The morning sun filled his eyes as they awoke from a deep sleep. The blue sky was above him, and below him only dirt. A pulling feeling deep inside his belly brought him into the morning and his mind began to stir. Where he had found himself was anyone’s guess, and what he was doing there too. There were no answers as to how he had got there or where he had come from. Perhaps the greatest mystery though, was who on earth he was.

He looked down at his weathered hands, the grey skin stretched across his bones. He was wearing what looked to be blue and white striped pyjamas, complete with nightcap too. He felt a great thirst, and was sure it must be greater than any thirst of his life. His body longed for moisture, the skin aching with want. His hair felt brittle and so dry. His eyes burned in the sunlight, and his mouth was as charred earth with every bump and line exposed and raw.

Standing on his bare feet, he looked around. Nothingness was a sight to behold. The dried earth stretched on to the horizon in every direction, and no cloud could be found in the sky. It was at that moment he realised just exactly where he should go, and so he went.

Walking for hours with no name, no birthplace, no clue as to his identity, character or place on this earth he headed exactly where he was supposed to go.

His feet burned, the chapped skin rubbing against the dryness below him. His mouth grew sore and blood appeared at the corner of his small tight mouth. Yet still he carried on, he longed to be where he was going.

The sun arched overhead, keeping him within her sights never blinking, never letting him escape her gaze. The heat of his skin burned itself, but he knew it would be soon soothed.

As the sun gave its final wave of heat farewell, a fog grew around the man, and his feet sunk into the earth below him. The marshland was inviting, he wanted to be sink into it, its coolness swallowing him. But he knew he would reach his place soon.

The marshland was replaced with tufts of dew glistened grass and soft silky sand that massaged his feet, the grains slipping between his toes. This is where he stopped. He had arrived.

He looked out at the vastness of her beauty. She stretched from left to right as far as his eyes could see. They began to water, and the her breath was a breeze that brought drops of water to his lips. A fog settled across her body, and it’s saltiness filled his nose. As it entered his mind, it brought along his memories that were encased in the fog.

Captain James Weatherall was were he should be. She had been calling him, and he longed for her embrace. He strode across the sand, each step becoming more wet than the last. The sea water swirled now around his knees, and it grew deeper still. This was her touch, her cool inviting touch. He longed for more, wanted the water to lap against his chest. Looking down, his legs now almost transparent, he knew he would be home soon, with her. As the water climbed up his figure, it passed through him, melting him into her.

Cooling water washed over his head, and he felt it slipping into his mouth, up into his nose. The first time this had happened he had been gripped with fear, the salt of the water burned his eyes nose and his chest. Fire was in his lungs. This time, as always, it was cooling. The icy liquid stilled his body, and numbed his mind. Only his face was visible now, just below the surface of the water. He expelled the last of the warm heavy air that was prickling his lungs and a smile slipped across his face as it dispersed into the white foam of the sea.

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