and years to count away my youth.
"Three minutes and thirty eight seconds.."
What? There's still nothing up there? I remember not believing in miracles and here we are. What are the chances, huh?
"Three minutes and thirty seconds.."
Damn it.
Yeah. Just damn it all.
There's nothing I remember at all. Who cares if I'm gone anyway? No one looked for me for almost ten minutes. No one will know if I die. Before I can hold onto something I know will just hurt me, wouldn't it be wise to let go this early? While my innocence is still intact, cherish none, hurt none, feel none...

my hands slightly touch the water.
This is?!
I pushed the phone's button. As soon as it lit up, I read a reminder along with the date posted on the screen.
"September 9, XXXX: 11:30am: Happy Birthday" it says. The air is dry and the temperature... without regards to the succession of my action (or maybe just impulse), I dip the phone into the seawater. The temperature shown on the screen changed to almost 23°C. I knew it. Weirdly enough, when my hand touched the water, I felt that its warmer but as to how I thought it was warmer is still mystery to me too (animal instinct?). I look at the screen of the device. The north pin is pointing to where my feet does. It seems...I'm drifting North. The pin is perfectly pointing at twelve o'clock which means I'm in the ocean somewhere in the south. "In the globe, there are varieties of ocean. If I'm in south, it should be South Atlantic, South Pacific, Indian Ocean...
" A..AARGH!"
There was a sudden loud ringing in my ears. As my eyes close from the piercing sound, series of flashing images came to me. Numbers...no. They have symbols after them. And what they referred to
it was a list of oceans and their temperature report althroughout...
Wh-

"One minute two seconds remaining"

Tsk! Okay! I will risk it!
...
The next thing I know, I've been pushing buttons aggressively.
"Twenty eight seconds remaining."
I took the plank that I managed to lift before and the black bag where the device was placed. Together with these things not to mention the black envelope that came with it, I jumped on the water. Hopefully, my memory won't betray me. They will come. They will 'cause they have to.
Surprisingly, I can swim! I dive and swim as far as I can from the boat but before jumping to my death-to-be I checked and secure in my brain my position in the map plus the pin pointing North. That even if its for naught, at the very least I used my everything to save me.
Blow by blow I fill the black bag with air before I tied its rear end with its own string. Good thing I noticed that it was made up of leather.lol.
Not long after I swam like hell away from the boat, it blew up like it must be in the movies. Luckily, my adrenaline rush sent me far enough for the debris to reach me. Wait..

Did I just realize this now?

That someone wants to kill me from the moment I woke up? What...
WHAT?
Or....is some scientist using me for an experiment? Human brain survival instincts when faced by multiple trivialities? Maybe this is for underground entertainment for rich people? Or both? Or...
maybe I just offended a king and they decided to put tricks on me and kill me from sudden imbecileness?
That's enough reason.

Then... I'M SORRY, YOU BUGS BUT I'M GOING TO LIVE!!
(yawn)
Ah...
is that a siren?
A shark?
I don't know, God. My eyes are closing.
.
.
.
.
My eyes open once again. It met the green painted ceiling above me. Where am I now? I remember the ocean, the SOS and all. So I did survive.
There was only a minute remaining there. The part of the map I'm in is one of the oceans in the south but not exactly in the temperate zone. The fact that the closer you get to the equator, the hotter you get had me thinking. Also, I realized how sensitive my skin is apparently when it comes to the temperature. The time I woke up and the time the boat blew up didnt even amount to an hour but the heat is already rising. The air is dry. The water is warm. And on this outstanding day. Comparing datas my memory served me, the only ocean that fit the description is the
Indian Ocean. I risked my remaining time searching on the special radar of the communicating device the Marine Research boats that might be on its activity at this moment somewhere around the corner. I successfully found and sent one before the jump. It was hard but I put my everything on the line in that one message.
Now, here I am.
And
Where am I?

**************
Next should be the east guy who's stuck in the life and death game of cards in the abyss of sky.