I was awoken by the screams of shipmen, well, not really woken, but alerted. It was a foolish thing to fall asleep on the ship with all the thieves roaming around, waiting for the right chance to steal the minimal accumulation of dainty things you'd call 'belongings'. Everyone had been stripped of everything but the clothes on their backs by the greedy assholes of the ship, so we had scavenged around the first second we got shoved down into the bottom deck. We could only come up with pieces of rope and drift wood, maybe some metal scraps. They were mere pieces of junk, and yet, we held onto them like our lives depended on it. I despised that part of my experience most of all.
I wobbled to my feet, weak from hunger. I knew there was something wrong with the food the second I got there, and I just watched on as others stuffed their faces with the poisoned rations. They had mistreated and beaten me to no end, so why the fuck should I save them?
I hid in the shadows as others began to wake up from the screams, also. Muttered questionings echoed in the bottom deck as people rubbed their eyes and yawned. Some of the men got on their feet and made a z-line to the wooden make-shift stairs leading to the main deck. I smirked, relishing the fact that the bastards still haven't gotten used to the rocking of the ship. The men lined up on the stairs as the first one reached to the latch. Just as he was about to push open the hatch when a bright blue flash tore through the line of men and through the bottom of the ship.
Screams rang out from both men and children alike, and I stood there with my mouth agape. I admit, my heart felt like it stopped beating when I saw seawater cascading into the ship with no hesitation. I grabbed on to a board to steady myself and quickly looked around for an escape route. My eyes scanned over the crying children and women, the swearing men, and stopped at the destroyed staircase. I could see the stars and moon as I squinted my eyes from the sudden light I had not seen for weeks. The opening was at least 15 feet from the floor I was standing upon, and there was nothing I could stack up to reach the needed escape route. I already knew no one would help each other in this situation (and probably no other situation, either), so I made a quick decision to live by myself and use the only other optional route.
I let go of the board and ran through the water covered floor to the opening made by the blue light. Fish and seaweed brushed by my kneecaps as I took one last pungent, wood-smelling breathe, and dove down hands first into the watery abyss. I kept my eyes closed and pushed hard against the water pressure. I used my hands to guide myself across the side off the ship, making my way to the surface. My heart dropped when I felt a string of air bubbles come out of my mouth.
My lungs couldn't take much more, they had been weakened by spending weeks inhaling filthy air. My head was spinning and I could feel my limbs weaken. I started to drift, seemingly, nowhere. My eyes relaxed as my head tilted back, and the pains in my lungs seemed to swirl down to the bottom of the sea along with my worries. I had never felt this kind of blissfulness before, and I dissolved my whole being into the feeling. Tears swelled up at the corners of my eyes from the intense emotion I was feeling. My tears manifested not from warmth and comfort, but from the impending feeling of death.
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