June 30, 2019
When Russel awoke, his mind felt empty; which, in fairness, was not much different from its usual state. The sun was bright. Russel blinked. Blunk? Blank? It was blank, Russel thought – that was the word. He blank again. The sun wasn’t even out. Fine then. The clouds were bright. He turned his head down. Ouch – the ground was bright too. Everything was so bright. Russel blank again.
He propped himself up on his hands. Gah! What was happening!? The ground was eating his –! Oh. No. It was just sand. Wet sand. They’d stopped sinking now. Russel blank a third time. Fourth? Was it the third or fourth? He blank again. There. At least we know that one was the fifth, regardless.
Hands and knees felt better than just hands. Everything was still so bright. The blinking was helping, but very slowly. Blanking? No, blinking. He tried speeding it up. Maybe if he just did one really long blink…oh, no. That was just him closing his eyes. That didn’t help one bit.
The shore was starting to come into focus again. What’s the difference between a beach and a shore? Who decides these things? Russel made a mental note to find out later.
Okay, let’s try for feet. Whoa. Whoa! Hand and knees. Hands and knees is much more stable. He shook his head, trying to rattle something loose, or at least hear if there was anything bouncing around inside. There was something, alright, but it was small and soft and not very helpful.
Ah, there we are. Things were a little less bright now. There’s the hands – yes, certainly not eaten yet. The sand on top, and all over the place, actually. The ears were starting to open too. That sound…it was familiar. Russel knew that sound. He felt he knew it quite well, in fact, but he couldn’t quite place it. Like a childhood friend he hadn’t seen in ages. Where was it coming from? All around, it felt like. Russel looked behind him. It was the same feeling, but this time through his eyes. He knew it, and it knew him, and yet he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been with it.
Turn – yes, that’s it – ah. There we go. Sitting is easy. Nice and comfortable. And there it was, right in front of him, forever. Alive, and loud, but gentle. It wasn’t so bright anymore. The sky was grey. The breeze had a bit of a chill to it. But still. It looked so beautiful. Russel blank. He looked at it. He blank again. He looked at it some more. He lost track of time, sitting and blinking and looking and trying to smile. He felt like he was supposed to be happy right now, but something was in the way. That small, soft thing inside his head was fighting his smile. His hair was wet. His fingers felt cold. Did he always have that mark on his chest?...