Everything was working perfectly. Parts of a pale body briefly appeared under the dim moonshine before they descended again in the immense silence of the sea; invisible to anyone looking out. His two legs pushed his body forward, parting the waves with his hands, neck and back. As soon as his arms reached his side, a great thurst of legs brought him out of his sense of stalling. He took a deep breath before repeating each sequence of motions. Strengthened by the coolness of the water and the darkair, his muscles pushed on without hesitation, begging to show everything they were capable of.

He had been in the water for a while since his toes at last pushed off the sand floor. Now, it was only his own body´s strength pushing forward and keeping him afloat. For a long time he thought of nothing and simply tried to focus on his arms and legs coming through each wave in one continuous, whole movement. He felt the water running though his hands, underneath his fingernails, and between his toes. Immersed. Proudly, he managed to keep much of his hair dry, though this required a lot of energy. He could have moved faster, but he was somewhat ashamed to rush.

Some, as it always does, worked its way into his mouth through the sides of his closed lips. The salt taste was pleasant, and he briefly stuck his tongue into the water for more. The salt of the earth, his food and wounds.

At some point, his legs began kicking instead of pushing and for a moment, he responded by moving his arms like an Olympian in wide, alternating strokes, but some Greek God must have laughed as the water got into his labouring eyes and ears. He continued for a while like before until he remembered the towel. He kicked harder and squeezed his fingers tighter to push each new wave, desperately, further behind.

The hard work, he was sure, caused the unwanted phenomenon. As he toiled, his vision cystalized. It became very clear before moving into all directions like the glimmer of a thousand diamonds. He quickly submerged his face under the surface and squeezed out a few tears along with the snot he blamed on his draining work; returning everything to its source.

His hair was wet now, and he let the salty water drop willingly over his opened eyes. The burning sensation focused his arms and legs and thoughts on one thing alone, to move forward.

As he started to notice the weight of his body more, he turned over on his back. Determined to float, he relaxed his arms and arched his back. He brought his toes to the surface, but at once, his head plunged under the water and his legs tried frantically to kick off an absent sea floor.

Back overhead, he took a deep breath of the cold air and remembered he was alone.

Again, he turned on his back and made his whole body flat against the sea and with a few kicks of his legs, he was finally able to drift. He closed his eyes as he submerged his ears in the water. You have to be submerged in order to float.

He listened to the sound of the sea as the water filled his ears and it was unlike any sound he heard in any dry sea shell on any shore he ever visited. He was in many places. The sound, like a return to a simpler time, being born out of water, at home in the water, a whole, warm and carefree sound.

He opened his eyes to a  thousand lights suspended above him in the night sky. Everything was waiting for his command. He felt like some kind of creator with all ingredients in his hands to build a new world. But what could he have done differently at the level of dust, meteors, and atoms. If only to move a few stars a little closer, making the dim light glow a little stronger once in a while. But which ones and when?

A beloved image came into his head and he tried his best to recall every detail, but the stars above only mocked him. For one can never know the night sky; to remember completely its simple face and hear again its far-away stories.

As his eyes came down, he saw the blinking tower in the distance. A great space of darkness lay between them. He turned on his stomach and continued to lengthen the distance to the shore. His legs pushed, his arms parted, and his chest filled up with the night air.

At last, his legs kicked but failed to push through the waves, lacking in strength, speed, and time. His arms came down but he could no longer keep his fingers together. Like a rudder with holes, a fishing net, his body no longer had an effect on the dense sea.

He came to a stop, his body just above a sea without ground. His kicks became faster in an effort to keep him above. After a short time he lowered his head and opened his lips. The water filled his entire mouth, but he kept it in there, no longer tasting the salt as he breathed frantically through this nose until he no longer could. He pushed the sea water through is entire mouth.  His head was light, he could see but was not looking at anything, and all he heard was the water on water..

His body jerked as he swallowed. Paralyzed, he sunk into the sea. His mouth opened and swallowed, opened and swallowed, opened and swallowed. Opened and swallowed, opened and swallowed, opened and swallowed. Opened and swallowed, openened and swallowed, opened and swallowed and opened and swallowed

…

A white crab was climbing over his hand. He was staring into a white sun but could not see. White sand was baked against his chest, arms, and face, covering his eyes. He felt water moving up and down his legs. He hurt, the world hurt, and his arms hurt as they came up to clear the sand from his white eyes.

The sea hurt, as he first saw it, its ripples and incessant desire to live.

The crab tickled his shoulder. He gently placed it in the arriving waves washing ashore.

End