Puffy white clouds hung cartoonishly in a rare blue sky over the cliffs as the waves tumbled gently overhead. Al glanced upward as the beams of golden-green sunlight filtered downward into the depths, making the world above seem like some mythical realm of heavenly redemption. He scoffed. It couldn't be further from the truth...for most, at least, but for him...maybe... 

An all-too-pensive young man, and easily distracted, Al had to give himself a physical shake of the head to detach himself from that train of thought.

Too far into the future. 

He forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand. He was going to starve at this rate. About 5 meters below the surface, he parted a thick curtain of seaweed to reveal a mangled nest of tendrilled cuvie kelp with bubbles steadily leaking from it. 

Jackpot.

He darted toward it, reaching back towards his thigh to grab the handle of a fishing knife that was currently hanging from the hook where he normally kept the keys to the shop above his home. His long fingers ended up clawing at empty water. 

Shit! He cursed his own idiocy. Leaving his home was always such a chore. So much to remember, clothes, contacts, dentures, vape pen, keys, hat, weapons... 

Tsk, he turned to examine the area where the sea spray met the face of the cliff. 

An easy way to get slammed around on the rocks, he thought, but a barnacle would probably do the job. 

A brief moment of deliberation came and went. Al nodded to himself in determination and headed for the surface. A few scrapes would be better than having to go all the way home and come back. They'd still been dredging the shallows for the wreck. He couldn't lose this chance. 

Just before he broke the surface of the water, though, a white flash engulfed his vision and left him seeing spots. A loud CRACK echoing painfully in his skull made it feel like his eye-balls were vibrating in their sockets. Had he been hit by lightning? No. Impossible. Silly even... The edges of his field of vision began to blur. Al suddenly felt unbearably tired. 

No! He was losing consciousness, No way! He grabbed the sides of his head and shook violently.

A few precious seconds passed, and he was able to focus his vision. Al quickly scanned the area above and below, as his senses returned. 

Okay, so maybe not lightning, heh, ...but he had definitely been hit by something, something hard. 

He looked below him for a quickly sinking rock that must have fallen loose...but that is not what he found.

What the actual fuck-...? Al arched his eyebrow as a worn and soggy Converse All-Star sneaker floated up past his face.