The Stranger in the Lifeboat

www.ajpdf.com
My eyes opened slowly, as if coming out of a trance. Finally, with tears
streaming down my cheeks, I confessed the truth, whispering the words I had
been hiding all this time, from you, from Alice, from myself.
“I jumped.”
A long time seemed to pass before I spoke again. Alice had her hands clasped
under her chin.
“I didn’t want to live anymore,” I whispered.
“I know. I heard you.”
“How? I never spoke.”
“Despair has its own voice. It is a prayer unlike any other.”
I looked down, ashamed of myself. “It doesn’t matter. The Galaxy blew up
anyhow. I saw smoke from her engine room. I saw her go under. I didn’t do
it. But it’s still my fault.”
Alice walked to the rear of the raft. She stepped onto the tubed edge
without the slightest hesitation. Then she turned back to me.
“Lift your head, Benjamin. You were not responsible.”
I slowly raised my eyes.
“Wait … What do you mean?”
“The mine did not explode.”
“I don’t understand. Then what destroyed the ship?”
She turned her gaze out toward the deep. Suddenly, three massive whales
burst through the surface, enormous charcoal monolithic bodies with flippers
spread out like wings of a plane, easily the largest creatures I have ever
witnessed on this Earth. When they hit the water, the spray from their impact
flew through the air and covered us in seawater.
“They did,” she said.
Moments later, the sky began to glow. The air went flat. I somehow sensed
our time was over.
“Alice.” I hesitated. “What do I do now?”
“Forgive yourself,” she said. “Then use this grace to spread my spirit.”
“How do I do that?”
“Survive this voyage. And once you do, find another soul in despair. And
help them.”