A Dream

I was enjoying the beauty of the eve, while standing on the deck of a small ship, it felt like there is nothing more beautiful than this yellowish-red sky and this still lake surrounded by beautiful uneven land. We were floating smoothly over the lake, and soon the bright moon owned the sky.

On the other side of the deck, there was a young woman with a child in her arms looking at me. I couldn’t see her face and I didn’t bother to see it clearly, but it seemed, she knows me. Then, suddenly, she walked to me and said “Could you please hold my baby, I’ll be back in a minute” and handed me the baby.

Just after a moment, a man came, very casually took the baby and walked to the corner, and threw the baby in the water. He said, “She can swim”. And I realized that it was a little girl. And before I could take any action, the mother came asking “Where is she?”, I said like an idiot “He threw her in the water, and she knows how to swim”- I felt very stupid. She was very angry and disappointed in me, as of like I betrayed her. She beat the man like a fighter and threw him in the water, and grabbed my collar and said “Don’t you know who I am?”, darkness didn’t allow me to see her face; “She is your daughter and how can she swim? She’s not even a year old- Idiot”-she said in regret.

That shock froze me in the movement. She turned the speed boat around, drove, and jumped into the violent ocean- near the location. But I was unsure, so I started searching around by the boat at full speed. I don’t know if kids can naturally swim, and it’s maybe because of fear of losing my daughter, but I believed that they can. The moon had shied away in the clouds, it was dark; I could not see much far. I was shouting and screaming to my limits. My vision got blurred and I realized that I was crying. I was angry, disappointed, and more of all, afraid, of not finding her. I was driving at a high speed in a very unstable ocean, I lost control and hit a sea rock, and fell on the coast.

I tried getting up but I was unable to stand- I was wounded, but I couldn’t feel any physical pain. And when I saw the damaged boat, my anger reached its extreme. It was like nature turned against me, I started hitting the ground and screaming at the stars, and when I saw the mother coming out of the ocean, with disappointment in her eyes and sadness on her face -empty-handed, I don’t know if I felt pity, grief, or anger, but I burst into tears.

She walked out but she wasn’t walking towards me, and then I heard the voice of a baby. I walked in that direction and saw, the mother picking up the baby and trying to calm her down. I looked at them and felt something, I can’t explain but it was a beautiful feeling. Maybe it was, how is it like to love someone so much OR how is it like to lose someone and get them back after losing every hope; I don’t know if it was happiness or love but it was amazing. My world lit up like the bright moon, I felt happy as the twinkling stars and peaceful as the smooth lake.
The mother looked at me and smiled with wet eyes; maybe she saw the father’s love.

I opened my eyes and realized that it was a dream- a very strange and beautiful one. I fell asleep with a strange feeling and hoped to feel it again.

-Vishal Wagh