Decay

• William Gluskie, Grade 10, Woolooware High School
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'Read Write Repeat 2015' competition

Time ticked away. He lay there on the smooth sandy ground, watching the sun dip below the horizon. Isolated and chilled to the bone. His mind steadily processed thoughts, one by one. How was it that within hours, minutes my life was flipped out of proportion? He asked himself. The glacial winds of the slowly approaching night howled over him, blowing up grains of sand into his eyes. There was now an unrelenting stinging underneath his eyelids, consequently causing trouble focusing on anything in his immediate surroundings. A small tickle presented itself on his left thigh, his mind, out of reflex, signalled his body to roll away. As he turned in the sand, a low gurgle sounded in his chest. His eyes shot open as he felt a penetrating pain shoot up his torso and spread itself out over his body like a warm blanket made of knives. The pain was followed by a river of metallic liquid filling his mouth.
He spluttered a couple of times, still startled and confused about his current state. The liquid appeared to be quite warm as it cascaded from his mouth and washed over his cheeks. Another set of splutters followed by a swallow, reingesting some of the liquid. He began to sink back into deep thought about his situation….
He eventually filtered through what seemed endless pages of thought.. He fathomed the strength to transport his arm from the ground and wipe the sand from his eyes. As he slowly moved his arm, his elbow groaned like an old rusty joint, clicking uncomfortably a few times as it bent. His arm arrived below his left eye, and being careful not to nudge his excruciatingly painful torso, began scraping wet sand from his eye. It stung, pulsating jolts of sharp pain being released as his leathery middle finger worked away. The grainy material brushed past his cheek as it plummeted past. He moved his hand away from his eye and placed it on his collarbones like a trophy on a stand. Now with his partial vision, he decided to assess his body.
The dying light of the day was becoming shades of darker every minute. He attempted to elevate his head to view his senseless body. He raised his head, straining the back of his neck like an elastic band ready to snap. He opened his eye, there was a bit of resistance as some of the fluid that erupted from his mouth earlier had hardened on his eyelid. He pried it open and as he did the realness of the situation flowed over him in seconds. All he could focus on was a large chunk of twisted metal embedded in his chest. There was black blood around the base of where it was implanted, seared by the metal. He had seen all he needed to, his eye scraped shut again as he relaxed his body and his mind fell away into oblivion.