Day 360

There was no way to control how he moved, he just drifted.
It felt like he'd been floating along for an eternity but glimpses of the news said it'd been 34 years.
34 years since the fever took him.
35 years since he'd walked on his own two feet.
Almost 40 years since he'd been to his home country.

He was drifting towards a beach so maybe he would end up there again.
Maybe that was where he'd been heading all along, drifting back home to finally rest.
As his feet (formerly gently dragging over the ground) touched the water he knew this was it.
He would never come back here.
Never catch glimpses of his loved ones.

The water lapped through his feet and he felt nothing, he hadn't felt anything since his death.
Even then it wasn't so much a feel as the gradual loss of feeling.
His eyes were the first to go, they'd faded so gradually over the year he'd barely noticed.
His ears went next and left him with years of silent darkness, years of contemplation.
His heart went last, it wasn't the dramatic spluttering you saw on TV, it was quiet final flutters.

He'd been drifting over the ocean for so long, he'd even seen a few boats, gone through them too.
Huge waves engulfed him from time to time but he remained roughly on level.
Sometimes he thought he could see land incoming.
He swore he saw others like him drifting in the distance.
He even he thought he saw his parents walking away from him.

His inability to follow them felt like torture, he couldn't even cry out.
When did they die, was he there, did he say goodbye?
They were alive when he last saw them, whenever that was.
It wasn't too long ago, that much he knew for sure.. for sure.
They faded in and out in front of him, always in the distance but close enough to almost touch.

Forgetting is the easiest thing to do, he eventually realised as he tried to recall his children's names.
Waves rolled over him and he began to drift down.
This was different, he had always remained at one level even when waves washed over him.
He was almost glad to be dead at this point, how else would he ever have seen all of this?
It got dark a faster than he expected.

For the first time since his death he felt things brush past him, fish probably.
He felt something, no someone, hold his hand.
They felt warm as their grasp tightened, dragging him down faster and faster.
Surely he should feel panic but it had been a long time since he had felt anything.
After a while the hand let go and he was left suspended in endless darkness.