BajaNomad

Osprey is Tormented

Osprey - 6-26-2011 at 08:17 AM

Tormented

It happened right here, on the beach at East Cape, Baja California. It came without warning, lasted less than a second and changed everything about my life. I think about it more times every day and night than I wish to recount.

It was overcast and a little windy – an odd combination at the shore because usually the cloud cover holds the wind down and the sea grows flat and gray and welcomes fishermen like me. I was on my regular morning walk-swim. My sometimes exercise companions didn’t show so after waiting for a few minutes I walked east, alone.

On Google Earth I learned that it’s about a mile from the access road on the beach to the first house in a small but fancy beachside development called Playa Colorado. Usually when I reach the first big beach mansion I sit down for a few minutes to let my heart rate go back down a notch, then begin to swim and or walk back to the car.

This particular morning I plopped down on the soft dry sand and simply enjoyed the quiet, the scenery for a minute before my workout on the way back. To my left just about a meter, stuck somehow in the sand were two or three empty milk cartons which were tied in a cluster and partially covered with wind-blown sand. Just as my gaze fell on them I heard, from below, a cry.

To this day I cannot tell you if the noise was made by a human, a child, an animal but it pushed its way up and out of the sandy grave to deliver an unmistakable message – help, please help. It was not words, it was a howl, a scream, a final plea from someone, something fighting for life and losing.

I jumped to my feet and ran all the way back to the car. I don’t remember running, the beach, anything, just the sound, the terrible urgency of the scream, perhaps the last sound. I didn’t know it right then but my awful need to get away, to put distance between me and the horror of what could lie beneath the small foredune would not diminish – it would grow to all-consuming importance.

From the very moment I heard the sound I was filled with self doubt and shame at my fear. I was overwhelmed with the conflict of wanting to help but unable to quash my fear of dealing with what I might find if my frantic digging could find the thing that made the sound. An almost silent film now loops through my mind examining all the gory possibilities and outcomes had I stayed, had I the courage to try to save what screamed from such a horrible end.

Ashamed, still fearful, I know I can’t tell the police, can’t tell anyone, ever. And I can’t ever go back to that place. I’ll walk here in the village – no more trips down that way, safer in the village. How long will this thing stay with me, how long will I have to carry the awful memory around, be haunted by my own shame?

My questions were answered, my torment ended by something quick and simple. A voice, a single soft voice from the kitchen.

“Hon, coffee’s ready. You might as well get up – you’re sweating up your bed and making some awful sounds. Must be another nightmare.”

I got dressed, got my coffee and grudgingly looked at the clock. No reason to get up this early. I’m not going to the beach, not today. Maybe I’ll walk down by the mercantile, then up my usual way, back down Calle Del Mar. No, no, wait a minute. That takes me right by the pantheon.

Ken Bondy - 6-26-2011 at 08:27 AM

Brilliant Jorge, magnificent!!!

krafty - 6-26-2011 at 08:29 AM

Great story-glad it was not real!

BajaBlanca - 6-26-2011 at 09:42 AM

love your twist endings ... great !!

Mexitron - 6-26-2011 at 09:45 AM

Nice Osprey!

wessongroup - 6-26-2011 at 10:37 AM

Thanks again... :):)

DanO - 6-26-2011 at 10:48 AM

Gave me goosebumps. Thanks, George.

Osprey - 6-26-2011 at 02:27 PM

The nightmare really happened -- about 3 AM I awoke in a cold sweat and I can tell you the fear and shame I felt was greater than my words can reveal.

There are no emotions more profound than those brought on by our own imagination -- nothing is more vivid than the things our minds conjure in the night or, sadly, for some, when wide awake.

Thanks for allowing me to share this with you.

wessongroup - 6-26-2011 at 03:03 PM

sometimes .... one starts to think they are here all by their lonesome ... :):)

Iflyfish - 6-26-2011 at 04:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
The nightmare really happened -- about 3 AM I awoke in a cold sweat and I can tell you the fear and shame I felt was greater than my words can reveal.

There are no emotions more profound than those brought on by our own imagination -- nothing is more vivid than the things our minds conjure in the night or, sadly, for some, when wide awake.

Thanks for allowing me to share this with you.


This is so true. One's body cannot distinguish between what we manufacture in our convoluted orbs and what is "real, out there". Hallucinations are like this and it is why I would rather choose my own than be subjected to those generated by my unconscious. Same goes for hypnotism. I would rather choose who is doing it to me, rather than be a passive recipient of the proceedure as it is currently administered from pulpits, politicians and the tv.

Thanks for sharing this very interesting dream. I hope I don't end up in it!!

Might I suggest you try some erotic alternatives?

Iflyfish

Russ - 6-26-2011 at 04:40 PM

And the VA thinks I'm crazy....

[Edited on 6-26-2011 by Russ]

Marc - 6-26-2011 at 05:10 PM

Sometime I wake thinking wow glad that was just a dream.:wow::wow::wow: