Sink or Swim

“There’s a chance we make it out alive,” I said, staring up through the bars. The sun was rising, and a lone seagull squawked as it flew overhead. My heart ached with longing to fly away with it beyond the sea.

“What chance?” said Neanderthal, his face somewhere between disgust and rage. “When the tide comes, it will fill up this little cell, and we’ll be the next pair of bloated corpses floating in the bay.”

“I’ll be floating. You, I think, will sink. You’re all muscle, no fat.”

“Rar!” Neanderthal cried, springing from his seat. Clinching his fists, he asked, “Do you think this is funny?”

“No,” I said. “But you think wrong, is my point. You’re smart, but not precise. You won’t float. Biochemistry or whatever. You’re too dense. You will sink. I’ll float. I’ll float for days.”

“Not if I strangle you first.”

“No, still will. But I think I can find a better use for your muscles than homicide.” My eyes went back to the barred hole above our heads. “That’s iron up there, coated in some lichen or moss or something and rusted. I think you can break it.”

His face softened as his eyes lifted up to the light.

“Better than strangling you, I guess,” he said walking over. “But I can’t reach.”

“Not without me,” I said, and, getting on my knees and elbows, I added, “I don’t think they’ve had two people in here before.” He climbed up on my back without saying a word. Wobbling a moment, he found his balance.

“You’re right,” I heard him say before I felt his weight shift.

“Grr…” he groaned. Then there was a loud snap.

“Good call, wise guy.” His words were punctuated by the clanging of a falling, iron bar. His weight suddenly came off my back, and I stood. Looking up, I saw his form disappearing through the opening. For a moment, the cell was cast into complete darkness until he pulled himself up and out of sight. The view was clearer now, and the seagull was again passing overhead. I waited, but his shadow did not return. However, I thought I heard, in the howling wind, his wicked laugh.

***

The mind is a battlefield, I reminded myself as the ocean’s roar filled the little cave. My feet were drenched, and the rising water chilled me with more than its coldness. The seagull was still there, intermittently, his woeful calls stinging my heart. And what was the difference between man and beast? I wondered as the waves lapped at my knees. Are we all not just scurrying to fill our bellies until we run out of time? Mine was a waiting game, for now. I did not look at the water, but kept my eyes on the sky, trying to focus on the seagull’s cry as the ocean’s roar filled my ears.

***

Finally, the water rose to the point where my feet no longer touched the rocky floor. Lifted up, I felt myself pulled by the thrashing waves. The cave-wall came rushing at me. My hand went out, and the rough stone cut into my palm. Clinging to the wall, I tried to keep myself from the water’s further violence. Shivering, I felt the ocean turning around me like a typhoon, but I held on. Up we went, the waves sometimes flying over my head and other times rushing away, pulling me down and grinding me against the jagged wall.

Worn and weary, I fought. As the chaos rose around me, it lifted me closer and closer to the light.