Captivated

The Black Sea

There was a sea of blackness, a sea which was freezing cold yet burning hot at the same time. I was just... floating, my body moving up and down with the movement of the waves. It was so soothing, I could almost ignore the crippling sensations wracking my body. It was a phantom pain - I could feel it but oddly enough, nothing was there.

Suddenly, the sea started to shake, the waves jostling against my sore body. The sea began to get restless and my body was sent reeling as I was shaken to the left, to the right.

"STOP", I wanted to yell but my mouth wouldn't open, as if my lips were sewn shut. I reached forward blindly trying to grip onto something but fists were met only with more water, the liquid trickling out from my closed fingers.

The sway became rhythmic and I found a pattern, one which allowed me to brace myself from each turn. However, as quickly as I adapted, the sea sped up and I found myself flung left, then right, waves mercilessly crashing on my face, smothering me in the relentless liquid.

I fought through the waves, my arms flailing wildly as I tried to break through the surface but it was to no avail for the moment I neared the sweet oxygen that lay in wait for me, another wave would roll, piling water on top and furthering the distance I had to travel.

"Please" I sobbed, "please..."

Was I never allowed to rest? Whoever I was, I had suffered. My mind refused to acknowledge anything about me, not even who I was. All that existed was a blank slate, one that didn't even allow me the privilege of knowing what my name was. The body I had hurt, it burned with a pain that seemed to grip my heart in a vice. Despite all that, there was a slither of resilience that forced me to carry on.

Even as I tried to swim through the black chaos, my body was being jostled by some unknown force and I had the sense of movement even though my body was still. The jostling increased; became more frequent, violent and my strength decreased, each stroke more feeble than the last till I could barely move my fingers.

My body was in freefall, sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of this angry black sea, and I inhaled, the will to struggle dissipating with the air I had left in my lungs. Thick black tar entered my nose, the liquid cold but leaving a trail of fire as it travelled down my throat. My eyes were wide open yet I could see nothing, a swarm of haziness.

There was some kind of comfort I gleaned from the darkness. I was alone yet I didn't feel alone, this void around me was my sole company. My eyes could see nothing, yet I could feel an unexplained presence of something soothing, laying in wait for me to surrender. The deeper I sunk, the more tired I grew until my body became rigid, my eyes coming to a close.

The jostling began to ease until the sea strangely became still. I opened my eyes in surprise. I was still sinking, but slower. I sighed and closed my eyes, I had no strength, there was nothing in me. The water became a warm solace, a soft velvet comfort that eased by aching muscles and relieved my nagging worries.

"Arya", a voice echoed.

I opened my eyes. I could hear a... voice.

"Arya..."

The voice was faint and weak like it was far, far away.

"Arya!" The voice shouted with urgency.

It was a man's voice, deep and masculine and as he shouted that word again, my body was struck with some strange fevor. The water around me rippled with the intensity, flinching back.

"Arya, listen to me, you need to wake up", it said in a thick, power-filled voice.

As those words reached my ears, my body was filled with the urge to obey. The voice said to wake up, I wasn't sure as to why, but I had to listen.