Lifeboat

Epilogue

My shoulder hit the side of something solid, the impact woke me from my black void of sleep.

Stretching my bare toes I felt rough wood curved around me. A splinter spiked the tender flesh of my little toe and I sucked in my breath.

A rhythm of motion made me nauseous, the top half of my body swayed to the left and right, whilst the lower half appeared to be stable.

I opened my eyes. They were tired, strained and blurry. Raising my hands I tested the structure around me. A warm, damp texture met my fingertips. A dark covering of thick material had been stapled to the top strip of wood of what I could only presume to be a coffin. An odd, curved version of one.

My torso swayed again, then a staccato tapping began above me, playing out a tune on the cover.

I didn't remember a thing. How had I got there?

I shot my hands quickly over my head, my face, my body.

Naked! Why?

Imaginings of a terrible nature flashed through my mind. What had happened to me to leave me this way?

Shivering, the blood pulsed through my ears, it swirled in time with the speed of the drumming above me.

The little beats picked up the pace. Now I understood what caused the noise.

Rain.

It was raining. I exhaled deeply with the ordinarity of this and leaned up to prise my fingers along the edges of the cover. It thankfully released its grip and eased free from the sides of the structure.

The material gave way easily, my poor muscles groaning at the effort I needed to push myself up.

Splashes of rain greeted me, they fell from a sky as black as the interior of my 'coffin'. As I stood on shaky legs, the motion became more pronounced and nearly knocked me off balance.

Gentle trickles of water ran down my skin while I regained my posture. A flash of silver lightning seared across the sky. I gasped and cringed instinctively.

It began to rain heavierand as my eyesight improved after the glare of lightning, I could take in the world around me.

To my left, a broad expanse of dark water stretched as far as the eye could see. To my right, an increasingly steep rise of a pebbled shore. I had never been here before.

I did remember something though. To prove it, I brought my wrist up to my eyes. Yes, the tattoo of the number three was still there. At least that remained.

Shivering, I took hold of the side of the wooden structure and stepped out onto the smooth, hard stones. I strode away up the beach to search for shelter. Leaving behind my memories and the Lifeboat.

THE END

Author's Note

If you are reading this story on any other platform than Wattpad, you are at risk of a malware attack. Watt pad is the only site I have given permission to publish this story. To read it in it's original, safe form, please go to Wattpad. Thank you. @Mrsdeemo