So Really We Don't Have a Captain

Only red

        “So really we don’t have a captain. We don’t have a camel either.” I heard the words, but they didn’t make sense. I was beginning to question my sanity as an overwhelming sense of confusion came over me. Vision sluggishly crept up the edges of my mind and color lethargically made it’s way into my retina.  At first it was all blurry, a web of red impairing my sight. The intricate design of hues was lost somewhere unidentifiable, but it made me think of red. In truth, I knew I wasn’t actually seeing anything at all, merely the empty oblivion of closed eyes, interlaced with the light waves my eyes picked up. The blankness slowly went away and was replaced with an odd sight. Red. The sky above me was nothing but red, with a splash of blinding white in the far reaches of my peripheral vision. No one was to be seen.
        I thought it was odd that although my head was in its natural forward position, I had a clear shot of the sky and only then did I realize I was lying on my back. I must’ve fainted. I felt a dull pain in the back of my head, presumably where it had hit the ground. Throughout my lower back and legs though, I felt nothing. Mindsets of fear skittered up and about my nervous receptors as I attempted to cope with the numbness, like ants rushing to fix a broken home. Startled at the lack of feeling, I pushed up with my elbows and sat. Regardless of my lack of energy, I gave a jump when I saw what lay before me.

        A barren wasteland carried on perfectly flat in front of me for eternity, with nothing remarkable except for the occasional crater and scorch marks, staining the withered, yellow grass. At the end of eternity, where the sky and ocean met, a mountain range stretched upwards, as if challenging G-d. The mountains reached the mid troposphere, with a layer of stratus clouds thundering down on their relative midpoint, the ominous darkness entwining throughout the peaks, which were struggling to get above it. To my right, the wasteland stretched out indefinitely. To my left, the field went on until it clashed with the mountains out back and abruptly freefell into a treacherous, opaque lake further to my left.

        Where am I? I told my brain to lift up a leg in an attempt to find out. Why am I here? Finding that my leg would not listen, my fears were confirmed. What happened to me? IGrabbed hold of my leg with one arm. Who am I? Still I could not stand.

        Where was he? For twelve days, she had looked for him and still no sign. The policemen suspected murder, but had not found a body. I looked up at her from my bowl. The news had agitated her, and I didn’t like it. She stopped caring as much about me and I hadn’t even gone for a walk in the past four days. It seemed that all she could think about was Drake. Don’t get me wrong. I liked the guy and I really did look forward to his visits, but come on! This had reached a new level. Janeth had duties and if she thought that she could just bypass my attention for some stupid Drake, then she was sorely mistaken. In fact, I’d already decided. I was going to go out of my way to find this guy. 

        I continued looking up at her, now totally disinterested in my beat-up aluminum container, devoid of meat. Her face had the same juvenile features, the same blonde hair that flowed like a waterfall, and the same tan complexion, but she did not look the same as before. Her eyes, once beacons of color and gaiety, were now dull and perpetually covered by a layer water coating her corneas. Her mouth had shut, with no words of praise, no nicknames, no never-ending smile. No longer would she play with me or pet me and say “Good Gambit” in a voice we both understood as being ridiculous. Even her smell changed. Not enough to be indistinguishable as hers, but still enough to be noted. In short, she was a whole other person and I missed the old Janeth. More determined than ever, I set out to retrieve her. 

        I took a deep breath to settle my nerves. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. I tried shushing the voice in my head, yet a knot formed in my throat and my eyes welled up. I felt as if I had a purpose, but my circumstances, made my goal unachievable. Dejected and distraught, I closed my eyes. I began to cave in to self-pity and desperation. I could not move my legs. I could not see any sign of civilization, yet I had a view that went on for miles on end. I could not last more than three days without water. Worst of all, I couldn’t remember who I was. What was I like? Did I have a family or was I still single? Did I live luxuriously or did I have to scrape pennies just to eat? What was my name?