29th Piece

This is the 27th post to the book I was talking about in my "What My Blog Is" post.

As we start walking again I look at Eric. He looks good in a suit and so much different than when I first met him. I think back to the time when we did first meet. The day he lost his father... I knew it was my job to help everyone; their size, gender, and importance didn’t matter. So I picked my way through the people who slid around on the deck, after having dropped to the ground trying to escape the merciless rain. Once I reached him I threw myself over his crumpled body, letting the rain that felt like needles tear at the flesh on my back. I whispered the first song I could think of into his ear. It happened to be a song my mother used to sing to me before I went to bed. The mystic notes flew through the air, twisting, turning, and touching everyone with their melodic tune. I felt the man’s breathe, his chest rising and dropping slowly, but in a matter of minutes it stopped entirely. I slowly got off his lifeless body and gingerly rolled him onto his back. With what feels like two useless legs, I stood, held the body up so that it was turned toward me, and looked at his face. He had hair that was graying with hints of black, thin lips that were slightly ajar, wrinkles that covered every inch of his face, and blue eyes that matched the color of the raging seas below us. I walked to the railing of the boat with a numb brain; the sea’s crashing and turning had no effect on me. Everyone lying on the ground looked up and seemed to realize what was going on. They tried their best to slide out of the way to form a straight path; all of their eyes were on me. I reached the railing and looked once more into the lifeless man’s eyes that still seemed to be growling like the ocean. Slowly, with tears in my eyes, I lowered my head, sang the last verse of the song, and threw him overboard. It looked like he was falling in slow motion; his eyes looked directly into mine and seemed to have a slight smile on his face. As if he knew what was happening and was ok with it, like he knew that it was his time to go, and he’s going to a better place where he would be at peace. His body hit the water and I turned away abruptly while it hungrily devoured the man, the salty spray of its jaws wash over me. The people still stared as I walked past with a straight back and high head to the middle of the boat and sat. I looked into every passenger’s eyes searching for the ocean blue color the man had. I skimmed over many faces. Everyone had a story to tell. All of their faces, young and old, were solemn, mourning this man they never knew. There were many shades of colors in their eyes; green, brown, blue, even gold, but only one of them had the ocean blue that raged just like the old man’s. He looked to be about twelve, like me, with the same hair that was black as night sky. Everyone formed a wide circle around my soaked body. Adults held children the buried their heads in their parents chests. The boy with the eyes as deep as the ocean sat directly in front of me and took a deep breath. I stared straight into his eyes and sang the entire song loud enough for everyone else to hear the melody of it, but softly enough so that the boy and I were the only ones who can hear the words. I feel a shove and am brought back to the present day. I look around to see who shoved me but only saw Eric trying unsuccessfully to withhold a smile. I push him into a door that’s covered with more useless junk but he just bounces back laughing.