"What a crappy day," I say to myself as I walk over to my motorcycle. "I'm so sick of my life here.

My name is Jack; I live in the city and work on the docks.

I also hate my life. I have lived here all my life and have always wanted something better, which is why I work my butt off saving up so I can take off on my bike and never look back.

As I put away my things into the storage bags on the sides of the bike, I look up at the end of the docks and stare out at the ocean, wishing I could be somewhere else. Just riding my bike nowhere in particular going where the roads take me. The first signs of rain dot the ground around me snapping me out of my daydream; I sigh as I take my cap off and slide a pair of goggles over my eyes.

I start my bike and take off quickly hoping to beat the rain. I am not looking forward to being home, nothing waiting there but dirty dishes and noisy neighbors. I exit the docks to the long stretch of back road leading to the big barge that connects to the city, the sky growing menacingly black. I worked overtime again today, so I'm the only one on the road; that being said I hit the gas as it starts pouring buckets.

"Damn it! Give me a break!" I scream at the sky. As I pass onto the bridge visibility becomes zero. I wipe my goggles and decide I had better stop until the rain lightens. Unfortunately, I did not see the piece of scrap metal that fell off the hauling truck from this evening's shipment sitting in the middle of the road. My front tire explodes as I run over it, and before I can realize what has happened, I am sent flying over the barge railing into the river below.

There wasn't even enough time for me to process a thought before I made impact.

As I slam into the river below I'm kept under the surface by the raging current and I fight desperately to keep my head above water. I break the surface coughing and sputtering and clutch on to an outcropping boulder. The current tears me away before I can get a decent grip and pulls me along again slamming my head into one of the concrete support pillars of the barge.

My last thought before losing consciousness was "of all the days to not have my helmet…"

My vision goes black as I surrender myself to the pull of the current.

---------- ----------

"Hey! Hey buddy you all right?" I hear a voice say from somewhere outside of the darkness in my mind.

"How did you get here?" I felt someone move me and I manage to crack my eyes only to have the bright summer sun blind me and make my head pound.

"Oh Goddess, you're bleeding bad, Kai! Help me get this guy to the clinic!"

"Where?" Was all I managed to slur as the sun beats down on the stranger and myself.

"You're in Mineral Town," the voice says, "hold on were getting you some help."

The last thing I remember before slipping back into the darkness was the gentle lapping of the waves on my legs and the warmth of the sun on my skin.