Jackie
Come
Home



In my mind, I'm still fishing at Millers creek..
The sun is shining, I can hear children on the bank as they chase a frog.
"Your never going to catch him" one of them yelled very loud..

That was my last memory.

I'm sure I was in a boat,
although I can't remember if I was alone or not..
I'm sure there was a strong wind as I seem to remember having trouble casting out my line..

but that was my last thought before the blinding light grabbed me and pulled me down.
Deep below the boat, below the light, into the abyss of darkness.

The noise of children's laughter faded, replaced with the sound of water caving in my ears. The cool wind of the July afternoon washed away by millions of gallons of lake water. The sight of a normal happy existence in one second gone, replaced by nothing but black.

No hues to this black, like lighter or darker, no grays or silvers.. I don't know if I'm still underwater or..

I don't want to consider that...

I still have my memories, I know my name and where I live.. I know that Obama is president and today is the last day of summer vacation. I know that next week after my birthday my Dad said I could get a learners permit as I will be sixteen.

I know my parents are here somewhere.. They wouldn't leave me in the water but for some reason I cant see them. MOM!! DAD!! DAVID!! I know I'm calling for them but I don't feel my lips moving.. Its like I don't have lips anymore.

It feels like I'm moving.. yet the total blackness has not changed, I don't feel any wind on my face but something in me, something DEEP in me tells me I'm moving. I don't hear anyone but I can feel them screaming for me but I don't feel with my body. I don't feel anything with my body, this is more a feeling attached to my memories that says someone that loves me must be very concerned for me.

I try to reach out a hand into the darkness, to feel what is ahead of me.. but I find no hand will respond to my command. So I imagine forward, into the black, my mind leaving my body and going out where I can not go.

As my mind takes the first steps away from me, I turn around and expect to see myself laying there.. on the ground, in the water, on a hospital gurney. on something.. but I see only black behind me. Yet I know I have moved.

"MOM! DAD!" I cry out in a voice that doesn't speak.
I force my mind to keep moving forward, there are no walls, no obstacles, nothing in my path to run into too. It feels like how I would imagine it would feel to just float in outer space.

"DAVID!" I yell..

David has always been more than just an older brother too me, he has been my personal protector whenever I needed him. I can still hear him tell me "Jackie, when you need me just call.. okay, I will be right there because your my brother and we look after each other always"..

God David, I need you right now.. where are you?

Wait!
what was that?
I heard something

In my mind I turn around toward the noise, yet I can't tell which direction it came from.. I'm not even sure anymore which direction my body lies in..

"MOM!" my mind yells in panic, "Help me, I'm so scared"
Outside of my body, I stop and wait..
nothing happens, the moving sensation I thought I felt is even gone.
I just feel alone in a void.
I feel nowhere yet at the same time, I feel everywhere.

"Jackie"

my mind turns around and around,
I heard my name, I know I did
It wasn't my imagination
It couldn't have been..

I race forward in my mind, a thousand miles an hour, I feel the distance I'm crossing as if I'm emerging from the dark depths of Millers Creek...

"Jackie, come home"...


_________________
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you did not do then by the ones that you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream. Discover ~ Mark Twain

Jack,
There are a few things I might change but, the storied lines, the suspense, the quiet ending...
I like it, Jack. I believe the poem - I am there and I feel what you have written.

This one is very different. I like it, especially the ending.
Louise


_________________
One who does not read is no beter off than one who can not read.