At first we thought it was snow. The white flakes that fell upon us, powdery and soft. It was joyous to begin with. Even in my fifties did I find the idea of snowfall to be exciting. I was like a gleeful child. Letting the substance fall onto my outstretched palm. Licking a tiny piece off of my finger tip, it had tasted like nothing. So I thought little of it.

That is until the powder entered into our eyes, and noses. The irritation it caused was not akin to snow. Snow didn’t burn. Snow melted away. This was clearly not snow. Rather, when the powder had fallen onto us it didn’t disappear. It clung to our clothes like a child would cling to the clothing of their mother. It was all around us. Layering thick and heavy. Soon our attire had become obscured by the substance. It was then we had decided to turn back. Abandoning our initial plans to stay and fish in the area.

It didn’t take long before the burns appeared. My skin turning from its normal colouring to a bright pink. The sort a sun burn might cause, but worse. I felt as if I were on fire. My body seizing up from the pain. Whatever this substance was it was dangerous. Incredibly so. My crew mates too succumbed to the burns. Burns which would later chew through patches of skin. Devouring the dermis and fat layers, threatening to seep into the bone to destroy its marrow.

Making it to land was a mission, nausea had set in quickly. Bodies slumped over the railing, spilling what little contents their guts could provide. The substance still clinging to each of us. No one could understand what was happening. My throat was constricting, swelling up, causing my breathing to become shallow, and difficult. I was sure I was dying. And some of us were well and truly. This became obvious when we made it back to shore. Immediately being thrusted into ambulances and taken to the university hospital.

Some of my fellow men died. Part of me died along with them. The powder had not only taken chunks of my physical body but my soul as well. I would not survive for much longer, thyroid cancer from the incident taking my life. But for the rest of what I spent of it I could not look at snow the same way. Not since the death ash.