Most days it was cold and dark. The sun didn't shine and the icy wind whipped at my face. Or at least it seemed like days. Now, thinking back over, I think it was only a night. A night that seemed to go on for eternity.

But when the morning came, my terror and my sadness stopped. It didn't go away, but just stopped. Something happened that made me realise where I was, where I was going. I looked up into the empty blackness. The dark void, which I called the 'sky', and saw the sun.

It shone.

A few rays of light appeared from behind a cloud and lit up the world. Finally, I could see where I was. My eyes adjusted to the light of the merciless sun and I could see everything. All that was, I could see.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Just water. The sun shimmered on the almost still blue water. I rocked back and forth. I looked down. I was in a wooden boat. In the middle of the ocean.

I squinted and looked around. Water, just water. There was nothing for miles. It was at this moment that I began to wake up fully. I began to understand the gravity of the situation. I was all alone in the middle of the sea with no idea of where I was or how I got there. I sat back on a wooden plank and sighed. What was I to do? Am I going to die? Is this all a dream?

I had to find out why I was here. I managed to stand up on my shaky legs. I still felt a little dazed but decided that it should be now or never. There was a small wooden box at the back of the boat which jutted out from underneath another plank seat. I moved it out of its place and sat it on my lap. It was too big to fit inside a coat pocket but small enough to carry in my hands. It was a beautiful mahogany and blackwood box that was discoloured in places and had a tiny, rusted keyhole on its side. I tried to force open the lid, but it wouldn't budge. The box needed a certain key to be opened.

That halted my exploration. Where on earth would I find a suitable key which fits inside that keyhole? I looked down at myself. I was wearing a dirtied blue shirt and jeans as well as a pair of very old sneakers. Around my neck was a dog tag on a chain. On it was written, "THEY HATE RED EMBERS EACH" I turned the shiny piece of metal over and over through my fingers and felt the coarse indentations that made up the words. What did this all mean? There was a meaning to this very cryptic message, but I did not know what it was. I repeated the phrase in my mouth each time changing the emphasis on different parts. "They hate red embers each. They HATE red embers each. They hate RED EMBERS each. They hate red embers EACH." I soon gave up and lay on the floor of the boat and went to sleep.

It was about noon when I woke up. The sun was a huge fireball coming at me. I moved underneath the shade of one of the planks. The message on the dog tag was still on my mind. What did that message mean? I felt a huge need to figure it out not only because it could be my only way of escape out of this predicament but also because it could also give me answers to my questions. Who am I? Why am I here? Who put me here? I picked up the mahogany box and turned it over a couple of times in my hands. This could be the end of me, I thought.