A small wooden boat floating in the middle of the ocean about eight feet long with two benches. Nothing was on this boat except for a single life preserver, it wasn’t meant for anything like this. The water seemed to be pretty calm and there were no clouds in the sky, it was a beautiful day, but there was no land in sight for miles on end.
This is where I found myself after my “night out with the boys” on saturday of this past weekend. This after my wife told me to not get too wasted because she knew I had been stressing out about work, along with her not liking me going out anyway.
I woke up feeling groggy and just overall hungover, not knowing in any way how or why I was in the place I was. I only could recall leaving my house as Hannah, my wife, was nagging me and then arriving to the bar I always go to with my friends. I had not a clue what to do because I’d never thought I’d actually be in a situation like this. So, I did what most people would do and pulled out my phone, clinging on to the only hope of having even the slightest bit of cellular service. I then tried yelling for help which quickly ended, knowing no one would answer. Not knowing my next move, I decided to sleep off some of the hangover.
Hours later, still laying on this scrap of a boat, I started to think about Hannah and how well she treats me, she’s the first to help and is just the most loyal and trustworthy person I know. I couldn’t believe that I would do something like this to her, scaring her sick and quite possibly never being able to see her again. “I shoulda listened to her” I said underneath my breath as I scavenged the boat for any hints as to how I got there along with how I could get out of this situation. A sort of darkness started to appear around my boat under the water, it wafted around like smoke, consuming all the water around my boat. Terrified, I screamed “HELP” “HELP, SOMEONE PLEASE”. With no sign of anything that would save me from this mysterious darkness, a figure emerged from the water, revealing itself to be what looked like a massive skeleton in a cloak holding a scythe. As the smoke slowly blew across the surface of the water, and the sky turned grey, it said, “This is a near death experience, i’m not here to kill you”. Being in complete disbelief I rubbed my eyes and smacked myself multiple times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. It then continued saying, “You treat people wrong, and you’re going to lose everything if you don’t make a change.” He then proceeded to touch my forehead as I trembled and shook in complete terror. It sent me into a trance, sending my mind to a plane of existence no one had ever experienced before.
I was at home. I felt at ease here, not knowing what to do with myself, I walked around and tried to find something to do. I tried to interact with many different things including my phone and my alarm clock that wouldn’t stop going off, but a force was keeping me from touching or doing anything that I didn’t touch or do on the original day. I sat up and called for Hannah, but I couldn’t even hear my own voice, so nothing was said in return. My alarm clock read 11:31 Saturday, August 22nd. “I went back in time!” I said in my head. I went about my day normal, not doing much as it was saturday. I then felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders and I was able to affect what I did rather then seemingly living in my body, not being able to change my actions. I then went through the same nagging as I did before with Hannah about going out with the guys. I knew I had to be nicer about it so I was, confirming my safety and promising her I would only drink a few beers. Then she told me that it was okay to go out if I stayed responsible. So I went out and everything got blurry and painfully bright for almost a full minute. I then woke up, only to find it was the same day… again. Not knowing if or what I did wrong, I was forced through the same day of boredom again, basically only being able to see out of my eyes. It was a weird feeling not being able to control my body, It was an unimaginable experience and it terrified me even more, especially because I could be stuck here forever. After having to experience this day many more times, every time, changing the outcome by a little bit, and making Hannah happier, the same figure appeared to me. He explained to me that not everything is about compromise and that sometimes small self sacrifices could go a long way. He told me that I only had one more chance to make this better and if I don’t learn he’ll leave me out on the boat.
So, I pushed my way through another day of boredom, internally terrified that I won’t make the right decision. It came around to the time of the fight again and I told Hannah that I loved her more than anything in the world and that it amazes me everyday how she deals with me and my crazy life. I then asked her what she wanted to do tonight and listened to every word she had to say. The same darkness that overcame the boat started to overcome the trance and everything went black.
Then, I heard my alarm clock go off and I sat up, It read, Sunday August 23rd.