One Apple A Day #80
The sea. Joe is standing at the end of the paved road. In front of him, black waves crash on the rocks. The sketches of salt water shining in the moonlight.
That’s it. In the distance, he can hear dogs barking and someone shouting orders in Spanish. They will be on him soon. He looks around, but he knows that there’s only one way out. But it’s the wrong one.
He looks back at sea, but it’s not dark anymore. It’s a sunny day on the beach. The same beach where his family spent the holidays for decades. He can see himself in the water. A six years old kid, all skins and bones, and curly hair. The boy’s swim ring life buoy is yellow and green. He shouldn’t need it at his age, but he never learned to swim. No one in the family taught him. They like the beach, not the water. His mother is waving from the shore. The young Joe wants to make an impression. The old Joe watches everything, and he wanted to scream to the kid, to stop him from doing something stupid. But no sounds come out of his mouth. The young Joe pulls himself up and sits on the swim ring, his but in the hole. And then everything goes wrong. The young Joe sinks in the hole, his legs now trapped by the ring. A few seconds later, he turns on himself, and he goes upside down. The head is under the water, and his legs are stuck. There’s no way out. He can’t hold his breath anymore, and the water enters his mouth.
The old Joe comes back to the shore with a shock. The sea in front of him is black again. He can taste the salt water in his mouth. His only way out from this place leads him straight into his worst fear.