The day it happened still attempts to ring in my mind. The sea turned a sour ink, the waves turning from a pure liquid to a viscous slime. I remember staring out on the shore, my toes gripping the sand, each grain wedging in the crevices of my feet. The smell of the air turned from a gentle salty undertone to a putrid mix of metal and rot. Pulling the memory from my mind, I recall those in the water going under, not even putting up a struggle. No one fought. Not a single person tried to rip themselves from the grasp of the angered sea. Panic began to seep into those on land, fleeing from the monster that once brought families a sense of peace.
Forget peace.
Slowly, one by one, those closest to where the Atlantic shook the hand of land began to freeze. They forgot the panic they just felt, replacing it with a passive docility. They just stood there watching the horizon, eyes straining from the lack of moisture blinking brought. Days went by; they still stood there, the elements catching up to their frozen state, sand matting every inch of their bodies. The salt that comes from sweat is now in perfect crystals from exposure to the scorch.
Crabs began to take their fill.
The world seemed to forget; I began to forget. It started off as mundane as remembering the passcode to my phone. The numbers slipped out of my mind. The annoyance of it hid my fear of becoming like those gazing at the horizon. Escalation followed like a plague; I forgot the rhythm of breathing. I had to inhale and exhale every so often so as to soften the tightness in my chest. Sleep seemed to dissolve into a jigsaw puzzle, never seeming to find the missing piece. Pieces that began to rack up over time, turning my once complete self into a drawing of a human, the basic idea of shape and size being the only thing that remained.
Who do I look like?
I find myself back at the beach. My toes grip the sand, no sense of feeling comes. The crevices in my feet have forgotten the embraceful sensation of touch. Crabs look to me with curiosity, taking bits of my Achilles and heel every so often; no pain ever strikes me. I miss the sensation.
What am I looking at?