A FLE corporate logo flashes briefly on my peripheral overlay while my subsural augments kick in. “At least that’s the last time I’ll have to see that” I think to my self as a sweeping symphony begins to play through my audio-canula – a direct link to my sub-conscious – the sound track of my life…

My FLE begins with a bright white hazy light, like looking directly into the sun and then looking away again. The haze fades away and I find myself at the edge of an ocean, my toes wiggling in the wet sand as a wave peels itself away from the shore. Soft white sand outlines a crescent-shaped bay a mile or two long, inviting me to explore if only I had the time to… my peripheral reads: 14min 37secs.

I lean over and instinctively attach the leash around my right ankle, there are some things you never forget. As I adjust the leash, the rip-and-tear of Velcro plays counter-point to the jazz scat echoing in the back of my mind.

The unique tang of salt and coconut wax drifts behind me as I run along the shore like a two-year old on their first trip to the beach, 12min 10secs reads the count-down, I splash into the crystal clear water, blue droplets twinkle and sparkle as they scatter.

My arms dip and pull, dip and pull, drawing me ever deeper while below me sea-kelp fronds wave their arms in the under-sea breeze like doped-up hippies swaying to “The Octopus’ Garden” at a Beetles concert, they’re playing in the back of my mind.

10min 39secs… The waves are good today, 4-6ft, light off-shore and the tide is on the way out… a deep-bass rumbling tells me a set is approaching. Swinging around I start paddling: one stroke, two strokes, three strokes, four – the tail of my board lifts and I jump to my feet!

I’m tearing down the face like a bat outta hell, a deep bottom-turn, hard off-the-top, I drag my left-hand as I push into a long round-house cutback and bounce off the foam, each second lasting an eternity.

Paddling back out I pass this guy with a huge grin on his face, you know the grin I’m talking about, it’s the one only a surfer has after a good wave, I smile back… “I’ve always wanted to do this before I die” he says to me. 8min 24secs… I nod back, I know exactly how he feels.

8 to 3min are spent catching a few more inside smokers, each wave etching a deep groove in the vinyl of my existence. The needle moves ever inward, there’s an ominous feeling in my mind. Time is running out as Jim Morrison lays down the opening licks to “Rider’s on the Storm”.

2min 13secs… I take a few moments to appreciate the scenery around me – the gulls wheeling about above, a playful seal pup chasing himself below, the salty tang of the air and the gentle stinging sensation of spray blowing off some of the insiders breaking behind – this is life, this is my life…

16secs… A rogue set builds far off on the horizon, easily 8ft if not more, this is it, my final wave, no backing out now, I have to catch it… I wonder what my epitaph will say.

14secs… My heart is pounding as adrenaline surges through my frail old mind, I paddle as though my life depends on it, in a sense it does…

12secs… No sound track accompanies my free fall, only an internal rhythmical pulsing, my life essence throbbing through my veins…

11… I make the take-off and bottom turn…

10… looking down the line I see a solid wall of water lining up over the shelf…

9… position is everything…

8… I shift my weight backwards preparing to stall…

7… the lip is starting to pitch…

6… sound and time distort as the wave barrels over me…

5… a liquid blue tunnel stretches away into infinity…

4… I lift my hands into the dome above me, the water washes away all blame, guilt and remorse…

3… the pressure is building, both internally and externally, a high-pitched wail builds all around me…

2… I realize I’m the one screaming my exhilaration to the world…

1… I’ve lost myself in the moment, my soul reverberates for all time…

0… the barrel collapses behind me, white spray spits past me and my vision fades to bright hazy white, the light at the end of tunnel, I’m still screaming…

FINAL LIFE EXPERIENCE TERMINATED :>

“Well, that’s another one over with…” says the FLE technician as a medical intern turns off the flat-line tone being broadcast by the heart monitor.

“At least he died with a smile on his face, not often you see that…” says the intern attaching a recycled alumifoil tag around the big toe of the patients right foot. Wheeling away the body, a stray beam of light catches the toe tag, it reads:

FLE PATIENT # 324-76, BORN: 15 FEB 2211, DIED: 15 AUG 2283

What's your final life experience gonna be?
By Marschant Escorcio

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