Home

All is darkness

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         .

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Your eyes snap open

A salty sting in your eyes

And burning sun shining down on you

Water lapping at your legs

It almost tickles

But there's no time to process this

Because your chest is so tight

And you can't breathe

And then you're coughing

Great, heaving, shuddering coughs

As salty liquid spills from your mouth

In chafing bursts

And you've flipped over

Because it's the only way you can support yourself

As your lungs empty themselves

Into the hot sand

But you are so weak and exhausted

That you did not hold yourself up

And the grittiness fills your mouth

As half your face buries itself in the sand

And finally you sit up

Spitting the sand from your mouth

And look around

You see what you hadn't before

Splintered wood and battered boards

Salt lingers in your mouth

And on your softly fluttering eyelashes

As you look around

No, you haven't been shipwrecked

That happened once before

You give a great sigh

Get to your feet

steadying yourself with your hands on your knees

And resolve to rebuild

The shelter, the home, the storm blew away