It’s damp, dark and freezing cold. The fog is so dense it’s impossible to see ahead of you. You’re standing at the front of the ship struggling to see even a mile ahead of you. Suddenly you notice a huge rock straight in front of the ship, but it’s too late. You run away from the bow of the ship as it crashes into the rock with a tremendous bang that shakes the whole ship and knocks you down. In the frantic hurry to get off the incredibly fast sinking ship, you stand up and run to the side of the ship to jump into a lifeboat. On that lifeboat, you find your best friend. You start to lower the ropes quickly, but ahead you hear shouting. As you look up you notice a person getting cursed at and thrown off a lifeboat by some very rude people who kept saying that the person would only be a deadweight to their boat. You row over to them and help that person into your boat.

     For the next 5 months, you are out at sea. You discover multiple deserted islands that keep all of you alive. During that time, you become really close to that stranger that you picked up. You then start to feel like you love that person but you’re afraid to admit it because you’re afraid of rejection. You’ve never really been able to trust people, but for some reason, trusting this person was easy. They made you feel loved and happy. You share EVERYTHING with that person. Everyday that you spend with that person, you get closer and closer. You both have the best time chasing each other around the islands in a laughing frenzy while calling each other names while your best friend silently watches over you like a guard dog with worry. You start to feel incredibly attached to that person, and you start to be thankful that they were on that lifeboat when the ship crashed.

     Everything seems great until one day, you are all out at sea on the small lifeboat and suddenly something hits the bottom of the boat. You jolt awake, adrenaline rushing through your body. You grab the ores and tread water as fast as you can towards the nearest island. Whatever that had hit the boat before, hits a second time but this time with more force. You hear a splash of water as you struggle to stay standing. You look behind you, and you see your best friend in the water. You quickly realize that she cannot swim as she screams out your name in a desperate plea. You want to jump in and save her but you’re afraid of what’s in the water. You ask your lover for help but they give a bullshit excuse just to try to save their own skin.

     Before you could even think about what to do, you notice your best friend struggling to stay above the water, but as you look off into the distance, you notice the creature is a shark. That shark is headed in the direction of your best friend. You scream loudly as you watch the shark dive underwater to drag your best friend under by her leg. You notice her necklace in the trail of blood that was left behind. You search the water intensively for a few seconds to see if she will surface, but realizing she won’t you quickly grab the necklace. You hold the necklace tightly in your hand as the stranger rows as fast as possible to the nearest island. Once you get to shore, you cry until you can’t breathe anymore. You sob for what seems like hours on the cold and lonely island until you finally fall asleep in the strangers arms. You spend the next week feeling empty, like you’ve lost a part of your soul. You’re laying there on the sand just thinking about all the good moments you’ve had with your best friend as you stare at the sky.

     The stranger who you’ve come to trust very well, tells you that they are going to search around the island and that they love you. You realize this is strange because they’ve never actually said that before. Hours pass, and they still haven’t returned. You get up and search for that person but you can’t find them. You look for the lifeboat next but can’t find that either. Damn. You realize that the stranger left you stranded on the island. After everything that you’ve told them and stood by for them when no one else wanted them, they decide to leave like it was nothing? You realize that the person you loved never actually cared about you, it was all just a lie. You sit on the sand and start to cry because you have no hope, no one left, and you’re not even sure if you’re going to live while the person you loved is probably being rescued right now. All you can think about is how can someone just leave like it was nothing? How can someone be so heartless? Why did this have to happen to me, and why all at once? Can I even trust anyone anymore? How will I know who will stay and who will leave? You finally realize that the person you once cared about was always a “stranger” even though you believed otherwise. You were oblivious to the signs that were so obvious just because you truly believed you loved that stranger.

Part 2: Washed Ashore

     She can’t remember what happened and how she got here, all she remembers is swimming for a long, long time. As she wakes up in the middle of nowhere, but somewhat close to shore she notices the leaves of the pine trees blow lightly as the waves crash upon the shore. The wind whirls as her salty tears flow and her throat burns with all the salt water she’s swallowed. She is lost, in a sea of despair. She doesn't know how to get out, for she is the one trapped in a cage, surrounding her, are the sharks that killed her best friend, now hungry for her crushed soul and bleeding heart.

     She's fallen too deep, she cannot weep her sorrows away like she used to do as a child. As her fears circle her in determined hunger to consume her, she continues to panic, but no one can hear her screams for as they are just simple bubbles that pop up from the surface of the vast, noisy ocean full of deep secrets. Her thoughts scramble in her brain like a wave washing over her. The irony of the most beautiful day and long walks on the breath-taking beach to the actual reality of the darkness of the deep, never-ending oceans that killed her best friend consume her. Her whole life is flashing before her, she quints as the flash of the camera repeatedly scans her, for she's just the laughing stock of the town. She's pure entertainment. People say her fate wouldn't matte because she’s just “lost her mind”. She’s just a clown in a box so she can't protest. She is being watched by the thousands of people who walk by and stare at her struggling in the ocean in awe.

     She's just a shatter in a glass case. Thrown away. Re-used, but not for good reasons. The horrible creatures of society think she changes like the seasons, first they pity her like she's a sandcastle that gets stepped on and continuously rebuilt and now they think she isn't worth the effort to unwrap her from the seaweed she's gotten herself stuck in. She can't do anything but scream. She wants out. She's trapped. It feels likes she’s just been slapped, by a million hands that echo throughout her mind. It burns as if it were to burn when walking on the scorching sands as it temporarily stings.

     Her soul is like a bird with broken wings who just crashed upon the shore, trying to get away before the waves drown the small and frail creature. She's weak, like the birds, and her future is bleak. "Let me go" she screams out, as the burdens of her past slowly trap her once more. The echos are all around her, the only sound she can hear is the negativity and the gasps of the crowd. She's stuck in captivity when all she wants to do is see the light. But her fears are just too tight around her, choking her.

      The life slowly dies inside her soul, as she finally realizes her goal. Happiness. She thinks of all the things that bring her joy, just like her best friend did. Her one hope of happiness is true love. She needs someone she can trust enormously. She needs that spark, joy and protection. She needs someone who will untangle her from herself, but also she realizes that she needs to save herself before others can help her. She NEEDS to find the meaning in herself. No more being lost. She hates to be tossed around and kicked at. Like a broken tool, she's just laying there to be fixed, but instead people see her as worthless.
As the cloudy day rolls by, she notices a certain loneliness and sadness in not only the day, but herself too. Like a storm locked in a chest on the shelf,slowly dissipating out into the world, like a spell that's just been released from a cursed soul she realizes that her soul is the thing trapped in that box and it slowly being released. She doesn't know how to find the light, because she's never been right, she’s only been lied to. She's been trapped for so long she's bored, mentally and physically. She's tired and lonely. But she can't fix that, at least not until she has the energy and the right mindset. But that would be weird because her whole life she's been alone and depressed. Fighting an internal war with herself, a broken and self conscious soul. That's the thing, she can't handle being alone. She tends to drag herself deeper into the darkness, allowing herself to see the world in a dull haze with continuous sighs of longing.

     Longing for human contact, someone to hold her up until she's strong enough to do that on her own. In the darkness, she notices her own dark thoughts lurking around her, ready to jump her like sharks circling her cage. They’re ready to ruin all self esteem, all chance of hope. Leaving nothing but a walking black hole of sharp glass that slowly but surely breaks at every touch, a deadly weapon. But she knows how to get out, and that’s what she’s going to do.