The winds grew and like an avalanche sent the winds and waves crashing into the boats sides with heavy punches. The punches steered him to the center of the storm's eye.

Thunder cracked the sky with roaring booms that shook his ear drums only leaving a ringing that shushed the rest of the world's sounds.

The rain and thunder woke him from his dazed state and he could feel that the worst had yet to come.

He could feel everything rising, the waves carried him high and unfathomably low, his body shook and he began to feel the coldness he had longed for, now he wished he hadn't.

He cursed the sea. The longer he was in this boat the more he disliked it.

It was like fate was tempting him at every door to fall into the grasps of death.

With anger he thunderously roared at the sky, he was only twenty, fresh out of the military and ready to live the rest of his life in the peace and comfort of his new home. Yet in the end the sea seemed to have a thick killing intent.

A glaring light blindingly hit the water, the thunder striking just inches away from him. The crackling of the thunder numbed his hearing and he could no longer hear the wind rush past.

Death taunted him to fall and fall into its waves but he tightly held onto the boat's edges for dear life.

He still had many things to do!

He would make it back home and live the rest of his life in luxury if it was the last thing he’d do!

The boat swung out onto a high wave reaching hundreds of meters in height, the wave stopped. He’d never felt such fear in his life, he would definitely die this time around.

“Fuck.”

And with one last curse he accelerated down with the crashing wave. The wind rushed past and he felt the millions of raindrops that hit his face like small swords become even more intense.

His breath hitched and his stomach dropped but his eyes stayed open until he finally reached the bottom of the wave. He breathed a sigh of relief and felt his body up. He was still in one piece.

Then he felt the boat rock and the wind once again pick up with fearsome intent, his boat rose on another wave that was equal to death.

Would passing out make this end sooner?

*****

After the storm had passed and the winds had died down did he poke his head out of the boat. He was drenched from the rain.

The sun had started to set, the ball of red was like a giant ball of fury and blinded his eyes as it hit the water. The world was dyed red.

He couldn’t help but laugh to himself. How the hell did he manage to survive that?

He laid on his back, and opened his mouth, the last bit of the rain couldn’t quite quench his thirst, he took off his white shirt and rang it out. The water poured into his mouth and he wiped his lips, “it’s a bit salty.”

The winds were cold and the sun set leaving the sky empty, a color that can only be described as an abysmal black was the only thing he could see. Not even his fingertips were visible.

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His fingers grazed the boat's rough edges. It was so dark.

He continued to lay on the boat's uncomfortable floor. A subtle feeling rose in him, it was vague and obscure but also painful and slow. He could only pinpoint it as the feeling of dying.

His thoughts wandered…

When you get to a certain age you start to look back on things, he wasn’t old by any means but he looked back often.

He wasn’t the smartest or the most dedicated of people.

In the end he still survived on his own, he didn’t need dedication when he had determination. He had the will to step forward. His parents had secluded him and showed not even an ounce of love. At the end of the day he picked himself up, told himself it was okay. There was nothing wrong with self love.

He could do it again. He’d survive somehow.

He’d adapt. He’d move forward.

…otherwise, he’d be eaten.

He had just gotten out of the military too, he had survived that. He survived bastards screaming and breathing down his neck. Exercise that broke bones and waking before the sun's head even peeked from the mountains.

This would be no different. Even with a broken body he wouldn’t let his determination shatter.

‘Life is too cruel.’ He almost wanted to cry, one tribulation after another. Somebody out there didn’t want him to have a moment of peace.

As the boat rocked on the waves, he closed his eyes and could feel death inching closer.

Thud.

The boat stopped rocking.

He sprang back up to his feet, the feeling of death silently went away and his eyes grew wide as he looked at the small island his boat had landed on.

It was really small but his feet left the boat anyway. Before it could float off on its own he pulled it to shore and laid on the sand soon after in exhaustion.

He was so tired.

He looked up into the night sky.

He somehow survived the tribulations of the sea and finally stepped foot on this land. If he was gonna survive this then his goal would be to find a new path on this land that would lead him home.

The cool winds of the night made him sleepy and his eyes closed.

*****

“Argh, what the fuck!”

He hopped from place to place shaking his legs. A pinching could be felt from… you know where and he couldn’t help but let out a string of curses.

Low and behold a bright red crab was dangling from his precious jewels. Tears quickly poured out of his eyes and his shaking hands tried their best to pry off the crab.

With a final pull the crab was sent flying away into the gray sky.

“This is not how I imagined my first day on land.”

From this point on he was not sleeping on the beach.

He sat back down and he shakily took in breaths of air. He had to sit down for at least ten minutes to get over this kind of pain.

“I feel like my dignity was more damaged than my balls.”

He stood up from the sand, it somehow already reached every crevice of his body.

His ragged body moved toward the coconut trees, the morning dew spread across every part of the island, the morning fog wasn’t going to clear up anytime soon. This was good and bad as the morning fog soothed his burning flesh, but that meant he couldn’t tread further onto the island in fear that something could strike him while hiding in the morning fog.

He was doubtful there were any beasts on this island. Yesterday he could see the other end of the island from just the beach.

It was better to be safe than sorry. As the morning dew slowly dissipated he stood up and walked onto the muddy dirt, he stripped his shirt off and felt that it had dried up for the most part. After a good shake the shirt was free of sand and he lightly touched the shirt onto the blades of grass, the shirt became wet after a few minutes and he rung the fresh morning dew into his mouth.

This was truly bliss.

He almost wanted to just do this all day, he wanted to collect every drop of water on every blade. He did a second round of this but knew he had to continue forward, food was the second most important thing.

Putting on the slightly damp shirt it stuck to his red skin, he shivered from the cold feeling and began to walk forward. The fog had disappeared and the other end of the island could be seen.

A tree caught his attention. Underneath the tree was a bunch of round brown balls. He rushed to the tree and picked up a coconut.

‘I am so blessed right now.’ He wanted to cry tears of joy.