Full moon

The deathly cold water was like glass under my feet and the cold air was biting my red nose. The light seeped through the clouds above in tiny cracks but it barely reached the ground. My hair rustled slightly though there was no wind, I could feel a figure behind me but when I looked there was nobody there. Goosebumps made their way up my arms and over my shoulders making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Was it worth it? Was it worth the cold just to see for one last time?

I felt the non-existent wind once again; I stood on the end of the wooden pier and watched the water closely. There was not a ripple for as far as the eye could see; I wanted to lean over and dangle a finger in the icy, water, to see a ripple spread across the perfect surface. I leaned down and dropped my arm, my outstretched index finger met with the surface and ripples spread, like a thousand tiny tsunamis they broke the glass and I watched as it eventually disappeared.

I sat down fully, feeling the cold damp wood beneath me. It was getting to be dark but still I waited and watched. The full moon shone thought the thin layer of cloud just slightly; I looked down at the still glassy water and I saw.

I saw the eyes of a million people staring back at me. Some of them I recognised and some I didn’t, but I knew who I wanted to see. The un-blinking eyes pierced the silence and penetrated the dark to reach me. Then I saw the one I was waiting for, the whispers of their voices filled my head, they called my name and I felt their ghostly wind pull at my hair. He moved towards me and I bent over the edge; his face was still youthful, the same as it had been when he left me so many years ago. I caught a glimpse of my own reflection, the wrinkles around my eyes and the frown lines etched into my forehead. I wondered how he saw me, was I still the youthful girl I once was or did he still see the age lines that the years had so cruelly formed on my face.

He smiled up at me and I watched as he raised a pale hand as he always did. He brushed the surface of the water but made no ripple. I looked out at all the souls who also were waiting for loved ones to join them before moving on. They all watched me; their hollow eyes stared out at me, haunting me. I could feel the hardship of each and every one of them drawing me in like a good book. One million souls, one million death scenes.

The horizon pulled at the sides of my vision. The water seemed deep and endless though it was only came to my waist. In the summer months I would swim here until one full moon after seeing what it truly was, I haven’t been in the water since. I looked up; the moon was above me directly now so I decided it was time to call it a night. I stood up and the voices in my head changed,

“Your time...” They whispered, the eerie blue light of their faces swirled and I walked to the edge to take a closer look. My toes over hung slightly and I looked down. The faces swirled and darted making it hard to keep track of who was who anymore, I leaned over the edge and outstretched a hand to touch the water,

“Your time...” I saw familiar faces rise then dart away from me. A strong wind caught me from behind and I lost my balance, plunging head first into the sub zero water. The shock of the cold made me gasp and I dragged in a lungful of the salty water. I rose to the surface coughing up water and shivering. I sat on the dock not able to move due to the intense cold,

“Your time...” the voices got louder but I could no longer see the faces. My whole body shuddered and suddenly I was happier than I had been in years. I felt myself falling; I fell through the deck into the icy water once more but this time I made no splash, I barely felt the water as I touched it. When I hit the bottom it was cold, like ice. I looked up to see all the people I had know looking at me, staring at me. I stood up and walked out from under the board walk. I could see the dark shadow of my body on the deck and I knew what had happened. I was dead, just like all the people in the water that I had come to see every full moon, I was dead. Their hands all touched me as I walked past. I looked at my reflection in the surface of the water, I was young again. The lines and the creases had left my face and my body no longer felt frail and fragile. I reached out to touch the surface of the water but I couldn’t. It was right above me, but it was like trying to touch the sky; the more you try the further away it seems.

Then I felt a strong hand clasp my own. The sun rose from the horizon and the surface disappeared. I turned to see that he had found me, after all these years, he had found me. I was not alone in this dark prison, like a waiting area for the ghosts who had nobody to go to. So together we moved on into the light.