"Hand me the line," Josh called out, adjusting his fishing rod. Fishing was foreign to me; the term "line" was just a piece of rope in my mind. His backpack was filled with a variety of oddities: small toys, metal balls, worms, all meticulously organized in clear containers. Not understanding their purpose, I handed him the entire bag.
"Thanks, man. Glad I got you out here," he said, laughing.
"I'm an introvert, Josh. I'm only here because of you," I replied.
"That's why I didn't invite you for drinks," he teased, focusing on threading the line through the hook.
"How long has it been?" I asked.
"Too long. We used to come here all the time, remember?"
"Yeah, you had that red bike," I reminisced.
"Stupid? That bike was great. You were always trailing behind," he said with a smirk.
The sunlight danced through the trees, creating a mesmerizing pattern on the water's surface. I had brought a few books and a flashlight, and we sat in companionable silence, lost in the moment. It had been three years since Josh had a job, and I had been immersed in my studies.
We had only a day or two together this time. Life's barriers had grown between us, like parallel rivers, eventually carving out new paths. Josh set up two fishing rods with glowing sticks and offered one to me, but I declined. Fishing required patience I didn’t possess. He cast the lines and we settled onto logs left by previous fishermen to watch the sunset.
"So, how's life treating you?" I asked, keeping my voice low.
"It's a mix of highs and lows, like an elevator," Josh replied. "How about you?"
"My life's been pretty dull. Books, studies, part-time work. Honestly, I’d rather listen to your stories."
"I've been hopping from job to job, trying to find better pay," Josh said. "I started in a factory, then moved to delivery driving. The pay's better now, and the job’s easier."
"That sounds exhausting," I said. "What about Amy? How is she?"
"We broke up. She went abroad to study, and we drifted apart. It was like dating an AI—just texts and FaceTime. Eventually, I didn’t even realize I was seeing other people."
"You cheated?" I was shocked.
"I guess I did, without even realizing it. Our relationship had turned into a routine, a voice on the other end of the line."
"Maybe she still cared, but couldn't express it," I suggested. "Those who stop caring stop loving."
"Maybe," Josh mused. "But I felt trapped. Now, I feel free to go wherever the wind takes me."
"Just remember, once you separate body and soul, there’s no going back," I cautioned. "You can't cage the wind."
"That's why I'm telling you this. You understand," Josh said. "I just want to live."
As the night wore on, our conversation drifted into silence. By 9 p.m., we were both exhausted. We packed up our gear and left the peaceful lake behind, our conversation a mix of nostalgia and uncertainty about the future.
“You, the gust that shook us even back then. It’s all fun and games Josh but remember, once you separate the body and the soul there is no coming back. I am not judging you, not anyone needs to settle down. Those forced to when not meant to, cause suffering to their offspring. You can’t cage the wind.”
“And that’s precisely why I am confessing to you. You don’t judge. I like to live, that’s all.”
“You do you, my friend.”
The night went on silent and uneventful. We were both tired by nine and by ten we had packed our things and left the peaceful lake.
About the Creator
Keep reading
More stories from Arshad Mecci and writers in Fiction and other communities.
Six Feet Under
Buried alive. What a horrible way to go. Yazz lay there, in her own thoughts. What else could she do? She was hungry, thirsty, tired, mentally, and physically exhausted, and more than anything, she was bored. She hoped she would die of boredom before anything else, anything else would've been more painful. Like many people had, she and her friends had talked about what they reckon the worst ways to die were, it was a morbid subject, but it came up every now and again. Yazz had always been one to argue her point on drowning, others had mentioned burning alive, slowly and painfully bleeding to death, hung drawn and quartered, and being starved to death. It was strange that none of them had considered being buried alive, it had never come up. But now, she was thinking back to those conversations her and her friends had had, how could they have not thought about it? It took a lot longer than the others, you were completely confined, you couldn't move or do anything, you just had to wait, until your body was physically unable to support a life system anymore, which could take up to four days. Four! By far the longest out of all of them. She recounted some of these conversations just to try and pass the time, anything to pass the time. It was difficult to know how much time had passed since she had been underground, it was difficult to know anything. There were many things that Yazz didn't know, she didn't know where she was, she didn't know how she'd got into the coffin, she'd just woken up there. Yazz also didn't know what time it was, or even what day it was, she guessed at Tuesday, it was Sunday evening when she'd been buried alive, intentionally, and although it had felt like weeks had passed, she was still alive, which means she hadn't died from dehydration, and therefore it couldn't have been more than four days.
By Liam Storma day ago in Fiction
Whispers in the Woods
The forest stretched out before me, its ancient trees towering overhead like silent sentinels guarding the secrets that lay hidden within. As I stepped into the cool embrace of the woods, a shiver ran down my spine, as if I could feel the weight of centuries pressing down upon me.
By Mayowa timilehin6 days ago in Fiction
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.