A/N; Disclaimer: Just a heads up to the readers, this story is filled with a fair amount of exposition and quite a bit of literary freedom. I will be honest and say I make a lot of assumptions when writing about certain events pertaining to the characters, techniques and settings within the story. But, I sincerely hope you just take it for what it is: a story. So, without further ado, let's begin this chronicle.

"Bravery isn't about not being afraid, it's about doing what needs to be done despite BEING afraid."-G.V.H.

(Intro)

In the beginning, there was nothing.

There was no light, there was no darkness.

There was neither force, nor energy.

All that there was, was nothing…

In the way that our minds work, we are mentally incapable of truly comprehending the concept of "nothing"; the absence of anything in the Universe itself.

In the beginning, there must have been 'something' to become the genesis for everything. In order for existence to be, there had to be 'something' in order to have created it in the first place. Nothing begets nothing, and as it were, 'something' had to create something, which in a sense became everything.

Many theories and ideas exist for why existence even occurred in the first place. Some have speculated that in the infinite loop of a negligence of a space-time continuum, reality in itself opted to remake itself into something new, something different, something…at all, really.

The common consensus is often referred to as the 'Big Bang', an event in which all conceivable and unconceivable energies and forces were exerted from a point of singularity, a point of incredible amounts of concentration at a single point.

Now begs the question, what could have initiated such a process in the first place? As has been stated previously: Nothing spawns nothing. There are, even to this day, still many theories surrounding the forces that may have initialized the birth of the Universe, though there is one that I choose to believe in above all others. Many of us like to refer to it as a higher power, a higher being if you will. We often refer to its existence as the quintessence of all benevolent and prevailing qualities and traits. Though, in many ways we often give it one form, one name, one word…a God; a being of infinite perception and capability over all existence.

It is not impossible for there to be the existence of such an entity, but many often try to hide from this possibility with ideas that try to prove otherwise. For what reason you may ask? Fear. People often fear what they cannot control. For there to be the existence of something incomprehensibly powerful in control of every aspect of our lives for purposes unknown is truly a daunting thought, is it not?

For as long as we have existed, we have come to a single understanding: We are flawed. And these flaws invariable draw us into conflict, whether in ourselves or in each other. We have understood that with our inclination to err, that those who try and hold power on their own are doomed to fail; both themselves and those under them. As the saying goes: "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." However, this line of reasoning only holds to people, not to a perfect being like a God. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here in this moment anyway if such reasoning pertained to such a figure of immense power and cognition, as we'd have ceased to be long ago.

It stands to reason that the universe could have been created in an almost infinite amount of permutations, each different variation of reality with its own similarities and differences. However, why does our reality exist in the manner that it does? Through careful thought on the matter, I, as well as many others, have come to a single conclusion: that all aspects of life that we can and cannot comprehend are held in the hands of fate, and of God himself.

Though, some would argue that the state of the Universe holds no purpose at all, it just is. They may be right, and perhaps then life is just a series of organic mutations throughout time; that life is ultimately meaningless other than to carry out the present. Whether it is from the past to the present, or the present into the future, the two courses would ultimately be the same. For the same reasons as to how the existence of a God cannot be disproven, the ideas just mentioned are themselves unable to be refuted until a time where God decides to show himself. So, until then, we may all choose a means to live our lives through and hope for the best.

However, if there is one thing I have learned in my time here on this world it is this: Under our own power, humanity is destined to fail, but in the hands of one we call God, a being with both an infallible plan and the power and wisdom to realize it, we can achieve so much more than we could ever have imagined. And that, dear reader, is where my story starts…

(Intro-Character Background)

Once upon a time…nah that's not it. Hmm, a long time ago in a gal…oh crap, I think that's trademarked, so no go on that! There once was guy who…nah, too quirky. Grrr, why is this so difficult! Meh, might as well go for broke with something a bit plain.

I guess my story began just like any other humble beginning.

I was born as the middle child of an American family. I grew up in a small town in California for almost my entire life, though personally, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world. Especially since our state of California is unique in its capacity to comprise of an ocean coast, mega-cities, deserts, mountains with snow, rich farmland and fields and national forests. The only thing that I had to worry about there were rattlesnakes, which gave you a fair bit of warning before even attempting to attack you, and mountain lions, but you can look into those and other topics on your own time.

I had a fairly wide and muscular build, though not anywhere near being classified as a body-builder or wrestler. I had black hair that I would often let grow out of control, if just because I was often too lazy to go to a barber for months on end until it became absolutely unmanageable. I was also fairly fortunate to have the fair quality of a decent height, leaving me standing at a modest 5 foot, 10 inches, a feature which came upon me around the beginning of high school after a startlingly unexpected growth spurt, which left nearly as quickly as it arrived, leaving me towering, figuratively speaking, above many of my classmates and friends at the time.

Sorry, kinda got stuck on the small stuff. Anyway as I was saying, my life back then was fairly average. I lived in a family of 6, including myself; it was me, my two parents and my three other siblings, one younger than I while the other two were older.

As time went on, and as my perception of the world grew, so too did my experiences and accomplishments. At some point, I forget when, an old friend and I took up the art of Taekwondo. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the highest point we got to in the art was the brown-belt (Yes, that's an actual level in martial arts. It is a level below a black belt.) Though, we were unable to complete our training and ceremonies due to our responsibilities that were accumulating in our daily lives, both recreationally and fundamentally. Over the period of approximately a decade and a half, I strove to accomplish as much as I could in my school career, though I didn't participate in many clubs or activities and eventually graduated amongst the top of my class along with some of my closest friends and acquaintances.

But, as with any graduate, if you don't make an effort to do so, everybody splits off to live their own lives. I was no exception…

Sometime after I graduated, I was 17 at the time, I went job-hunting. I wasn't looking for anything fancy, a cashier or stocking position or something in retail would have sufficed, but after the economic recession of '08, it wasn't easy.

However, after another unlucky day of job hunting, I came back home and was surprised with a business opportunity by a friend of my father who was visiting that day (since my father practically knew almost everyone in the state). The guy was in an oceanic diving salvage group and offered me a position as a deck-hand for one of their ships, as the previous guy was on indefinite leave due to medical reasons. The job paid well enough and I needed the money if I wanted to pursue a viable job career, or at least without having to rely on student loans that'd I'd have to pay back for years, like I wanted to. So, in the end, I told the guy I would take the job and we shook on it.

It's been 4 months since then and once I was settled in the job was easy enough. Move some equipment here, tie this down, raise this, keep an eye on the meter here and hit these switches if the gauge's readings were too high or too low, so on and so forth. Though, I guess one of the more grueling things to get around was the initial sea-sickness. Mercifully, it took about only a week and a half for it to completely wear off and after that it was smooth-sailing, so to speak.

The job took me all around the coasts of North America, whether it was the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean or to the frigid waters of the Atlantic, we struck wherever opportunity presented itself. A few times a storm would almost sneak up on us as we were doing a dive, though luckily we would always make it out before things got too hectic.

You know, it's actually quite humbling working in an environment like that. I mean yeah sure other work environments can be just as, if not more so, dangerous such as: being an engineer within a nuclear reactor, a construction worker, a soldier in the military, etc. Still, to know that your life is ultimately in the hands of forces outside of your control and that it can end you at any given moment. It's both awe-inspiring yet truly terrifying at the same time. But, in the end, it helps on developed a sense of humility, but only if you choose to accept that fact. Otherwise, a person will believe themselves to be the master of their own fate, but amongst the sea that just isn't the case. Though, I personally often placed my own faith in my spirituality to see my way through anything, seeing as it held me aloft in my life for this long. Though, I kept my beliefs to myself, not wanting to alienate myself from the amicable friendships I formed with the rest of the crew in our travels.

As time went on, our crew found itself in the tropical waters of the Caribbean. The waters here held some of the most beautiful reefs in the world; rivaled only by a select few exotic locations elsewhere. Our chief explained that we were going to be staying in the local waters for a couple weeks or so, depending on the amount of salvage we could find. So, for the next twelve days our crew explored a few arbitrary locations around the Caribbean such as: areas around sand beds, deep pits in the local waters and various reefs. Though, while they provided us all with numerous species of exotic fish, there were very few ships to salvage in the area. However, some of us did find a few neat knick-knacks on our dives; one of the guys retrieving an impressive silver spyglass from one of the ships that we managed to find and bring back to salvage.

At the end of the day, our captain decided that just the two weeks in the area would probably be the longest we could stay before we sailed for the waters around Maine and Canada. So, we had two days to enjoy the warm tropical seas here in the Caribbean before we left on the fifteenth day.

(Intro-End)

(1st Person POV)

It was nighttime, probably around 10 or 11 p.m. I was sitting on the roof of the ship we were sailing on, The Steadfast, gazing out into the night sky, not thinking about anything in particular while I absent-mindedly cleaned my old Kukri knife, a gift.

'Hmm, the stars look great out here…that's probably because there aren't any mega-cities out here to pollute the air I guess.' I paused as I sighed to myself, my train of thought changing to more pertinent concerns. 'I wonder if we're going to find anything on the trip this time? Hopefully someone will find something worth salvaging like a cool pirate treasure chest or something from the Golden age of piracy instead of just rusted down old scrap heaps. Now that'd be something worth coming here for! Hmm, I wonder if we'll stumble upon a-'

Though before I could continue, my thoughts were interrupted as I heard a series of thumps below me. I look downed to see the Ship's Captain climbing up from his' cabin up to my perch on top of the ship. He was overall a very nice guy, if a bit of a slave-master whenever we were out on a dive, and a bit of an old hand at our line of work. He wasn't the most eye-catching of people but he did fit the bill for what you would figure an old, salty sea-captain to look like and for all I knew he might have been something of an Adonis in his' younger years and the sea just simply wore him down over the years. Either way, now his' appearance simply gave him the look of someone who knew far too much of the ways of the world and that single facet of him alone along with the sheer amount of authority his' tone of voice held that had us follow his' every single command without question or explanation, such was the power of any salty, sea captain, really.

"Ah, my boy, I figured you were up here. Why aren't you with the others out in the town? Once we leave for the coast up north, we aren't going to be having any breaks until we hit Virginia. Besides, you might get lucky here and have some fun tonight with one of these exotic girls that I've heard so much about out here!" He said, barking out a raucous laugh and nearly doubling over from doing so.

I chuckled uneasily at the captain's unreserved words, a slight blush making its way onto my cheeks. "Nah, that's not my thing, sir. I'm not interested in doing that kind of stuff right now, believe it or not."

His' chuckles slowly died out once he finished his' bout of laughter. Then, after straightening himself out just the slightest bit into a more reserved posture, he went on to say, "Ah, that's fine my boy. And what have I told you about calling me 'sir'? It makes me feel old, so just stick with Rufus, alright?"

I nodded to him. "Sorry, it's just a force of habit to refer to you like that. But, I'll try my best, Rufus. Other than that, was there something else you wanted with me? I'm just wondering because I'm not exactly one of the guys. I'm not exactly the most interesting person on the ship to talk with and I'm sure you could be having more fun hanging around some of the other guys around a poker table or something." I said, looking him in the eye with a questioning look on my face.

Hearing this, Rufus laughed. "Actually, yes, there was a reason I came up here." He said, his' face turning serious, whatever humor that had been building up to this point withering away at the sudden shift of mood.

"I just wanted to ask you: are you fine with working here, kid? You know, it can really be back-breaking work sometimes, hauling our gear back and forth and whatnot. It really can't be easy for you."

I was surprised, shocked almost, as I heard him say this. In my mind, I began to think why this man, who constantly rides his' crew almost to the point of exhaustion every time we're out on a job, is now asking me of my opinion on my job? And amongst that, what answer was he exactly looking for? Was he just trying to lull me into a false sense of security and try to weed out any resentment I had for the profession. And if so, what for? Was it so that he could send me away back home if I decided to say something that sounded like a complaint to him or was he simply asking just for the sake of checking up on my physical well-being at the moment or was he looking for feedback on what I thought it was like to be on the ship, his' ship, and if I was going to say anything unsavory about it or our new way of life. I wasn't sure of the answer, but either way, since I didn't a particular chip on my shoulder against him, I felt there was nothing to do but just be honest with the man.

"Yes, I'm fine with the work. And no offense, but if I couldn't handle the work, I would have left a long time ago, Rufus. Why do you ask?" I said, hoping to get some sort of answer from him that could answer one of my lingering thoughts on the discussion.

He sighed, closing his' eyes briefly as he did so before opening them and looking me dead in the eye. "I'm asking you this because I've noticed that you have a nice head on your shoulders, kid. Are you really fine with working here for the rest of your life? Honestly, I only keep working this job because my father worked here before me and told me to continue the family tradition. It also doesn't help that I have debts across four of the seven seas that I have to pay off!" He laughed, in doing so raising the mood of the discussion slightly and breaking a bit of the tension between us, even if it was mostly one-sided. "But you boy, you're smart. You can be doing anything you wanted with the education and the merits that you have. Why work here?"

I took a moment to mull over the answer in my mind, already having asked myself that very same question in the recent past during some of our travels abroad, before giving him the answer that I had long since decided upon on my own.

"If you really want to know si- Rufus," I said, catching myself before I could misaddress him. "I picked the job because it brought in a good amount of money. Well, when it actually does pay off." I added briefly before turning my head to look up to the night sky. "Though I guess the other reason I joined was so that I could see more of the world. Even though it's usually along harbors and shores, it's nice to visit all kinds of different places and talk with all the kinds of people there! I thought this would be the closest thing I could have to an adventure of sorts, as petty as that sounds. I'm fine with working here for the time being, I don't really have any big plans for the future and kind of just live my life day by day." I said, finally turning my head to look back to him once I finished.

He looked at me for a long time, almost like he was looking for something, before he gave me a Cheshire grin. "So, adventure you say? Well I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying your position on my vessel, kid."

Then, his face became downtrodden. "But look, I just want you to do better for yourself, and despite how it seems, living on the seas is no way to live your life. I mean, having no real place to settle down half the time? Even though I'm a free-spirited mind, even I miss land sometimes!" He said, following the statement with a hearty laugh. Though, once his' laughter had finished, he continued.

"But you, boy, you don't have that same mindset. Yes, you want to experience new things and go to new places, but who doesn't? What I mean is, the sea wears you down, and I don't want to see you be trapped doing something that has no end in sight. Once we're done with the next dive up north, I want you to head on home and try to find something more permanent; Something that you can actually work towards and make a career out of. I know you said you wanted adventure, but you're not really going to find it here. All that you'll find here are men working desperately to pay off their debts or those who are hoping to hit it big on one lucky dive." He said, sighing at the statement's end.

"I've been working at this for nearly 50 years of my life, and I have yet to find anything like that. So, I want you to work for something that is actually worth it and if you still want adventure, take my advice: work and save up. Save up for a trip to some exotic place within the mainland. Hell, go to South America and try to find the fabled 7 cities of gold while you're there! There's more to life than just trying to get by. Try to work towards something or maybe even someone if you decide to settle down."

At the latter statement, he brought a hand up to stroke his' chin melodramatically. "Hmm, yes, and if you do decide to do the latter, make sure to find a girl with curves in all the right places. Ooohh, and make sure she has nice-"

My face was getting redder and redder as the sentence went on, so before it got any worse I spoke up and cut him off.

"Okay! I get it!"

After he stopped laughing from my outburst, and after my blush had lessened, I continued. "Yeah, I see your point, and I guess it makes sense. Especially since you seem like someone who has had a lot of life experience, no offense. But, yeah, you've made your point, Rufus. You're only looking out for my best interests at heart, and that means a lot to me. I promise I'll take your advice and do the best for myself, you have my word on that Rufus." I paused. "You know, not very many bosses would willingly tell their employee to leave their job; unless they were doing something wrong. Wait, that's not the real reason you're telling me I should leave, right?" I said, raising an eyebrow as I looked at him with barely restrained apprehension for his' coming answer.

He laughed cheerily before giving me a look of mock indignation. "Don't worry about that my boy! If that were the reason I wanted you to leave, I wouldn't hesitate to let you know and kick your sorry ass off this ship myself! Even if you are the brat of one of my oldest friends!" He said with an obvious jest in his' tone.

With the serious issue of the night dealt with, we spent our time joking and talking the night away. After a good amount of time passed, we both decided to head to our respective beds to rest up for the busy days ahead. Though what I wouldn't realize is that the day that I next woke up on, my life would be changed forever.

(The Next Day)

I woke up to sunlight streaming through the port window in the crew bedroom. As I looked away from the window and about the crew quarters, I noticed that it seemed like some of the other guys decided to show up sometime after I had went to bed, much of the crew reeking heavily of drink along with other less savory scents that I would rather not know about.

As the crew woke up and engaged in their morning rituals, I myself took a look out towards the skyline and as I gazed upon its glory, I thought the day couldn't be any more beautiful. The way the light of dawn crested over the horizon, streaking shades of yellow, white, and bits of orange along with the various small, sandy shores in the foreground, truly provided an awe-inspiring piece of artwork of natural beauty in the world, one that I was fortunate enough to catch in my otherwise brief existence.

Sometime later after we were all properly awake and aware we prepared our equipment and the ship for a dive near the Mesoamerican reef in the Caribbean basin. And if there was one thing I could say about the basin, it was HUGE! The dive itself went along fairly well and we got a few good artifacts and collectibles from the ships for some private collectors and history museums back in the states, securing our next paychecks until the next trip up north.

Things were going well topside, the diver's vitals seeming to be perfectly fine and communication between them and us was crystal clear, so there didn't seem like there was going to be any danger on that front. So, while the others were keeping an eye on the monitoring equipment I told them I was going to stretch my legs and keep a lookout on the deck while they worked. After they muttered their agreements I quickly left my seat that I had previously been using beside the other two members of the observation station and went out onto the open railing lining of the ship.

I went up to the railing of the ship and took a look out onto the sea, thinking to myself 'Nothing so far-' but stopped my thoughts as I caught a rather curious sight at the edge of my vision. As I looked to my left to see what it was that caught my attention, I saw that some miles away, a large, dark cloud front was moving in, continuing to grow in size and intensity with every passing moment and at the rate it was moving we didn't have very much time before it would reach us.

Not wishing to waste any more time by gawking at the sight, I went to look for Rufus and found him on his' way from his' cabin heading towards the monitoring station to get an update on the situation with our salvage divers. Quickly rushing over to him, I informed him of the forthcoming calamity.

"Captain Rufus, a storm seems to be heading in our direction off our starboard bow, we need to get the salvage group topside and leave as quickly as we can!" I explained, nearly shouting the words by the end as my nervousness started to get the better of me, further reinforcing the gravity of the situation to the man before me as he not-so-subtly noticed my reaction.

His' eyes widened in realization and without another word we both rushed to the monitoring station to order the underwater group to resurface before going on to warn the rest of the crew to quickly get the ship ready to set off towards the nearest harbor to set anchor at and find shelter before things could get too bad.

Several agonizingly long minutes later, the diving crew reached the ship and promptly started to remove their gear while everyone else was still preparing to cast off. Meanwhile, I went to check the progress of the storm-front and came to a horrifying realization-The storm was moving at a faster rate than we had realized and it was only a few short miles away from us, even now I could start to feel a slight breeze as the storm closed in on us with every passing moment we laid idle in its path. So, with barely held nerve, I told whatever crew that I could to hasten their efforts while I myself worked to the best of my ability to get the ship ready to leave.

By the time the ship was ready to get moving, the storm was nearly upon us. We gunned the engines and set them to full speed to get away from the storm, uncaring of overheating or overworking the engines and instead worried about making it out of our current danger at the moment, though the choppy waters around us certainly weren't helping us in our escape as they battered us on all sides. As the minutes flew by, many of us had taken the time to secure ourselves within the depths of the ship. Personally, I chose to stay on the bridge with Rufus and a few other navigators as we tried to keep an eye on the situation at hand.

The storm eventually caught up to us and we were struggling to stay afloat despite the ravaging winds and waves around us. Crewmen all over were trying to keep the ship afloat by any means that they could, such as securing the equipment and cargo to keep the weight from slipping to one side of the ship.

The storm in itself felt like the devil himself had come for a parlay. It had to at least be a typhoon, if not a full blown hurricane. Lightning was striking in sporadic areas around the ship and water spouts were seen spinning in the distance. For a ship like ours to be lost in such a situation, the odds of survival weren't in our favor at all. But, looking around, I would have expected that I would have seen fear and resignation claiming our crew. But, do you know what I saw in the eyes and faces of the people that day? I saw the determination to survive, though I also saw the subtle lining of acceptance for whatever fate may be in store for us on this day. When it came down to it, these men never faltered in their duty despite looking into what may have been the face of their utter doom as it loomed over them. I only wished I was half as brave as these men were on that day.

Unfortunately, luck was not on our side in this endeavor. A wayward water spout blindsided us, and in combination with an enclosing rogue wave our ship was slowly doomed to sink. After recovering from the initial rocking of the ship and noticing that the walls now became our ground, many of the crew that were still able to move aimed to get to the life-boats, as that side of the ship was now the only side still sticking out of the water. I noticed that the ship was now starting to take on water, sinking ever so slowly into the waters of the raging storm.

I turned to look back at where Captain Rufus once stood only to find him a short distance away from me. However, one of the larger cabinets in the room that contained some of the navigational equipment and charts came loose and pinned him to the ground, covering both of his' legs, most of the chest, and one of his' arms under it; His' other arm was futilely trying to push the cabinet off of his' body, but he didn't have nearly the strength to do so. I went over to try and push the object off of him but could barely budge it, the freakin' thing had to weigh at least 400 hundred pounds!

I futilely continued to try to lift the object off of him, but was stopped as his' free arm gripped one of mine in an iron grip. I turned to look at him and saw that his' eyes held a grim look. "Boy, you need to get out of here! You can't lift this damned thing off of me and I'm in no position to help you! The ship is sinking fast, so there isn't time to waste. Don't worry about me, just get out of here before it's too late! Besides kid, you promised me that you were going to make the most of your life, remember? This is your chance, now get on outta here, time's a wastin'! And you know what they say: The Captain always goes down with the ship. Now, GO!" He yelled, waving me away frantically with his' free arm.

I stared back at him, tears gathering in my eyes as I heard him go on and on. The man that I looked up to for the last four months and this was the last time I was ever going to see him. I always figured we would leave amiably with me stepping off the ship at some city in the states while I went back home or have to leave the job for family or personal reasons; I never expected it would end like this. I gave him a firm nod before embracing him in heartfelt half-hug and muttered in a quaking voice "I'm sorry." before turning around and leaving. I left and never looked back, despite how much I wanted to. And so, with his' last words in mind, I continued onward to fulfill the promise given to me by one of the wisest men I would probably ever know.

After quickly navigating through the halls of the quickly sinking vessel, I eventually made it to what used to be a port-side hatch but was now my gateway to freedom. I could hear the water following behind me as it filled up the rest of the ship while I clambered outside and onto the side of the ship, holding onto the side railing to keep myself standing.

As I looked over the side of the ship, I noticed there were a couple of intact life-boats still attached to the ship and steadily made my way towards them, climbing onto the side of the ship and using the railing as a way to steady myself as I walked along it.

Such a task was obviously quite difficult with the raging winds and the rocking of the ship as it was constantly hit by wave after wave, keeping me off-balance with each step that I took. Though, luckily enough, rogue waves chose not to strike the ship for the moment and I was free to navigate my way to the closest lifeboat. Detaching it from the mechanisms holding it in place, I promptly entered the boat as it floated out into the raging sea.

As my boat was shakily drifting away, the bow of the ship was now the only thing left above the water. However, it seemed that nature saw fit to give the ship one last parting gift and promptly launched a well-aimed lightning bolt onto the very tip of the bow of the ship before it quickly sunk into the sea.

Despite surviving all of this so far, luck, like always, wasn't with me, and in that brief instance of vulnerability, it allowed nature to take me in its grasp once more.

As I drifted away from what was once my temporary home, I wondered if any of the other crew made it out of the storm alive, though from the looks of things all around me I highly doubted it. No matter which direction I looked, I wasn't able to see the edge of the storm; though to be fair, the choppy waves cutting off most of my line of sight didn't exactly make things easy.

As I was pondering these thoughts whilst clutching onto the raft for dear life, I was nearly blindsided by a rogue wave enclosing upon me, and with me in only a raft and not a ship, there wasn't much I could do to prepare myself for when it would collide with me. As it seemed to gather me in its clutches, I saw how massive this wave truly was and wondered what on earth I did to deserve to be put in such a situation; though I think I was more focused on the task of trying to maintain my grip on what could only be described as the world's worst raft-surfing experience.

As my raft was slowly pulled into the hollow of the rogue wave, I experienced what had to be one of the craziest moments of my life. At the moment my raft and I were capsized and falling from the top of the hollow into the rest of the wave, I felt, saw, heard, smelt and even tasted my life flashing before my eyes. Sensations and memories that I had thought were long forgotten were as vivid as the day I experienced them. In that brief human moment, there was a sense of utter peace and stillness and I felt I finally understood what if was to be alive, and I thought it was ironic I would come to realize this just moments before what would more than likely be my impending conclusion to my somewhat worthwhile life. Then, once the moment was over, that all came tumbling back down with me and my raft. Lost in the vast forces of nature, I could only feel utter hopelessness as I was tumbled around and around in the ocean currents like a pair of socks in a dryer. This continued on for some time, and my last conscious thoughts were:

'Is this it? Is this how my life ends? No, it can't be…it just...can't…be…'

(End of Part 1)