Nameless
He ran down the empty street laughing in the face of the hurricane that raged. Anyone else had already left the town or hidden safely indoors. It didn't scare him. He'd been in one before. A phantom voice laughed beside him. "Will you look at that? Your in the eye. How many people ever get this close to a hurricane. Bet you didn't think that was gonna happen when you woke up this morning?" He'd been too afraid to really take notice then. Now he looked. Now he revelled in it. It was so beautiful. He made his way down to the beach. The waves were enormous. They smashed against the shore taking chunks of it with them when they receded. He looked over to the old jetty that disappeared as a wave surged forward and emerged again as it withdrew. "Amazing," he thought. After all this time it still stood, withstanding every beating that it had received over the years. He remembered walking down that jetty for the first time. He'd been afraid then too. Meeting all those people. People who would become the most important in his entire life. He'd thought they'd be so 'military' at first. Then he'd come to learn that most of them weren't and if they were it wasn't such a bad thing. He had loved them and they had left him behind. Tears welled up briefly but were soon lost in the downpour. "I'm shaking," he thought.
"How can you tell?" another phantom asked. There was no hug to comfort him now. He looked out onto the horizon and gasped. "Lights," he whispered. "I thought I saw lights. I swear it was lights." He ran down the beach and onto the jetty. At the end of it he saw them, smiling and waving. They were waiting for him. He wasn't forgotten. He dashed down the jetty and leaped off the end landing in the outstretched arms of his friends as they stood just inside the boats hatch. An old weathered man stepped forward and he knew he had come home when strong arms embraced him.
They found his body washed up on the beach the next day. It wasn't important, just one less crazy homeless guy to worry about. They didn't even know his name.
He ran down the empty street laughing in the face of the hurricane that raged. Anyone else had already left the town or hidden safely indoors. It didn't scare him. He'd been in one before. A phantom voice laughed beside him. "Will you look at that? Your in the eye. How many people ever get this close to a hurricane. Bet you didn't think that was gonna happen when you woke up this morning?" He'd been too afraid to really take notice then. Now he looked. Now he revelled in it. It was so beautiful. He made his way down to the beach. The waves were enormous. They smashed against the shore taking chunks of it with them when they receded. He looked over to the old jetty that disappeared as a wave surged forward and emerged again as it withdrew. "Amazing," he thought. After all this time it still stood, withstanding every beating that it had received over the years. He remembered walking down that jetty for the first time. He'd been afraid then too. Meeting all those people. People who would become the most important in his entire life. He'd thought they'd be so 'military' at first. Then he'd come to learn that most of them weren't and if they were it wasn't such a bad thing. He had loved them and they had left him behind. Tears welled up briefly but were soon lost in the downpour. "I'm shaking," he thought.
"How can you tell?" another phantom asked. There was no hug to comfort him now. He looked out onto the horizon and gasped. "Lights," he whispered. "I thought I saw lights. I swear it was lights." He ran down the beach and onto the jetty. At the end of it he saw them, smiling and waving. They were waiting for him. He wasn't forgotten. He dashed down the jetty and leaped off the end landing in the outstretched arms of his friends as they stood just inside the boats hatch. An old weathered man stepped forward and he knew he had come home when strong arms embraced him.
They found his body washed up on the beach the next day. It wasn't important, just one less crazy homeless guy to worry about. They didn't even know his name.