kh_drabble | Challenge Post

Challenge: [135] Disaster
Title: Undertow
Word Count: 409
Spoilers: CoM
Rating: PG
Summary: Memories are sinking away all too quickly. Perhaps the sweet little blue-eyed boy he raised all those years is only in his imagination.

A young father stands by the shore, marveling at how his son’s face is so much like his own. The little boy had inherited his mother’s brown hair, but his young face was the image of his father’s: his big blue eyes, his nose, his parted lips as he breaks into a wide grin when the ocean rushes past his legs.

The undertow catches the child unexpectedly, faster than his father can react. He is swept up into the fury of the ocean, and waves churn violently, tossing him around with unrelenting force. He screams helplessly, choking, foul salt water rushing into his lungs. The father stares in horror and dives in after his son, just as his head slips beneath the waves.

When he pulls his son out of the sea and carries him to safety, his wife begins to sob. Their little boy is motionless; his mouth and extremities bear a slight tinge of blue.

But he will not give up on the boy so easily, for he is a father, and he knows that time and tragedy will never change this, this obligation he has to his child as a parent. With a slight smile, he effortlessly breathes life back into the face so much like his own.

A much older father stands by the shore, wondering if he ever had a child at all. He thinks he remembers the face of a boy he once called his son, but the young man’s smile is fading fast, slipping away from his mind faster than he can focus. He starts to believe fatherhood was simply a dream; a pleasant feeling he had held on to for so long he could no longer distinguish it from reality. He explains this reasoning to his wife, and she nods silently in agreement, anguish set on her lips.

As he sleeps that night, he dreams of a young man caught in the undertow. The boy- no older than fourteen- struggles fiercely as waves crash over him and water chokes him, filling his lungs and rattling with every terrified gasp.

The father- if he could even call himself a father at all- wades into the ocean, yelling frantically, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the young man’s face. When the waves part and the boy is visible again, he sees his own eyes, his own nose, his own parted lips as he screams:

“Dad! Help me!”

And then he is gone.