Riding the waves

My shoulder blades clenched together; for a split-second things were calm. Then it was the abdomen’s turn to tense up, and the ocean water came rushing from my mouth. 

Immediately startled by the peculiar colour of my purge, I let out a horrified yelp. Looking around I noticed that I was on the floor of a moving ship, with nothing but glimmering water in sight. A distant chuckle guided me to land my eyes on a pair standing a few feet away. The taller one of the two, a well-built man around his late 20s, was leaning against one of the pillars, all while maintaining an amused expression. Next to him, a woman of approximately twice his age was sitting on an upside-down bucket, with her arms resting on her thighs. She seemed less amused, but still intently following my every movement. 

“Who are you?” I cried. “Where am I?”

Both the man and the woman chuckled, with the former answering:

“It took you quite some time to arrive.”

“Where are we?” I demanded. My initial panic was turning into anger.

“You’re dead”, the woman said nonchalantly, as if it was as trivial as commenting on the weather. After a moment of silence, she added “Oh don’t look so shocked, it’s only temporary.”

“How can I be dead… and if I’m dead, why are you two here?” I asked, struggling to maintain the level of assertion as in the previous question. “And… what, what do you mean only temporary?”

“What’s the last thing you remember dear?” she asked back, this time with more warmth.

What did I remember? At first trying to recollect what had happened left my mind blank. I closed my eyes but it still wasn’t working. Right when I was about to give up, I opened my eyes and saw a bird flying by, and a stream of memories started flooding in. Birds, lots of birds, pigeons in fact, crowding busy city streets. A car. A blue car. A blue car coming towards me. Screaming. Throwing up on a ship.

I was now engulfed by dread. Could it be true? It didn’t make sense why I’d end up on a ship, with two complete strangers. Were they dead too? If so, why did they seem so unfazed? 

“I… I think I got hit by a car”, I said shakingly. 

“Oh that’s a rough one”, the man said with what sounded like genuine sympathy. “A hospital is one of the better places to wake up in, though you might look a bit wrecked from the accident.”

“Ok alright wait a second, you said it was temporary, now you’re talking about waking up, what the hell is 

going on?”

“You really don’t know anything, huh?” the woman was now talking again. “You’ve got deity blood. You can’t die. You’re only here until the balance has been restored.”

“What the hell are you on about?” I was getting annoyed again. “Deity blood? What does that even mean?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. You’re from a divine bloodline.”

Left completely speechless, I did my best to try and reconcile what was happening. I remembered a car coming towards me, then I was suddenly on a ship with two people. Wait, was I sure that there was nobody else? My eyes started frantically scouting for signs of other passengers. Nothing in sight. What was even more shocking was that there didn’t seem to be any noise coming from anywhere. All you could hear was my breathing. The situation kept getting weirder. Feeling defeated, I decided to play along.

“I’m from a divine bloodline. I’m dead.” I said with a sigh.

“How is the balance restored?”

“Finally we can get this over with,” the woman continued, “The natural order is protected by a sacrifice to 

keep heavenly beings alive were they to come into harms way.”

“What kind of sacrifice?” I was still refusing to accept what was being said.

“That’s where we come in!” the man exclaimed. He seemed to have been eager for this moment to arrive.

“We’re stuck on this ship until you pick which one of us gets to trade places with you in death.”

This was too much, but I had nowhere to go. It all sounded absurd, but so was the unfolding of events. At this point, anything could be true. 

“Why are you so calm, if one of you must die?” I asked even though it sounded ridiculous. 

“This happens to our kind all the time,” the woman didn’t seem like she was about to reveal that it was all a big joke anytime soon. “My daughter and closest friend have already been taken this way.”

“We learn to accept it as any other part of life,” the man added.

“This can’t be real,” my heart starting racing. “What is your kind? How come I’ve never heard about any of this?”

“It’s a long story, but we’re not really human, at least not as human as the people you know.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to understand. Just pick one of us and it’ll all be over.”

“How could I have been from a divine bloodline without knowing about it? Shouldn’t I have some kind of 

powers?”

They laughed again. 

“Gods don’t always make the best parents. Lots of them have their fun with humans without ever looking 

back.”

I collapsed onto my knees and put my face into my palms. It all felt like utter nonsense. As surreal as it was, I gathered myself and took a deep breath and looked at the man and woman. 

“I can’t do it.”

"You will have to eventually.”

“There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t.”

“We can’t stay on here forever.”

“That’s exactly what will happen unless you choose.”

“I won’t.”

Both of them chuckled again. The woman then sighed, stood up and kicked away the bucket. She then sat down again this time leaning against the ship wall like she was preparing herself for a nap. 

“Are we just going to sit here?” I let out in desperation.

“We are. Take your time with your decision. We have all the time in the world.”