The Surface(chemist) Ever since I was a boy, I would spend hours watching the ocean. Even though I lived on a boat, and it was kind of the only thing you could look at other than the sky, I actually enjoyed watching the water. The sounds of waves crashing (though I was a bigger fan of the visuals). All I ever saw of the ocean was the surface. The same thing everyone else saw, but I wanted to be different. I wanted to explore the ocean and its depths; I wanted to see its limits. The surface portrayed a crystal blue or a deep blue until night when it was an inky abyss. “Was it like that under the surface? Was it truly that crystal blue, was it truly that inky abyss?” A question I pondered and pondered. Mother always thought it was a silly question. “Of course it is, what you see on the outside is what's inside of it.” She would always say that, but it was a logic I just couldn't get behind. One day though. I got a little too close to the edge. I had slipped over the edge as the boat continued on. I screamed for her to stop the boat, with fear dominating my voice making it do nothing but shake. It kept going. I struggled to stay afloat. I struggled and struggled. In the end I fell into the depths. Looking above me was a beautiful color of blue with sparkles that glimmered like diamonds. As I sank farther and farther the color deepened. And the sparkles began to leave. I looked down and there it was. Hidden far beneath the surface. Where no one could find it. That inky abyss. Maybe this is how the ocean really is. Under all those sparkles and pretty colors, it's just an empty dark abyss. Maybe when morning comes it makes itself look beautiful, so people go to it and enjoy it, and maybe when night falls it finally stops hiding that beautiful color to be what it truly is when no one's there. My eyes closed as I was engulfed in the abyss. I woke up in my bed that morning. Despite what my mother says, in my heart I know it is true. This may sound weird but, in some ways. I feel the same as the ocean.

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