Cyanide [4]

Shark Bait? I Think Not!

It's been several days since I've been afloat at sea. No sharks have come along, yet, which is nice. Wait, is that one over there? No, that's driftwood. I'm going insane.

The sunlight and isolation are getting to me. At least when I was imprisoned, I had visitors. I flipped onto my back, making floating easier. I fell asleep for I don't know how long. When I woke back up, I flipped onto my stomach again.

Far in the distance, I saw something dark looming. I squinted, holding up one of my hands to see what it was. It looked like a building. Excitement swelled inside of me, and I started paddling towards it. As I got closer, I could confirm that it was a city.

When I was about a mile from the shore, people started screaming. I pulled my sweatpants back on, figuring I could swim the rest of the way. I made it to shore and promptly passed out. When I woke up, I was chained to a hospital bed, and Captain Happy was standing outside the room. He saw that I was awake, and came inside.

"You gave those poor folks on the shore quite the scare. They thought you had died," He said, either winking or blinking at me, I couldn't tell. "I felt like dying," I groaned, my arms still aching from swimming all that way. "That was a stupid thing you did, jumping from a helicarrier 30,000 feet in the air and landing in the middle of the ocean. Your legs shattered into about 10 pieces each and had to be resecured using screws," He said. "Yeah, I could tell it was stupid. I swam for several days with broken legs, I'm aware they shattered," I said snarkily. "You just about died from heatstroke and blood loss. All to get away from us?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Well, as nice as the vacation was, I needed to get back to work. Sorry about your container. You can probably find it, it's only at the bottom of the ocean," I said, chuckling dryly. "Hilarious," He said, annoyed. "Anyway, where am I?" I asked. "Reddington Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria," He said. "Mm. I've never been to Africa before this. Would've preferred different circumstances, but I'll take what I can get," I said.

"I wasn't finished. You also caused damage to your spinal cord. The doctors concluded that you also have Paraplegia, or lower body paralysis," The news made my heart ache more than the rest of me. "So, Captain, when am I going back?" I asked. "What?" He asked, blinking/winking. "To the helicarrier, or prison, or wherever the hell you're gonna put me when I get out of here," I said. "What makes you assume that?" He asked.

"Well, you said it yourself. It would take over 34 lifetimes to live out my sentence. So, better get started," I said. Pegleg was extremely confused for some reason. "You're just...giving up? Why?" He asked. "My legs are paralyzed. I'm probably never gonna walk again. I couldn't go anywhere, I'm wanted all over the world. What choice do I have other than to give up?" I asked, looking at him. He didn't answer my question.

"Tell me, Peg Leg, what choice do I have? I can't walk, much less run. You'd catch me before I got out of the hospital. Yeah, I'm giving up. I might prefer the hard path, but sometimes it's just better to choose the easy path,"