Silent Ship, Silent Sea

[ninjaastronaut]

Josh stood solemnly on the far edge of the wooden dock, examining the giant lake with great focus. The way the lights played off of the swaying water, doing an elegant dance just for his eyes. There were no birds: it was too late in the season for that, and a chilly wind blew in from the water. He pulled the laces on his jacket to cover his face a bit more. A fishy smell came from all around, and the air was humid as if it had just rained. The smell was almost unpleasent, but it could bring a calm to almost anyone. The early morning sky was tinted yellow-orange, and dew from the grass had wettened the bottom of Josh's paints. There was no noise, utter silence, exept for the lapping of the waves against land. Josh allowed himself to become absorbed in the whole experience.

He stood there, stiff, motionless, with a part of his body begging him to sit down, to give his legs a rest. They deserved it after all, they'd been doing plenty of walking lately. But he couldn't. He couldn't sit, couldn't move. Something in his mind couldn't focus enough to make muscles obey commands. He seemed distant, far away from his body, his being. He wasn't a part of this world anymore. Dissconected, sleepy, he'd lost control of what little was going on around him. He- his life- was at a standstill. Trapped in a momment in time.

Slowly, a sailboat crossed the lake, sail high, scraping the rising sun. Josh noticed the boat, as anyone would. For a momment he thought about the boat. How there must've been people on it, though his brain didn't necissarily think of it this way. From his perspective, it was just a boat. it had nothing to do with life, with living. These thoughts seemed to bring him back to himself, into being, and he was able to pull himself together enough to sit down.

At the edge of the dock his feet were only inches from the water, and from time to time a wave would graze the bottom of his shoes. This didn't bother him at all, his shoes were already wet from treading through the grass to get here. Josh wondered for a momment if he should let out his growlithe, but he was probably still asleep and hated water with good reason. He leaned back, balancing his weight on his hands, and sat there lazily for some time.

[Night]

It was hardly sunrise, and yet he was awake. In fact, he hadn't even slept the night before. Only now was he beginning to feel a little tired, although nobody else would be able to tell. The morning was chilly, and the tall man making his way towards Demon Lake could see his breath billowing in front of him. With each breath he took, the air seemed to become more energizing. That is, if he could be energized in this weather. Felix had been sent out on a mission by his superiors the night before, which didn't surprise him since they knew that he was a very good night traveler. Only those higher in rank than him new about him being a Gijinka, and so they always chose the missions that best suited his style. In this case, he was being sent out to look for a runaway grunt and capture him. Team Imum was known for their strict policies, and this was one of the most serious: never, on any circumstance, should any member of Imum leave without permission. And everyone knew that no one was allowed to leave. Once a member joined they had to vow to stay with the Team, and the consequences were fatal for runaway members. Felix honestly didn't see the point in going after runaway grunts. They would almost always resist to come back, and the prices they paid for it were almost always painful in some way. The reason that he alone was sent on this mission was really quite simple. The runaway grunt had been evading every other patrol, or person, sent to capture him, and the higher-ups decided that they would have to send out someone in a higher rank to take care of it. Thick black boots squished down the damp grass as the black and white-haired male searched the edge of the lake. The Gijinka had followed reports of a weak-looking man in this general area, and had came up to the conclusion that he was right on the grunt's heels. Upon reaching the edge of Demon's Lake, the smell of water and fish hit the man like a ton of bricks. In fact, it disgusted him. His nose was particularly sensitive, and the smell made him want to vomit. The rising sun shone into his blood-red eyes, and Felix spotted a figure across the lake after he covered the sun from his eyes with his hand. The figure looked tired, very tired in fact, and was sitting on the edge of a dock, its feet dangling into the water. This was his chance. Skirting the edge of the lake, keeping careful not to be seen, the black and white-haired man managed to get to the other side of the lake and behind the man. He knew it was the grunt he was looking for. It was obvious that he had been traveling for a very long time. Felix's white cloak fluttered behind him as he strode up to the lonely man on the dock, his face spreading into an evil smirk. Stopping at the beginning of the wooden dock, the man crossed his arms, the leather of his black gloves reflecting the orange-red sunrise. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here." He began, a frown spreading on his face. "It's the lonely grunt who thought he could desert his Team. What a shame he didn't have common sense just to kill himself." The man sneered, a smirk crossing his mouth. "You do know what happens to run-away members, don't you?" He finished, the smirk on his face changing to an evil grin. Oh, this was going to be interesting.

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Words;; 627. Sorry, I got carried away xD
Notes;; Hmm. This'll be fun ^^
Tagged;; Josh (Cheddar~)
Muse;; Awesome

[ninjaastronaut]

The voice made Josh want to die. If he had the choice, he would have a heart attack right at that momment. Come to think of it, it'd probably give the guy quite the scare himself. Somehow under the pressure Josh managed to laugh at that. Not a laugh really, but more of a quick breath. Still, he wore the stupid grin he'd always tried to slap on his face when he was in a situation that wasn't necesarilly comfortable. He knew what he was going to do. He knew as soon as this shmuck started talking. He didn't really have any other choices, did he?

Of course not. There was only one. He'd only ever had one.

With slight disdain but zero hesitation, Josh threw off what was probably his seventeenth jacket he'd wasted recently. It really was a shame. He brought his shoes up to level with the edge of the dock, and shot himself forward into the lake, making a large splash that he continued to hear under the water. he did all this between the "d" and the "t" in that man's "don't."

He swam, pain peircing him from his legs, his lungs, his ribs, his throat, his eyes. He was just one huge tangle of pain. He realised how good he'd gotten at running away.

Water pushed and pulled at him with more violence than he'd imagined. The experience made him imagine hundreds upon hundreds of people, hands pushing and pulling at him. Like the water itself was out to kill him. It truly was terrifying. The pressure on his ribs while he tried to suck in air didn't help, either.

Pulling hiself forward, nearly hyperventilating, Josh could only keep one thing. "I'm not going to die. Not from friggen water! I've done all this! SICK OF THE WATER!" Water, truly, was his enemy. At this point it was his only enemy. His worst enemy. He could think of nothing else in this whole world but this water that was trying to pull him down, suffocate him, murder him. He could never catch a break, could he?

He felt as though his ribcage was stubbornly refusing to break, but instead being violently bent against his lungs. He thought they were going to explode, to pop. At the time it seemed like a perfectly justafiable phobia. He wasn't sure if he was crying. He was too wet to tell. He probably wasn't.

His shoes were being a real bother. The were becoming dead weight with all the water in them, and were making paddling more difficult than necessary. He wished he wouldn't have double knotted them for the walk up here.