Índice
People tend to say the most horrible or apathetic things you could ever imagine without even thinking about it. They will explain to their children or their comrades that they don’t have to be afraid of the water. “Water doesn’t bite” they will then shout, laughing and smiling, as if I had chosen to be afraid of it. When you have been out on the sea, when you have lived and breathed the air of the ocean, you will know to fear what the waters can hide.
And you will learn to understand that a simple and normal rain, that you would see as a minor obstacle in your daily routine in the city, out there in the middle of the blueness can be the most terrifying and unsettling monster you are ever going to encounter.
When I heard the rumors about the big storm, which had eaten half a hundred ships in the last semester alone, I did as everyone else and disregarded it. “Sounds like a tale for children, you know, those ones you tell them so they stop arguing between each other and go to bed early… Like the bag-man!” I remember me saying to my brother Joshua as we got into the boat looking to start our long awaited journey.
A few nights after, we started to understand a little bit more of the wrongness in our judgment. A clear bright afternoon was upon us. And as we were helping the crew with their duties the captain spoke thru the radio: “The storm is coming”. That was it, at first we didn’t get it, everyone in the ship started to act twice as fast as before. They were tying objects to the deck, and moving the tiniest ones to the storage room. “But is sunny and beautiful out here!” I heard my brother yell at one marine. “Can you feel the breeze on your neck? That light wind that gives you a little chill? Have you seen how the birds are flying in the exact opposite direction we are heading? This we call the calm before the storm… I would suggest you two go down stairs and stay there until we tell you otherwise, capisci?”. The answer felt like a brick wall.
That very night, every bit of tension and loudness being reflected in my sweaty face, we went out to the deck again, inspired by our curiosity, but more than that, our defiance. After all we were just two stupid 20 years old boys; we could have barely been considered adults. In the cold and wet darkness, I saw for the last time the face of my beloved brother. His eyes as surprised as mine, as the most enormous and bloodiest wave struck him down, and threw him out of the boat. I could do nothing, no, that would not be the truth. I didn’t do anything. I chose my own life over his, and that’s a weight I must tkae on with me for the rest of my life.
“Water doesn’t bite” I hear them say, but that night they were proven wrong, mother nature doesn’t like to be underestimated and will not be afraid of having to prove its power.
And you will learn to understand that a simple and normal rain, that you would see as a minor obstacle in your daily routine in the city, out there in the middle of the blueness can be the most terrifying and unsettling monster you are ever going to encounter.
When I heard the rumors about the big storm, which had eaten half a hundred ships in the last semester alone, I did as everyone else and disregarded it. “Sounds like a tale for children, you know, those ones you tell them so they stop arguing between each other and go to bed early… Like the bag-man!” I remember me saying to my brother Joshua as we got into the boat looking to start our long awaited journey.
A few nights after, we started to understand a little bit more of the wrongness in our judgment. A clear bright afternoon was upon us. And as we were helping the crew with their duties the captain spoke thru the radio: “The storm is coming”. That was it, at first we didn’t get it, everyone in the ship started to act twice as fast as before. They were tying objects to the deck, and moving the tiniest ones to the storage room. “But is sunny and beautiful out here!” I heard my brother yell at one marine. “Can you feel the breeze on your neck? That light wind that gives you a little chill? Have you seen how the birds are flying in the exact opposite direction we are heading? This we call the calm before the storm… I would suggest you two go down stairs and stay there until we tell you otherwise, capisci?”. The answer felt like a brick wall.
That very night, every bit of tension and loudness being reflected in my sweaty face, we went out to the deck again, inspired by our curiosity, but more than that, our defiance. After all we were just two stupid 20 years old boys; we could have barely been considered adults. In the cold and wet darkness, I saw for the last time the face of my beloved brother. His eyes as surprised as mine, as the most enormous and bloodiest wave struck him down, and threw him out of the boat. I could do nothing, no, that would not be the truth. I didn’t do anything. I chose my own life over his, and that’s a weight I must tkae on with me for the rest of my life.
“Water doesn’t bite” I hear them say, but that night they were proven wrong, mother nature doesn’t like to be underestimated and will not be afraid of having to prove its power.
