Soul Searching

A story I do want to continue!

 
 
Black rocks adorned with a filigree of white, lacy foam. Rocks churned up from the bowels of the earth. If they could speak what stories they would tell, from their inception glowing, fiery red the earth’s internal energy encapsulated; to their dark, almost sentinel like stance against the ocean’s onslaught.
Atop a motionless figure sits, a red t shirt seeming to echo the traumatic past of his resting place. Long legs dangle, their colour almost that of the rocks. He, it is possible to tell from this distance that it is he, seems deep in thought as he stares into the waves. For a moment fear that the intention is to finish his existence, that all has become too much. He raises his head and it seems that he is staring directly into my eyes, and the anguish is apparent. Soon the head drops and the contemplation of the water continues.
I turn away, other unimportant things claiming my attention, when my gaze returns he is gone. Below the rock a heron stalks sand crabs, biding his time till one of the unfortunate creatures gets too close. I wonder if the person on the rocks has been transformed into this intriguing bird, its movements and shape seeming quite alien. I smile, such silly, fanciful thoughts and then I catch a flash of red and the figure disappears from sight.
 
An hotel, chosen for its remoteness. A place to escape to or from, I’m not sure which. But quiet, left alone to think and take stock of my life. Like many I had reached a watershed, my pathway to this does not matter, that I am here is important. I needed, need, time and space.
The hotel sits in what seems to be an amphitheatre its backdrop tropical forest, its stage white, silky sand and the never still, always seeking, ocean. I came across it on one of those internet sites, pennies counted I found that I could just about afford the holiday of a lifetime, the balm that would ease the troubled soul.  
The journey from the airport was an adventure, the road pock marked, bestrewn with goats, cows and means of transport that had seen much better days. I closed my eyes frequently afraid that we would annihilate something but we, and the other occupants of the highway, continued on our way in comparative safety. I arrived just wanting to collapse and escape the jet lag. Shown to my room too fatigued to take much in I slept for a good eight hours.