_-Double-Vision-_

According to my watch it’s 1:AM Sunday morning. No, this can’t be right. Where was I between the hours of 9pm and now? I feel like I’m interrogating myself because I just don’t know where I’ve been. So here I sit, floating about the ocean like a giant piece of driftwood on an aimless journey…Wondering, pondering, deducing.

I’m looking at my surroundings and everything is here the way I remember it. I’m not narcoleptic so I’m sure I didn’t fall asleep for the missing time. I don’t have a history of epilepsy, so what happened? The palms of my hands look like they are dyed a light shade of green. Was I abducted by aliens? I should go check myself out.

I'm headed to the bathroom now and getting an overwhelming feeling of nausea. I never get seasick; did I eat dinner? Staring into the mirror my eyes are bloodshot and look like 2 maraschino cherries with pupils on them. There is seaweed in my hair, and it’s matted in different spots like a cheap haircut from a blind man. Did I fall overboard?

None of these clues are helping me, they are only making this situation more complicated to understand.

I do remember having a couple cold ones while setting up my fishing poles to snag some marlin. This is the best time of the year to catch a prize-winning fish but everyone who knows me knows I can hold my liquor...

Okay calm down, breathe. What is the last thing I remember? I remember setting up my new two-way radio, it’s still there where I left it. I remember putting some beer on ice, the cooler is right where I left it. I remember unraveling fishing line out of the hooks I like to use, I see those over there on top of my tackle box. I remember seeing a ship out on the horizon, slowly sailing away until it becomes a tiny speck in front of the setting sun. I was the only other vessel out on the choppy waters this evening, just the way I like it. Too much activity can spoil a good catch. Maybe I need to relax for a minute. Looking at my watch again and it still says 1:AM?… Great! Now my watch is broken. I paid good money for this piece of crap. I’m starting to get angry, where is my phone?

I know for a fact It is well after 1 am because I can see the morning twilight beginning to appear. There’s the phone over there on the tackle box with the hooks, it has to have the right time. Something just doesn’t feel right. Let me just grab my phone… “WHAT THE HELL!” I can’t pick it up, my hand is going straight through it. I’m gonna try again in case my accuracy was off. It’s going straight through it again like it’s some kind of mirage. Now I’m panicking and jumping to attention with my back against the cabin wall, I'm hyperventilating. “WHAT IS THIS?” My mind is playing serious tricks on me. Isn’t this the part where I wake up? But I’m not waking up, this is real. “Am I dead? I must be dead! Am I really dead?”

Let me try starting up the boat! The keys are still in the ignition, that’s good. What am I going to do if I can’t turn it? It doesn’t matter just try…. The same thing is happening, my hand is going right through the keys. If I’m dead, then where is my body? I’m looking all over the boat; I can’t look into the bedroom suite because its locked and apparently dead people aren't skilled at unlocking things.

I can’t pick things up and I can’t walk through walls, I thought ghosts were able to walk through walls. Am I a ghost? Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I’ve never been dead before. I have no clue what to do. Wait… I see something over by the stern of the boat. It’s looks like a leg or something. Now that I’m closer to it, I see that it’s a body, it’s ME! I’m wearing the same clothes I have on now. What am I doing there? What the hell happened? I must have hit my head because it’s smashed into the side of the boat, and I can see blood. I need help “SOMEBODY HELP, SOMEBODY HELP ME!” As soon as I shout those words to myself, I'm instantly back in my body. My eyes are opening, and my head is in excruciating pain. I’m slowly getting up on my knees and crawling over to my phone. I pick it up in relief that I'm not dead.

What to do, what to do...First, I should start up the boat to head to shore, then call 911 in case I pass out again before I make it there. I’m on my way and still trying to piece together what happened. The first clue I see is that I only have one shoe on, the other one is laying in the boat near where my body was. I should check out that entire area.

From the looks of it my foot could have got caught on the exposed metal from the bottom of a built-in chair that I removed weeks ago but never fixed. This could have caused me to trip, tearing my shoe off in the process and bashing my head into the iron frame of the boat ledge. I am lucky to be alive. I can feel the dried blood stretch and crack on my face as I involuntarily wince in pain from my head injury.

Off in the distance I can see flashing lights. It’s the Coast Guard, my saviors. I should probably shut my boat off and anchor so they can dock. Finally, some help and medical attention. I feel weak and tired like I've been lifting weights all day. Okay, they are getting on the boat and coming my way. They are bringing a bunch of gear with them. The EMTs are asking me a lot of questions including what happened. I’m telling them what I thought happened, but I’m not gonna tell them about my out of body or near-death experience (which ever one it was). I’m sure it’s going to open my eyes to a lot of things... Maybe there is life after death, I guess I never doubted it but now have some kind of proof.

For now, though, I’m just worried about whether or not I feel good enough to go fishing today since I never got the chance to reel in my prize. But I might want to fix the dumb chair that almost put me six feet under first…I have to go now, they are checking me out and the captain says they need to stitch my head up right here on my boat. I still can't believe I stood over my own body and saw myself like I've never seen before.