Blinding Sun

“Who stole my ship, bloody stars, who stole my ship?!!” I watched from my hostel’s window the old man shout in the crowded marketplace. People, oh they laughed, they laughed at him so hard. A curious kid went close to him smiling, thinking it was a game, when his mother took him by the arm furiously and shouted at him. “Never do you get close to him again, my little kid, can’t you see that he’s mad, oh what a wild and crazy man?!! Oh dear, I hope you didn't get infected! Let me check your throat.”

The crazy man however took no notice, no, no, no, he’s searching, he needs to find! “My ship! Who took it?! Is it you, selling your deceiving red apples, did you hide it?! Or is it you, pure priest, selling your stories to poor and innocent people?!” The crazy man blinded from madness fell on his knees. Rays of sun were too powerful to his eyes. Old he was, yet he remembered something his father told him as he was a kid, when he tried to convince the people differently. “The light outside is too strong, any other light would be just swallowed, other light can only be seen at darkness. Remember that son.”

The old man drenched in salty tears, took some soil from the ground and washed his face. “Where is my ship?!” Drops of blood found their way falling on the soil. People laughed, oh they laughed so hard! Light stronger than ever!
Suddenly shadows covered the old man. A youth stood above him blocking the sun, an honest smiling one. The old crazy man looked at him with hopeful eyes. As the youth offered his hand, the crazy man accepted it immediately. Time stopped for him. “Are you my ship? Are you taking me to it? Am I going to my peaceful home?”

The youth’s firm gaze, made the old man feel shielded and safe. The youth answered him, “Can’t you see that the ship was already there? Always waiting for you. You only needed to cover your eyes, and open them again. Here it is, can’t you see it?”  

The old man covered his eyes and closed them. When he opened them, he smiled. He was not standing in the crowded market place. A breeze of the saltiness of the sea filled the air, sounds of gulls announced that water was filled with fish, and in front of him, there it stood… The old man looked at the youth with tearful eyes. “That’s my ship, my beloved ship, I am finally going home?! Home.”