A Day at the Beach

The scene: The blue-green tropical waters lap up onto the golden sand leaving shells and seaweed in its wake. A warm, gentle breeze blows through the treetops rustling the leaves creating a whispering sound. Our character, a young blonde teen gradually looks from side to side soaking in the ambiance; his bare feet buried deep in a mound of sand. His icy blue eyes have a look of knowing glazed upon them. His shaggy hair blows near gracefully as if being tugged on by the wind, enticing it to play. His bare chest is exposed to the rays of the sun as he props himself up with gloved hands. Black shorts extend beyond his knees to the top of his shins. He is all alone in this secluded paradise.

Slowly he removes his feet from within their sandy grave. He wiggles his toes to shake loose rocky fragments caught between them. With a jagged breath he leaps to a standing position. He looks down and notices his tan feet nearly blend in perfectly with the sand. He suppresses a chuckle and wipes droplets of sweat from his forehead. He glances to his left and right before sprinting towards the ocean. He stops when he gets to water that reaches the leggings on his shorts. His shorts drift back and forth as waves lightly brush up against his thighs. He takes a deep soothing breath as he gazes down through the crystal clear surface into the world beyond.

Yellow, orange, purple and blue coral litters the seabed. Their jagged arms sprout out like those from a dead tree. Methodically, dark green seaweed sways with the coming and going of the current. A bright red starfish clings to a rock jutting from a fissure. A school of bright blue fish swims by, their yellow tails reflecting the sunlight. Two clown fish weave through a bed of pink sea anemones. Sand is thrown up into the water and clouds his vision as a dark gray stingray glides away from its hiding place. After the sand settles, a leopard shark appears from the shadows of the depths. Its metallic brown spots gleam in the last shafts of light before it harmlessly enters a forest of yellow-green kelp a few feet from where he is standing.

A low rumble of thunder breaks his trance and he looks toward the sky. The blazing sun is steadily sinking below the horizon. Streaks of gold pierce the darkening blue laced with a deep red. An aura of orange radiates around the sun. A bright, white flash of lightning lances through the black clouds rolling in from the West. A raindrop lands in front of him and ripples across the surface combining with those of other raindrops. In a matter of a few minutes the sprinkling turns into a roaring downpour.

Calmly he makes his way back to the shore and across the sand. With a sigh he plops down with his back against the trunk of a palm tree. He surveys the cove and after a while the pit-pattering of the rain on the leaves above him lulls him to sleep.