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03rd June, 2021
The wind was warm and gentle on my face as I stood and watched the waves crash against the shore, each one a drowning man wishing to escape, yet perpetually being pulled back into the vastness of the deep blue by the unseen talons of the water pull. The setting sun was spilling liquid gold all the way to the horizon, the shimmers glinting on the rippling surface. A strand of my overgrown pesky hair tickled my cheek. I really should've cut it before I came here… And, how did I come to be here? Why was I here?
Looking down at my dominant hand I saw that I was clutching a piece of yellowed parchment paper all scrunched up. I tried to unfold it and read what it said, but at the first hint of the elegant cursive letters a gust of wind assaulted my side and the little rumpled scrap simply flew away leaving me standing there, unmoving. I really should’ve held onto it a bit firmer. I lost it. Gone forever…
“…Joshua…” … “…Hey…Joshua…” a faint familiar female voice reached my ear strenuously, in spite of the now fierce, yet warm wind, and I turned around expecting to see my beautiful new bride, but got an eyeful of my aforementioned overgrown, sand-filled hair instead.
“…Joshua…I’m going now…” the disembodied voice whispered riding the wind, and my heart gave a start, anxiety creeping all around me, and not the good kind. Swatting away my unruly hair I finally managed to glance at her soft, round, dainty shoulders and her long, luscious, wavy, ginger hair floating on the water, almost levitating, as she slowly disappeared under the transparent barrier of the sea. I waited for her to resurface to no avail. The anxiety was now transformed into a full blown panic attack, and I knew there was no point in panicking, but old habits die hard, I guess. I couldn’t lose her, too.
I charged at the sea, a knight in well worn, dingy armor trying to save his drowning damsel, but as soon as my feet clashed with the sea foam angrily sweeping on the shore there was nothing but the darkness… I rolled over in the middle of the night and saw the outline of her delicate form shone upon by the full moon giving my darling wife a gossamer-like veil of moonlight glow. She lay on her side facing away from me, her torso slowly expanding and constricting. I reached over and placed my hand gently right in-between her shoulder blades and gave her back a single, deliberate, yet delicate stroke. She acknowledged my touch with a sleepy, murmured endearment, and I returned to my slumber loving her even more.