Undercurrents (210 words)
Every day, she stopped at the beach.
It’d been a long time since she’d taken off her shoes and stockings to walk across the sand. A long time since she’d dipped her toes in the freezing waters, felt the rocks underneath her heels, the salt spray across her face. Forever since she’d let the sound of the surf lull her into thinking life could be smooth, easy, as predictable as the tides.
But every day, she stopped.
She watched children scampering across the dunes, their exuberance bringing smiles to all around them. She watched older ladies sunning themselves, their hats and sunglasses vain attempts to protect youth long since gone.
And she watched lovers, strolling hand in hand across the ocean’s edge, reveling in the lapping of the waves over their feet as they clung to each other, certain nothing could be better than this.
She’d been that once. A lover. Young. Beautiful. No cares in the world.
Until the day he drowned. Not her lover. Their son.
She’d only looked away for a moment, but a moment was all it had taken.
Now every morning, she paid homage to atone for her sin, attempting to cleanse herself from the unbearable grief.
She never could.
But every day, she stopped.
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This week, we had to focus on setting in our short (short!) stories of 200 (+/-10) words, and the setting given to us was BEACH. I’d love to know what you think of my offering. And please swim on over to Flash Friday Fiction to read and comment on the many other wondering stories – or submit one of your own!
