03.08.05 - 11:17 am

i imagine it being early. sunny and hot already, but early enough that i didnt want to wake up yet. my father loves to wake up this early, especially when were somewhere far from home. so, slowly i crawl from bed, the sheets still swarming over my flesh, restraining me from moving much farther from the comfort of the mattress. father is getting impatient, hes already showered and shaved. hes wearing that damn sleeveless shirt again, and has his sunglasses already protecting his eyes.
sunglasses. already. hes definetely ready to go.
i hastily shower, toss on the same shorts ive been wearing for days, find a crumpled t shirt from my bag and go to the bathroom to lazily style my hair.
ok, im ready. damnit though, its so early. its like 8 o clock or so, ugh i feel so tired.
we walk out of our little room and follow the path to the pool, and then to the small resteraunt for breakfast. seated in the cool airconditioned room, father and i are able to look across the pool to the beach beyond. the bay is shallow, very shallow, i could even say dry. several long tail boats were on their sides. dozens of people were walking out in the soft wet sand that used to have a bay over it, and now were scattered about exploring. i was just swimming there yesterday. it seemed like all the pollution from the otherside of the island found its way to this bay, lots of oil. but it was still nice. warm. lots of thai children played around me.
but this morning, there was no more water. maybe low tide.
the waitress was constantly filling up my glass with cool water. the water here is good. its bottled and imported, but it is good. father and i talk about the dive we expect to enjoy today while i eat some eggs and he relishes in his hashbrowns.
breakfast finished we head down to the bay on the other side of the island. we stop by sashas dive shop, and talk to him for a bit about scheduling a dive for us three sometime in the next few hours. not a problem, he says, and he writes us down and walks off to get our equipment. hes wearing a wetsuit but has the top half folded down, exposing his fleshy chest. sasha, where was he from again? finland? his girlfriend is sweedish? hes young, isnt he? like, 28? maybe? if that? while hes stacking our tanks and goggles at the counter we wave goodbye and tell him we'll be back shortly. we get a nod and a half wave. father and i turn down away from the boardwalk of shops and internet cafes and take a long look at the dry barren bay infront of us. i remember when we first landed here, watching all the sergeant majors swimming underneath the dock, oil and garbage partially obscurring them. now, the dock stood on tall stilts and boats rested far below the dock. it is a sunny day. crystal blue skies. i am sweating immensley. father seems unaffected.
however, there is a unusual silence this morning. there are people everywhere of course, bustling about. walking out into the bay with their kids, now a moist sand pit that extends for a significant distance. it looks so unusual. a tropical island...surrounded by just moist sand.
but now i can see why. all the water that should be in the bays surrounding the island are a few miles off. the sea looked swollen out there, enlarged. and white. a swollen blue churning mass of white spray. god, it was hot today. one person down in bay was now running towards us. the small family was turning back too, but they were walking. some people were too preoccupied with the sand. i looked at my father, i dont think he noticed what was going on. a cool breeze swept between us.
i could hear it now though. water. and lots of it. a tall cliff curled itself like an arm partially around the bay, and with a tremendous blast a tower of water disintergrated into it. everyone was running now. father sort of looked confused. my heart rate began to surge.
"i think wed better go." father softly said as he turned to look at me. i kept my eyes on the water. it was brown now. ugly. brown. its structure was that of a misshapen clay wall. with boats and trees and now screaming tourists smothered within it. it refilled the empty bay within seconds. the dock didnt just get overwhelmed, it exploded into a white flash of water spray and debris. more screams. father sloppily grabbed my shirt and just pulled as hard as he could. we were running now. i saw the dive shop. bungalows. palm trees. pathways. people. shops. a brief glimpse of the empty bay on the other side. all i could hear now was creaking and groaning and screaming and noise and popping and snapping. things were being destroyed behind me and i could feel it as tremors in the ground. running? running where? there were no mountains. no higher ground. just the other side of the island, the swimming pool and the other beach and then the bay.
running with dozens of others.
a sudden pain in my back tore me from my fathers unrelenting grasp and flung me to the ground. the nose of a long tail boat dragged itself over my body and then swung around into a pair of palm trees. water immediately enveloped me and lifted me down and up and down again. my body was limp. as much as i tried to gain footing, grab ahold of something, i could do nothing. my body was nothing but pain as i smashed through the thin wooden walls of the structures infront of me. i kept my eyes closed tight. my mouth was already filled with sand and sticks. i was choking undewater. if you could call it water. more like sandy soup. i traveled in so many directions, so many things inserted themselves into my flesh with such merciless persistance. the current twisted and pulled. upside down sideways and down and again. my head hadnt been able to find the surface yet. i felt my body dragging along stands of palm trees. my skin was burning. alot of it must be missing. finally my feet broke the surface of the boiling mass and the buoyancy on the carbon dixoide now burning in my lungs forced me upright. my eyes hurt. i had sand and branches and rubble deep inside them. i blew out as much air from my lungs as i could and struggled to open my eyes wide enough to see through the blood and painful grit stuck to the surface of my eyelids. i was spinning around and moving forward. boats. trees. people. dead people. people face down. right side up but unmoving, unnatural expressions on their dirt soaked faces.
a tall palm tree was rapidly approaching. it was bent over in the water, but it hadnt been uprooted. i reached out to grab it, but my right arm refused to budge from its limp, twisted position along my body. it was immediatly infront of me but the water pulled me from its path and washed over me with more water and debris. the water was so heavy. it was dark again now. the water was warm but was it the pain or the temperature? so dark. id never felt so tired. so physically drained. so much agony in my head. my back. my arms and body. where is my father?

i dont live much longer than this.