The waves broke along the shoreline as the sun rose, shifting the colour and the mood of the sky. A breeze firm and favourable moved around everything and they stood there, in the increasing shade of a large rock, looking out over the ocean, wondering what it would hold.

For the longest time they had felt that they were stuck there, unable to leave their location. They stared across the ocean many times before but now this time was different, for they had the means to leave. They now had the ability to get away and feel, even if for a few fleeting moments, free.

They held a strong desire to be moving; to not necessarily be firmly rooted in one place. There were long paths via land, but they felt drawn to the ocean. They felt compelled to move across it and disappear from view. Perhaps it was brought on by the relative isolation of their village, but the land routes did not offer what they sought for they wanted to be free from land, or at the very least feel a sense of detachment from land.

They watched as everything changed as the sun rose and soon the sky moved toward being blue. The clouds were few and far between and the winds remained firm. The waves grew a little stronger, but not so much that leaving would become a difficult task.

For a few moments they wondered if they would be missed, but they tried to not let it weigh on their mind. They needed to satiate their desire and so, after turning around and looking at what they had known for most of their life, they looked once more to the ocean and moved their boat down the ramp and into the water.

Their boat moved with ease and so did they. Once it was on the water they pushed it out a little further, past most of the breaking waves, then pulled themselves in and started rowing. Once they had gotten far enough they raised the sail, and in that one moment a strong wind pushed into the sail, moving the boat quite rapidly into a favourable current.

They were caught by surprise and didn’t expect to be moving as quickly as they were, and soon that gave way to a great deal of joy. A smile held on their face as they reveled in the moment as much as they could, and the boat kept on moving with speed. Behind them their village shrunk away and it was not long before it seemed to become more part of the landscape.

They turned around and thought about how small it was, and a slight longing appeared within them, for they were leaving behind a lot, but they didn’t try to turn around. Internally they said their farewells and they kept on going, wondering what was out there and what they’d find.

In this particular period of time they found themselves feeling wholly and utterly free.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 12:09:49

I decided to go ahead and try and write more closely to the original idea that was woven into this and it kind of worked, kind of didn’t. I feel that this attempt is a little less bland but it still feels like I had to stretch out the idea more than warranted and so the writing isn’t that great.

As I was writing I started thinking about how this could fit in the worldbuilding thing I’m working on but it doesn’t offer much. Maybe sort of as a contrast but at the same time it doesn’t offer much. That said, for now maybe what is here could fit in when I stop drafting and start working things out in full, so here are the other parts.

Written at home.