Floating

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Short Shots: Official WDC Contest  (ASR) Use the photo to inspire your creativity. Write a short story and win big prizes! #1221635 by Writing.Com Support

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Floating

If there's one thing I'm good at, it's floating.

Float, float, float. It's what I do. All day and every day.

I'm going somewhere, I know that much. I'm not sure where, but definitely somewhere.

It was fantastic, a few weeks ago. I floated into this current, and whoosh, I was away. I've never floated so fast. I definitely made good progress to somewhere that day.

~

You might ask, don't you get bored, floating all day; floating all night? Don't you get depressed? And I would reply, sure. Late at night when the stars are hidden by great dull clouds. Everything around me is just black. I don't even know if I'm floating in the right direction. That depresses me. I like to know I'm going in the right direction.

Why do I float? Because it's what I do best of course. Everyone likes to do what they're good at. Oh, why do I float! Well that's quite simple. You see, the middle of me is filled with air, making me fairly light. Matched to the amount of water I displace when on my side like this... what? Well why didn't you say so!
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I don't know why I float. I appeared, I floated. It's what I do. Do I need a reason? It would be nice to have a reason. I try to stay positive, but without a reason it is hard. I try not to think about it. Just continue floating towards somewhere. When I get there I'm sure I'll find out my reason.

Guess? Well, there's all sorts of possible reasons I guess. I could be the key to some great treasure! I could be a child's game. Hiding some secret message inside me for some other child to discover. I could be a special message to come save someone trapped by pirates! I like that one, it's exciting. I like to think I'm involved in something exciting. It makes me want to float faster. Do my best to get to somewhere as fast as I can.

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The other day was very exciting. Some big bird lifted me out of the water. Orange feet with claws gripped me tightly and up, up we went and I was scared. I'm not good at flying. It's floating I can do. We flew a long way, with great white wings flapping above me. We travelled even further than I think I floated in the fast current. After a while I slipped a little in the orange feet.

It dropped me.

That really scared me. Down and down I fell. Very, very fast. The wind whistled by, sounding even louder than when there's storms and the ocean is all big and scary. I landed with a huge splash, and hit so hard that for some time I was under the water. But I soon floated to the top. I'm good at floating you see. I was very happy that night because I knew I was now a lot closer to somewhere.

~

I don't always move a long way. Sometimes I get trapped and can't float for many days. Sometimes trapped in some wood, or seaweed. It always upsets me when I'm trapped. I feel like the man caught by the pirates. Unable to get away, but desperate to survive. I feel sorry for him, because I might be his only hope and now I'm trapped too.

Eventually I always break free, but sometimes I have to wait for a storm to help me. Waves so high, I climb up them like a surfer and then tumble down the other side in a thrilling, somersaulting ride. If it wasn't usually so dark when the storms come, I wouldn't be so scared of them. The lightning doesn't scare me. I love the awesome flashes of yellow power across the sky.

Do I see ships? Sure, sometimes. Not very often. Out here it's only the really, really huge ones. Sometimes I wonder if it is them I'm supposed to be floating to, but they never stop for me. One almost hit me, but I managed to float out the way in time.

~

Floating is a little harder these days. My cork has a little hole in it, and some water has come inside me. I can feel it swilling around, all cold and wet. It's making me heavy. Harder to stay on top of the water. I must hold on. I can't let the location of the secret treasure be lost. I can't let the man be eaten alive by cannibals. Somewhere can't be much further.

~

Wow! I've made it. I've finally made it to somewhere. I've been taken out of the sea, my cork pulled out, and the water poured out . I'm sure someone's going to say out loud my reason for floating all this way now. I can't wait to hear it. After all this time.

"'Ere Jo... there's some kinda note in this one."

"Aah, one o' them. Well, what's it say? Might be the pin code to a million dollar bank account!"

Joe laughed as he fished out the note. "Yeah right. Like I'm that lucky. Oh shit! It's all wet. Can't read a word."

"Haha, sounds more like you - all wet. Just chuck it in with all the rest."

I just manage to see what the man means as I'm thrown through the air. On the side of the barrel it reads...

'Recycling : Glass'.

The End

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Word Count 910