Kevin Mott
Prof. Cicely Young
English 1A
3/10/14
The Oceans Embrace The sun scorching my skin and noises from children awoke me from my relaxation. The birds and trustworthy sound of waves consistently crashing on the shore acted like the seconds in the day. The sea breeze and salty taste in the air, along with the subtle constant annoyance of water and sand in my ears, I felt parched and water was everywhere yet nowhere to be found. It was as if time paused and the world was waiting for me to tell time "un pause." I stood up, noticed the imprints the wrinkles from my towel left on my skin, shook off the sand and once again as I had done many times before, began running back into the chilly light blue Atlantic. It looked blue and cold, but in a way warm and cozy from a distance. As it was noon in the sky, the run from the safety of a towel to the cool wet sand was especially unforgiving. It was only around maybe twelve or so seconds depending on the tide, yet for those twelve seconds, everyone hates the beach. The fiery pain and burning on the bottoms of my feet finally subsided as I crashed into the frigid refreshing ocean. The cold rush from being out of the water for so long had a forcible feeling which I both hated and loved. Inching out further and further into the vast never ending sea had always given me a feeling which was challenging to describe, as if the sea itself cried my name but then the waves persistently tried keeping me inland. Walking out, I felt the grimy and dense slick seaweed brush under my feet, yet after all these years it still sent chills down my spine, the fear of the unknown. All of the thoughts of what your feet just touched stir through your head. Sometimes, you just convince yourself of what it was you think you touched just to keep from panicking. Experience can never take away fear with some things, and this was one of them. As soon as the water became deep enough I immediately dunked my head under, but only for a split second due to the freezing temperature. The water itself was mucky and unclear from the stirring of the waves, which allowed for close to no visibility. There was a point, while I was walking deeper into the water, I jumped over an oncoming wave and coming down I could no longer feel the earthy and seashell covered sand. It felt liberating, just wading in the water, ducking under the waves as they rolled in from the vast blue unknown. The occasional seaweed bunch would roll in and I'd move it out of my way so it wouldn't touch me. I just laid there floating, half body surfing, half swimming out further. How easy it is to lose track of time in this place, this place where time seems to not even exist. I continued to swim out further, over waves, under waves until I reached a point that I will forever remember. I decided it was time to turn around and swim back towards the shore, but the sea felt slightly different this time. This time I felt a tugging, sort of like someone constantly grabbing and holding onto your legs and not wanting to let go. I noticed that I wasn't coming in closer to the shore but instead, I was being pulled away from it. The panic began to set in and I tried furiously to swim as hard as I could and it wasn't working. I said