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Resting my body on the bulk of the ruined mast,
this is the only remnant of the great ship I once commanaded.
Everthing and everyone else was gone now. Tommy was the last to slip
into the depths of this unforgiving lake. To me, it was more like an
ocean than a lake, but who am I to say. It wasn't so great to me either,
unless you count death and destruction as great.
We had started out at six a.m. for a nice summer cruise. Me and my gal
tommy and bryce and his two sisters. The forcast was for smooth sailing
and sunny skies. We were to have a nice sail and dinner and relaxition
after. Everything was beautiful, the girls having fun laying out and me
and Bryce talking and having a beer. No one knew what we were in for.
The twins were looking good that day, Tonie and Tamie. They were
two years younger than Bryce, he always kept a close eye on them.
They were into the whole fitness thing, they had even been on the
cover of womens fitness a couple years earlier. I wondered why they
were still single, at twenty six. I guess they just had'nt found the
right men yet. Now I knew they never would.
We had been sailing for about three hours when out of nowhere the
sky started turning dark. We were so far out there was no sign of
land anywhere. Bryce turned to me and asked if we should be concerned.
My famous last words still echo in my mind, "We don't have anything
to worry about" I said. Hmmmmm.... Life will never be the same, If
I make it out alive I thought as I floated along.
I started thinking about Tommy and the good times we had had. Together
for four and a years next tuesday. We had planned to take a drive up
north and stay at a bed and breakfast next weekend. Every year we
would take a trip somewhere together. She insisted. We always had
fun together. She was my lover and my friend. we could go or do
anything together....... But now......
I really was'nt to worried at the time, I had been sailing these lakes
for years and the skys always became cloudy. It was just the nature of
the beast. When they started becoming darker, I was a little concerned,
however, wondering if we would get soaked as we made our way back in.
I hated fighted the waves and bailing out. Thats the only thing I thought
we needed to worry about.
Tommy and the girls had went below to change, the wind was getting a
little colder and we were turning back. I looked at Bryce, and he l
looked a little worried, I tried to console him a little and told
him we would be back to shore in no time. As i looked north, the sky
was gettin blacker and the rain was starting to hit. I started to
worry a little myself. We'll be okay,I told myself.
The wind was in our favor so we let out more sail trying to beat the
storm. It was almost as dark as night by then. We were all up top
by now working together. None of us saw the huge ship until it was
right upon us. It slammed into the side of us, throwing Bryce and
Tamie and the front half of the boat into the water. Me and Tonie
and Tammy scrambled to grab hold of watever we could as the rest
of the boat sank.
As the rest of the boat sank, we held on to what was left. Tonie's
head was bleeding pretty bad, and she was not making any sense. I
tore my shirt off and tried to fasion a makeshift bandage. She
did'nt look very good by then. It had only been a few minutes...
I wondered why no one on the huge ship had even saw us. It had'nt
even slowed down or showed any signs that anyone on the ship even
knew they had hit us. I wondered how that could be. It was getting
hard to hold on, as the mast kept rolling and we had to reposition
ourselves every few minutes.
Tonie slipped into the water as the mast rolled again. I tried
swimming under to find her, but she was gone. It was all I could do
get back and hold on myself. I wanted to cry, but I had to be strong for
Tommy. I worked my way over by her and put my hand on her shoulder.
we'll be okay I told her. I was'nt very convincing I thought.
As the waves rocked us back and forth, I thought of the day I met Tommy .
She had gone to school with the twins and Bryce had actually gone out with
her once when they were younger. I knew Bryce from work, we had talked many
times and he seemed like a nice guy. We liked the same footbal team and
watched a couple games together. We started hanging out after that, and one
night we were at his parents for dinner and Tommy was there. I fell In love
the moment I saw her.
Bryce was all for it, he laughed all the way to my house. "You should have
seen you" he said. You could'nt even talk right. I reached over and punched
him in the arm because I knew he was right. I was so thankful she felt the
same way about me.
We were in love and there was nothing that could take it away from us. But
nowhere in our plans could we have seen this coming....
Tommy started to slip into sleep as I tried to tell her she could'nt.
"please hold on darling, soon someone will be here" I kept saying. She
looked at me with a depth of despair I have never seen before in anyone,
then she managed a soft smile.
I love you, she whispered.
Slowly I tried to position her so if she did fall asleep we could both still hang on. Then a huge wave came and spun the mast around and threw both of us off into the water. I scrambled to get my head above water and I could'nt find Tommy anywhere. I knew she was gone and so were we. I started to cry.
Suddnely the water started settling down, and the sun slipped a small ray out ward. Tommy was the last to slip into the depths of this unforgiving lake. To me, it was more like an ocean than a lake, but who am I to say.Everthing and everyone else was gone now. Resting my body on the bulk ofthe ruined mast, this is the only remnant of the great ship I once commanaded.
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And as she plays,
her sweet song of laughter
floats through the air
and warms my heart
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