At first it was funny. I mean, come on. You’re just suddenly there. In the middle of the friggin’ ocean. No recollection of what you were doing before. And Nick liked to think that underneath it all, he was a man who knew how to appreciate humour when it slaps him back in the face. And this, right here, was funny.

Then it was kinda funny. I mean, come on. You start calling out to your friends and all you could hear is your own voice echoing what you just said back at you. Nick couldn’t help the smirk on his face. He could almost see it – the four of them, decked on some big boat (because he was in the middle of the ocean and even though he couldn’t remember how he got to be here, a boat is only logical) – Kevin, Howie, Brian and AJ, all four doing a really great job at not laughing, not making a sound.

Now, it stopped being funny entirely. I mean, come on. You’ve been out there in the middle of the friggin’ ocean and the water is cold, to the point where it was getting really hard to breathe and the guys were still not talking, not saying anything! Nick was ready to bust some ass when he got out of this mess.

Come to think of it, he couldn’t really see anything beyond his ten fingers when he tried stretching them in front of him. It seemed dark but then the sky was blue. There was not a sound, not even birds flying overhead, except for the soft lapping of water around him as he kicked his legs to keep him afloat.

He was really cold now, his jaw ached from trying to stop his teeth from chattering too much. His nose was runny, the back of his eyes burned from the cold. His throat felt dry and coarse from all the yelling he had done in the fit of panic not long ago. The muscles on his shoulders and arms ached, his legs felt numb and he wasn’t too sure how long he could keep himself floating before his body shut down.

And then he laughed. Really laughed. Out loud. Because who cares? Definitely not him. There was no one else here. And he thought it was funny (not really), because while he still couldn’t remember how he had ended up in the middle of the ocean alone, he remembered the last thing he had said in the fit of anger.

I wish everyone would leave me the fuck alone!

He laughed because the one time he hadn’t actually meant what he said, he got his wish granted.

Famous last words, he thought, and then everything faded away.