Lost

Lost

His peanuts seemed a little salty, but not as salty as the water he had plunged into, just moments before the seatbelt light went on. Was it possible he was the only one that survived, or was it a sick dream? Suitcases began to float upon the shore like rotten driftwood. What was he looking for as he frantically opened each and every piece of luggage? A warm change of clothes or a familiar memory from his past, a past that now seemed like a beautiful mirage turned dark and hopeless. His screams for help were only heard by nagging seagulls and paranoid sandpipers. Memories of his father and mother began to flood his mind. He wished he could take back all those angry words. Was a haircut really that important? The sounds of slamming doors and broken trophies clouded his throbbing brain. He had never gotten the chance to say goodbye. Kneeling in the sand, making deals with God, it all seemed so hopelessly senseless. Finding a Hawaiian bathing suit, he fantasized about endless summer vacations. A beautiful paradise was now his own private prison cell. He found himself laughing hysterically at the irony of it all. Trapped by the ruthless sun, pounding at his pale with skin, there was nothing left for him to do, but surrender to an island that he might have once loved. Had he been there a year or just a few moments? Time was no longer part of his reality. Laying face down at the water’s edge, he closed his swollen eyes, waiting and wanting to hear those once dreaded words, “rise and shine, honey.” It was probably fifth period right about now as he pictured his empty chair. Had his mother gotten the phone call yet? Had the search party begun? And then again, perhaps all these thoughts and memories were just a dream and this was the real life he had always lived. As the sound of rotary blades came closer and closer he ran like a madman into the jungle, knowing it was the Grim Reaper coming to finally take him away.