This is my submission into the #freewrite run by the wonderful @mariannewest! You can check out today's prompt here: https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-99-5-minute-freewrite-friday-prompt-sunset
You sit quietly and stare off into the horizon as the sun passes behind some clouds, leaving a streak of brilliant orange across the sky. You've spent most of the last week on a cruise through some of the most remote parts of the world, one of the last things to cross off your bucket list.
Your time had been spent mostly lounging around on the deck chairs and taking in the breathtaking scenery as you passed through historic ports and beautiful tropical islands. Today was the last night of the cruise and you knew that it was also the end of something important. You'd brought along some money for the casino, and much to your surprise you'd won a jackpot last night, leaving you with more money than you could spend in the rest of your life.
You spend some time thinking about the family who left you. Not by choice, but they had left you nonetheless. Your wife and daughter who had been killed by a drunk driver last year, leaving you bereft and adrift. Your friends had tried to reach out to you, but you'd grown more withdrawn over the past year until nobody even tried.
This cruise is going to change that. You promised yourself that this would be the point where everything changed and you wouldn't hurt anymore. Tonight is the culmination of that promise.
You stare at the sun as it slips between the clouds and the horizon, thanking God for the beauty and hoping that He...She...It...They?? That God was listening somewhere. You open the bottle in your hand and dump its contents into your mouth, followed by the second bottle sitting beside you. You lean over your stateroom's balcony railing and let yourself plummet into the cold waters below, still watching the sunset.
