80 DEGREES

See this in 3D, all lights out for me
All lights out for me, lightning strikes the beach
Eighty degrees, warm it up for me
Finally free, found the God in me
And I want you to see, I can walk on water
Thousand miles from shore, I can float on the water
Father, hold me close, don't let me drown
I know you won't

Fast asleep amidst a carpet of broken glass and the collapsed structure of a luxury coffee table, Oracle remained, always iconic, dressed in his black dinner suit, crisp white shirt and black tie with his eyes tight shut behind Gucci sunglasses.

Eventually, his valium induced sleep was broken by the sound of a mobile ringtone. He reached for his phone amongst the shattered debris all around him, numb to any pain it seemed.

Lifting the blood splattered phone to his ear, he answered the call in hoarse voice.

"What time is it?" he asked, finally noticing the numerous cuts on his left hand. "Can you hear me? ... I’m here ... hello? ... Hello?"

The call ended abruptly as Oracle attempted to stand up amongst the debris. As he got to his feet, glass fell from him like a shower of jewels. With every step he crunched on glass, embedding it deeper into the luxury carpet beneath his shoes.

And still he remained immune to any pain.

Wandering through the eerie, sterile house which appeared alien to him, he tried to remember the events of the previous night.

By the main entrance of the house was a grand piano, immaculate and pristine white.

He lifted up the lid of the instrument and played a single E major note.

The note sustained long after he’s played it. He figured it was either a fault of the piano or the drugs he'd been taking.

"Hello? Anyone here?

There was no answer.

He continued to walk slowly through the lonely house.

The back doors of the dining room were wide open and a gentle breeze sent up the white muslin curtains like clouds as Oracle walked through them out toward the exotic looking garden outside.

A giant Kukui tree was the centerpiece of the garden, along with a large piano shaped swimming pool. Breathing in the warm fresh sea scented air, Oracle gazed at the still, electric blue water in front of him.

Impulsively, he fell into the piano pool in spontaneous surrender.

Underwater, sinking to the floor of the pool, Oracle remained like a heavy stone for a brief moment before he was activated into life once again, his legs outstretched like that of a frog.

He swam toward the surface with urgency, failing to notice his mobile phone falling out of his pocket toward the bottom of the pool. Bursting through the surface of the pool, he gasped for breath. He filled his lungs back up with oxygen, floating in the light dappled water and looking up at the violet colored sky above.

After a few moments of aqua-serenity, he swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out of the water onto the ledge where he recovered from his early morning exertion, his suit strangely as dry as a bone.

Back on his feet, he surveyed his surroundings and looked further for any possible sign of life close by.

Meanwhile, his mobile phone rang with watery tones from the floor of the pool.

Oracle followed a winding path that led from the garden toward the nearby beach. Walking on the warm white sand, he spied early morning surfers riding impressive waves all the way to shore.

Sitting on a nearby rock, Oracle meditated on the sea, regulating his breathing in rhythm to that of the incoming tide.

"Finally I’m free."

On the horizon he saw a small sailing boat. He followed its trajectory for a while before hearing the nearby sound of a ukulele being strummed softly, accompanied by a sweet male voice singing a Hawaiian folk song.

Looking to the right of him, Oracle saw a large, buddha like figure providing his musical soundtrack. The figure sang softly as Oracle watched on admiringly before the musician brought the song to a graceful end.

"Thank you brother."

The mysterious figure turned to Oracle and smiled in acknowledgement of his captive audience of one. Turning back to scout the sailing boat on the horizon, Oracle found he could no longer see it. A sense of dread began to rush through him and he then turned back to look for the musician, but he had disappeared just like the boat. Oracle now became increasingly anxious and back on his feet headed closer toward the sea.

Upon reaching the warm foamy water breaking against the long sweeping shoreline, he fell to his knees and started to cry, but there were no tears falling from his eyes. He looked again toward the horizon and found the sky had now turned dark crimson.

Lightning struck the beach as a distant rumble of thunder vibrated all around the landscape.Water vapors were emerging with thunderstorm clouds and a ominous looking hurricane was forming out at sea.

"Father, hold me close, don’t let me drown."

Rather than run from the approaching storm, Oracle slipped off his shoes and prepared to swim toward it. But as he went to place his feet in the water, they hit the surface of the sea as if it were a sheet of glass. Suddenly, Oracle put one foot in front of the other as he walked a watery path along the surface of the ocean.

Heading toward the eye of the storm, Oracle found himself being drawn toward it with no resistance whatsoever in his heart and mind. Slowly and tentatively at first, walking on the water, Oracle suddenly began to sprint faster and faster. As the hurricane became ever bigger, creating a towering vortex in front of the approaching Oracle, the two forces of energy appeared destined for collision. Eventually, he was swept up into maelstrom as he rised above the ocean and looked down on the ever decreasing world beneath his feet.

As the wind and water begin to blind his vision, Oracle screamed out to the God whose existence he so desperately want to believe in.

The eyewall of the hurricane was surrounded by a ring of towering thunderstorms as it swirled anti-clockwise like an inflamed iris.

A pair of eyes opened wide behind a pair of Gucci sunglasses.

Oracle sat up with a jolt from his violent dream as he could hear the sound of a phone ringing somewhere close by.

Was it his?

He held his hand against his heart as he felt it beating wildly.

"What time is it?"

His PA steps forward.

"It’s showtime. They’re waiting for you."

Oracle blew out his cheeks.

"Biggest night of my career and I’m already exhausted."

"Here. Take this."

She handed him a glass of water.

"Just water?"

"Doctor’s orders."

"Okay."

He looked down at the glass and found a whirlpool forming inside of it like the hurricane in his nightmare.

He dropped the glass on the floor as it smashed into a thousand pieces.

"I’ll deal with that."

"I can’t do this."

The PA started sweeping up the broken glass on the floor.

"You always say that."

"I’m losing my mind."

"You always say that too."

Slowly beginning to calm down from his fever dream, Oracle leant forward.

"What else do I say?"

"Bring down the rain."

"Then I better get to it."

Oracle got to his feet and stood up, staring at his reflection in the dressing room mirror.

"Can we get much higher?"

He left the room and made his way to the stage.

A swirling mist of dry ice illuminated by flashing lights made this current reality also seem like a dream.

There was a brief moment of silence before a cascading eruption of deafening noise descended like a tsunami in the stadium where Oracle appeared on stage like a God.