the boat (part 1 and 2)

I wasn’t afraid anymore. There was no panic in my stride, no thrashing about. I swam further and further with vigor, purpose and with experience, even though I had none. And then, maybe fifty yards from the boat, I just….stopped, turned onto my back and floated as if I’d done it a thousand times before. Floating there in the middle of the sea the moon never looked so big and beautiful, and I felt free and safe, and like a man for the first time. It was the night I no longer feared the water, or Wade for that matter, and we were going to be alright. I was eleven years old when everything changed. Lying there, in the middle of the sea, I thought about the future and the past, and how black the blood looked in the big-moon light. This is the story of what happened that night and the events leading up to it. My memory of it anyhow...and that’s all that really matters isn’t it……they way I remember it?

“Where should I start? It’s been a long time...its not exactly crystal clear, you know what I mean?” I spoke.
“Just start with what you do remember” the man dryly stated.
Where I am at right now is in a long rectangular room, sitting at a long table, directly across from this man asking me to remember things. The light is industrial and fluorescent, it makes my head hurt and I ask to have it adjusted before I continue. Where once there was one now there are two men setting up a desk lamp next to a tape recorder. For a moment I imagine I am Brad Pitt about to reveal my dark secret…drink from me and live forever… I feel dangerous, but the notion is silly and the thought quickly fades.
“What was that?” says one of them.
“Drink…something to drink please” I replied immediately not realizing I had actually said the vampire tagline out loud.