Stranded

I woke to a gentle sway, as if in a cradle. Blinking away sleep, I found myself surrounded by a vast expanse of green, a wilderness I couldn’t recognize. Panic flickered in the corners of my mind. Was I on a boat? As my vision sharpened, reality set in, I was alone, adrift in the middle of nowhere, the air thick with the wild cries of birds. The sky above was dark, the light fading rapidly. How did I end up here? And more importantly, where was “here”?

My heart pounded as I noticed a slip of paper lying beside me, stark against the boat’s weathered wood. With trembling hands, I unfolded it. The words were scrawled hastily,"This is your last chance at life. Be wise. -Regards" A chill crept up my spine. Who sent this? And what did they mean by “last chance”? Fear tightened its grip on me, squeezing until it was hard to breathe. My eyes darted around, searching for some sign of who or what had brought me here.

Then, the water stirred. A ripple, subtle but unmistakable. I froze, dreading what was to come. Slowly, something emerged, two eyes, cold and unblinking, surfaced, staring straight at me from the murky depths. A crocodile. Could things possibly get worse? I knew nothing about boats, and even less about surviving in the wild. How was I supposed to escape this?

But there was a glimmer of hope, whoever had put me here had at least given me a motorboat. My fingers fumbled as I reached for the ignition. The engine sputtered to life with a roar that felt almost too loud in the suffocating silence. The crocodile’s eyes vanished beneath the surface, but the danger didn’t. I was still alone, lost in a place that felt like the edge of the world, with no idea how to find my way back.

As I steered through the treacherous waters, memories began to surface. The betrayal, the empire’s collapse, my hand in its downfall. The corners of my mouth twitched into a bitter smile. This isolation,was poetic, almost fitting. In fact, this was less than what I deserved. But if this was my last chance at life, I wasn’t going to waste it.