The waves (short story)

A story set in a strange world with no land, people are all sparsely separated, it is meant more as a philosophical story instead of a traditional story. Points if you can guess what the story conveys

The air blows cool and sharp against my cheek as I look out into the vast expanse, I’ve been sailing these seas for as long as I can remember. In my world I live in a world with no land, or at least no land that can remember.

Everyone sails alone, there is no one with me on this boat, and sometimes I am presented with a strange longing to be alongside other people, to touch a hand with my own. To feel another’s breath on the cold nights and to feel a presence next to mine. There are of course others sailing the same currents. People in my world are a strange phenomenon some I see a lot more than others, some are tethered to me but others I only encounter fleetingly or see in the distance. But no one is on my boat, no one, takes the same path. Surrounded by people I’m alone and so are they.

The waters so far had been calm for the most part, flat and happy, the waves against my feet gently swished and rocked against my feet, mischievous but not angry. It seems that the people around me shared the sentiment of the sea, constantly shouting and waving at each other, every year around this time this familiar ritual happens as the calm conditions allow people to be more outgoing. Communication between people in the colonies in my experience was always sparse, it was rare for the currents to allow any two boats close enough together that communication could commence in the form of talking.

People in my experience are never able to properly communicate with each other, they’re never close enough. Interaction between people is always fleeting either indifferent, passionate or silent. I know I am like the other drifters, I can see their reflections and so can I also see my own. Everyone has the same amount of arms, legs and eyes. When I am around people I can often find this similarity comforting but from that point onward I would say that that’s where the similarities end. Unlike the waves around me my thoughts are turbulent and wild, my head at times can feel like its screaming and sounding across the surrounding ocean. But the others do not hear them, and neither do I hear them.

The closest girl to me about 30 boat lengths away had recently started a strange form of shouting and pointing I had never seen before, shells and people all received different noises. Before long she and I had developed sounds for her boat, my boat, shells, sand and ocean. This was an exciting time for me as the ocean had never provided a person this close to me before. This communication went on for a number of moons with her gradually getting closer and closer. I could now clearly see her features and we had begun to make noises for things such as “feet”, “cold”, “warm” it was the first time I had begun to feel properly connected to another.

Upon inspection she seemed slightly older than me, her skin was still young and shiny, I had seen no wrinkles from where I could see Her hair was the colour of sand and moved and looked like the calm waves surrounding her. Her skin was darker than mine and her features were soft and rounded with the exception of her gaunt cheeks and piercing brown eyes.  She was radiant, elegant and foreign to me. What does her inner voice sound like is it shouting like mine or is it different?

The days grew longer and I found myself restless thinking about her, I had never felt this way about another on the ocean. Before long we had made a plan to make a ‘close’ tether to our boats. These days however did not last, in our haste to get close the tether was rushed and we were separated in the coming storm season. Neither of us became drifters I still had my connections and so did she, just not with each other.

And so my thoughts remained raging in my mind and the waters around me remained calm and flat, continuing to float along the waves.