Excerp From Upcoming Story "Loyalty"

He was sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean. He closed his eyes and let the gentle rocking of the boat bring him some peace. He was tired of fighting ... something and he now could use the time time to relax. He looks up at the night sky he sees all the stars are out. He looks up to find the one constellation that he always looks for. He can not find it. He can not find the Orion constellation. He would normally just look for the three stars that constitutes it's belt but he can't seem to find them. He found Ursa Major and then he found Polaris. He used the outer side of the cup to find Polaris and Orion should be 30 degrees clockwise form that. Why? Why was it not there? Where was Rigel? Where was Betelgeuse?

He stopped trying to find it. It was too much trouble. He needed to relax. That's why he was there. He needed to figure out what he was going to do about his new assignment.

As the stars began to dissolve into the morning light he began to see the dawning sun in the horizon. I was coming up very quickly. He just sat there in the little boat until he could no longer stand the heat. He sat up and took off his shirt. He let the sun beat down on his chest. But after a while that was still too hot. He took off his pants and socks. He sat there in the boat in his underwear and let the sun rain down on him.

Finally even that was too hot for him and he jumped out of the boat. He jumped in and let the cool water envelop him. It was very relaxing for him. The cool water was a good counter against the hot sun. But once again it was too hot under the sun. The surface of the ocean was reflecting the light into his eyes. He needed some darkness. He tipped the little boat over and climbed into the air pocket that was created. He stayed in there but he knew he could not do that for ever. So occasionally stuck his head out to see how things were going. On the third time he noticed a small mountain peeking out into the horizon and on the fourth time he noticed that he was getting closer to it. Then he realized that he was not getting closer to it. The mountain was growing out of the ocean. Or the ocean was drying up and the mountain was coming out over the new sea level.

After a couple more hours he was finally able to touch the ocean floor.

The ocean had evaporated enough that he was finally able to touch the bottom. He could not believe it. He could not believe that. He was actually standing on the ocean floor. The sun had done that to his dream world. It had taken all the water away.

As he stands there in the now-desert with his little boat next to him he looks up into the sun again. He stares into the sun for a long while. He was always told that he should not stare into the sun specially during the high sun. That is when it is it's strongest. As he stares at it he begins to form blisters on his lips from dehydration. He had not drank any water since he got there. It's not like he could drink the water of ocean. All the salt made the brine undrinkable. All that nasty salt water and none for him to drink. Now he did not even have that water.

As he looked up at the sun which for some reason was still at rising. He wondered how the sun could be coming up for hours and it could still be dawn.

He looked up at the sun. He began to walk. The blisters on his lips made it difficult to even lick them. He walked through the sand. He tried to imagine that it was just really hot snow. Anything to keep his mind elsewhere. He took a few more steps. His bare feet sank into the sand. As he walked he found the shirt he had taken of while he was still on the boat.

Walking. Step. Wait. Drag. Step. Step. Wait. Drag. Drag. Wait Step Drag.

Trying to walk with out rhythm.

He continued walking. Finally he collapsed to his knees and screamed at the dawn. "It's not my fault. I can't help what I was thinking or what I did."

There was nothing. No Response from who ever was watching him. He screams again, "I am a desert creature."

He waits and again nothing. Why was this happening to him? He got some clarity of thought and asked quietly, "Do I know you?"

A voice from up above whispers as if talking to only him says, "Yes, you do."

He falls onto his back. He is scratching at his throat realizing that he is going to die of thirst.

Then slowly as if trying to save him from more pain ... his body dies.


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