The end

Warning- Suicide

So this was it, her last moments on earth. She had thought she might change her mind, staring across the endless ocean as the sun set in the distance. Perhaps memories would come back containing reasons for her to carry on living and she would lift up the oars and row back to shore. She realised how naive this thought had been, she was now so far past that point they seemed laughable. Any happy thoughts had been lost in the haze a long time ago, along with the days when she used to smile.  Now all that presided in her tortured mind was acceptance, she was ready. In fact she needed this, wanted this, craved the nothingness and the release she would soon be feeling as life left her scarred body.  

The gentle patter of rain jarred her from her dark imaginings and she watched with morbid curiosity as the rounded droplets splashed against the wooden planks separating her from the water. She had always loved rain and yet now she saw its arrival as a reminder, the world will not wait for her. When she slips serenely into its murky waters it will not stop turning on its axis to mourn her passing, nor will any of its inhabitants for that matter. So why wait? Now was as perfect a time as any. She reached down to the bag by her feet and pulled it onto her lap. From inside she extracted a large stone, rough at the edges and heavy. Silently she inserted it into her right hand pocket before doing the same to the left one with a similar stone. Her hand dipped repeatedly into the worn leather bag until her pockets were brimming with the jagged objects which had resided there. She stood up with difficulty, the weights at her sides and the rocking of the row boat making the simple action a challenge. She turned to face the sunset once more and caught the very end of it as the small curved edge of the red disk sank down completely.

She stepped to the side of the boat, her ears deaf to its ominous creaking, and looked down into the cloudy green water. The waves lapped the side of the boat and foamy spray soaked her clothes as she stared at her coffin. She tore her eyes away, closed them and jumped.

The sea swirled around her as she sank, tossing her from side to side like a rag doll but never impeding her descent. Her eyes stayed firmly shut even when the air she had automatically held was released, rising in bubbles towards the surface only to get broken by the writhing water. Even when her lungs felt like they were burning inside her thin frame and even when her last desperate gasps for air went unanswered.

The body hit the sea floor and stayed there, splayed out on the ground amongst the jagged rocks of the seabed who welcomed their kin as they tumbled from the young girls pockets. Her identity faded over time as everything but her whitewashed skeleton was removed by the organisms that thrived around her.  She had given up on life and left it, the wonders of the world had been lost on her before they were even discovered. No longer would the raindrops she had so adored dance upon her skin as they plummeted from the sky to meet her.

Another life lost.