Everything happened all at once.
One moment, it was calm. There was not a single ripple in the water. It was completely still, and I could breathe.
At that moment, the sun was beaming down from a cloudless, vibrant sky. I was catching the rays on my skin, and it gladly turned my cheeks warm and rosy. The rays playfully bounced off the placid waters, making the whole ocean sparkle with a blinding light.
This is the ocean I enjoyed. I stood there, looking out at my ocean, satisfied with its behavior. It seems to exhale with me, content with my current satisfaction. I walk towards the ocean until everything just below my knees is submerged and my fingertips can lightly tickle the surface.
The water was warm; the water was perfect. I stayed there, standing in the refreshing, salty water until my fingers began to prune. I didn’t want to leave—I loved my ocean far too much.
As I was walking to shore, however, a gust of wind blew quickly past me. That was when everything went horribly.
Deep gray clouds swept across the sky, and the sun was no longer to be seen. The air grew frigid, and the wind grew stronger.
The once calm waters that I loved so much became angry. So very angry.
Out of nowhere, deep blue waves rose above the surface and came violently crashing down. Just as I was about to step onto the dry sand, the tide yanked me away and pulled me into the storm.
I let myself breathe again until my lungs were filled with my ocean.
I couldn’t breathe.
I inhaled and didn’t dare to let go of my breath. That was the only way I would survive this storm. The waves towered higher than skyscrapers and carried me with them. I thrashed and thrashed about, but no matter how much I fought back, the ocean that once loved me just kept getting stronger and angrier.
The wind whipped me back and forth. I was being punished, but I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t do anything worth being condemned. I wracked my brain for a reason, I dug through every corner and searched beneath every other thought that occupied my mind. And then I remembered—it was the one act even I didn’t want to do, but it was something I could not avoid forever:
I tried to leave.
I tried to tell my ocean that it was still not time for me to depart with it quite yet, but the waves were still too angry to understand. I was tired of fighting it. I was tired of fighting off the unforgiving winds that spare no mercy. I was tired of a sunless sky. I was tired of the waves throwing me around until I lost any sense of direction.
So, I exhaled.
I stopped thrashing. I let the water swallow me whole. I let myself breathe again until my lungs were filled with my ocean.
In this moment, I was refreshed.
It was then when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the sun breaking through the clouds. It started with only a sliver of light, but soon, the sky returned to a clear blue, and rays of sun bounced off of every surface.
Soon after, the wind slowed down to a halt. The angry waves began to calm until the water was still. My ocean knew I wasn’t leaving it forever, so it brought me back to the sand.
I laid there on my back, my face soaking up every ounce of the sun I loved so dearly. I smiled and let out a little laugh. The ocean needs not worry; I won’t be leaving any time soon.
