Dead Calm

"Hmm?"

"Where am I?"

...

The sound of moving water, the feeling of being both in the middle of a rough sea and at the same time in the middle of a lake of certain tranquillity.

Juno, despite not knowing where he was or what was going on around him, was relatively calm.

"Don't panic..."

"Remember boy... what did we do last night?"

...

The evening was gradually coming back in Juno's memory. The evening started with a group of about twenty friends, about as many women as men.

An appointment was made at 8.30 pm for the birthday of one of Juno's acquaintances. He had a three-piece suit, a shaved beard, and a bottle of whisky so he wouldn't come empty-handed.

Door locked, bag in hand, going down the stairs to get outside. It's already dark early enough in the day, it's winter.

Juno hurries to get to the station so as not to miss his train. Once he gets on, he sends a few messages to some friends he is going to meet shortly before his birthday. The friends, knowing they are early, decide to have a drink in a bar not far from the birthday party venue. Half an hour later and the two friends meet up, go into a bar with a good atmosphere.

The place is illuminated with leds on the walls as well as on the ceilings, the cost of the drinks is reasonable which gives a smile to the two friends who start to tell their day, week, the routine.

After two pints and a game of pool, Juno and Erik pay and leave the bar to join the others. The place is quite chic, Juno enjoys seeing faces he hadn't seen for months, some even for years.

The evening goes very well, reconnecting with old acquaintances is always heartwarming, one of Juno's old friends even takes advantage of the evening to ask for her boyfriend's hand in marriage. It's time to go home, Juno is always quite sober.

He takes the opportunity to rest and sit on a bench in front of the river, his eyes taking advantage of the city's illuminations reflecting on the river. Passers-by, half of them drunk.

Juno liked these moments out of time, being a spectator of what is happening around him has always been important to him. It was such a peaceful moment that he forgot he was sitting on a bench instead of in bed and started to fall asleep.

...

"Mmh..."

"Am I to conclude that I've been kidnapped? Or am I dead? How can I breathe in water? No wait... is it really water that?"

"Everything around me is black"

"I feel like warmth in my bosom... my heart is serene despite the extremely frightening situation I find myself in... "

"I want to go home..."

"At the same time I have never been in such a peaceful state in my life..."

"Now what should I do ? Should I wait, should I show my presence in this thick liquid ? Might as well wait, I'm fine here..."