Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 96

This week's image was made by Four Eyes, an American artist called Bernie from Texas. You can see more of his stuff over on his page on Deviant Art.

I tried to turn this on its head a bit, which made it go dark, but I'm not unhappy with the results.

The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Captive 

Sitting cross legged, watching the sun set over the ocean, I was grateful for the view if nothing else. I reached out and touched the plate glass. You wouldn’t know it was there if you couldn’t feel it. I traced the glass down to the tiled floor. Just a couple of centimetres away there was sand, but I could only imagine its texture. I didn’t know if I would ever feel it again.

I hoped every day to see someone on the beach, but there was never anyone. But then I had no idea where I was in the world. I could be in any country or on a remote island in any ocean across the globe. I had no recollection of how I got here. One minute I was living my life, next I was here. I used to have my own apartment, a cushy office job, nothing elaborate, but enough to give me a life I was enjoying. And then I woke up to find myself here in this room on a beach.

I’d mind less if I was alone but of course I wasn’t. I was visited. I was here for a reason. And that reason made me grateful for my view. I could get lost in that view and in my head, and I needed to, both during and after.

I looked at the scratches on the floor in front of the glass. I’d been here a little over a year. I had no idea if I would ever get to leave here, but I didn’t think so. I’d stopped crying about it after three months, what was the point?

I was catered for, I wasn’t starved. There were clothes and toiletries for every need I had, and I couldn’t ask for a better view. But I was no victim of stockholm syndrome; I had no clue about the identity of my visitor, no conversation, no relationship. I was purely a vessel - there for functional purposes only. Some days I wish I knew more, other days I was grateful I didn’t.

The tide was coming in. I could see the line of tiny sea foam creep closer and closer. It would never quite reach. It was meditative. Hypnotic. It lulled me into the numbness that was keeping me alive. The sun touched the water. It would be dark soon. I would wait until it was gone then crawl into my bed and let my mind join it on the other side, where I could still live.