Writing Competition

This is the story of an event that took place on the 2nd of November many years ago. What conspired that night was so terrifying that none who witnessed what took place dared to speak of it. I come before you today to break the silence that shrouds this and shed light on what happened that night…

It all started when my friends and I -on a whim- decided to go to Um-Almaradim island when we were high on catnip. (that’s an entirely different story that would require it’s own post.) After about an hour, we where already on a small boat making our way towards the island. Keep in mind that this was a spontaneous, on-the-spot thing and not a planed trip; we didn’t pack anything let alone tell our families. We simple decided to go, then went.

Half way through the trip, one of my friends began behaving strangely. At first we thought he was just seasick, but it quickly became apparent that we weren’t so lucky. Upon seeing his condition deteriorate, one of my friends suggested that we turn around, we promptly agreed, and turned the boat back towards the shore. That’s when everything went crazy.

My sick friend started to mutter something. I couldn’t tell if he was conscious at that point or not but he was definitely saying something about accepting death and time that ran out.

Keep in mind that this was about 2 hours after sunset and the water around us was pitch black. My friends tried to downplay what they had just heard but their tone was all but revealing.

After a couple of minutes the power went out, all of it; light, BOTH engines, the navsys, even our cells. everything. Everyone was shocked into silence. All that remained was the sounds of the waves and darkness.

A couple of seconds pass and I break the silence by asking if everyone is okay. To my dismay, my question went unanswered. Thinking that this might be an inappropriately-timed prank, I tried to feel my way through the boat. A few more seconds later, I dropped down and held my knees tightly to my chest in fear. My friends were not on the boat. I did not hear water splashing when the lights went out. They simply disappeared.

I didn’t know what happened to them at the time, all I could think of was to hold myself tight and stay as still as I could.

Some time passed, I couldn’t determine how much, but before I realized I was hearing the distinct sound of waves crashing on shore. I could not see anything but I knew I was very near to land. Mustering all the courage that I could, I stood up and ran and jumped out the boat towards shore.

I landed on soft wet grounds. I was still in water but it was barely high enough to cover my feet. I looked around for light or any other sign of civilization, but could not spot anything. Everything was as dark as it was on the boat. As I lifted my foot to take a step forward, I heard a giant splash right behind me. I was not alone.

“You still have a one month left.”

epilogue:

When I woke up, I was surrounded by my family. They told me that I was found alone drifting inside a boat. When I asked about my friends, they told me that one of my friends had died. I tried to talk with the rest of my friends about what happened but none responded. We never spoke to each other after that.

—
In other news, I suffer from depression and will probably be fired from my job because I keep skipping work without notice. On the other hand, writing this story provided a nice distraction.

So if you’re my employer. Sorry.