Illustration Friday: The Blues

When The Blues Turn Black

I was feeling a little blue today, and when I do I usually turn to the ocean's clear cool waters to wash away my worries. As I drift along weightlessly under the ever watching cotton candy sky, the waves blanket and caress my skin. I can't remember how I got here, but don't really care. Slowly, I sink below the surface into the music of the water. It plays softly, echoing through the currents like the sad song of a blues guitar. Blurry visions of sunlight dance past me in streams, fading into the shadow I cast downward, and obscure my view of my final destination.

As I descend effortlessly, something in the way the light plays in the water reminds me of how I got here. I have been cast off as worthless by the others, and weighted down with their expectations. They think they've done away with me, but they don't know that I am the Ocean's daughter. He doesn't find me worthless, and will not abandon me. I will breathe free again here in my new home where I have always belonged. I'm sure of this. He did it for my ancestors before me, and he'll do the same for me.

His peacefulness soaks into my very bones as I rock and sway with his rhythm, while the sunlight now dances on the Ocean's floor. Even the fish in all their fanciful colors welcome me like a long lost friend. I slowly grow numb to the world I leave behind. Only a brief sharp pain from my ankle and some strange voices interrupt this serene reunion, but they disappear as quickly as they came, and are soon forgotten.

Forgotten, that is, until a bloody tide clouds my vision, and a persistent throbbing brings me into a different world entirely. "Doctor, this one's a waste of your time. There are other more pressing emergencies requiring your attention. We'll take care of this one." Their voices didn't seem real and were barely audible over my pain. Still blurry-eyed, I gazed in horror down toward the end of the harsh metal table that I seemed to have landed on. "Where's my leg!" The words came out of my mouth faster than I could comprehend what I was asking. The doctor turned to me and uttered something about suicide. I heard nothing but the silent scream of his empty, soulless eye sockets and the shrieking pain of an ankle I no longer possessed. The nurse laughed.