Man on the Wall

A young woman watching the tide roll in on a beach she visited several years ago ponders the epidemic downfall of society and whether it's really such a bad thing.

A cough echoed over the rocks, out towards the ocean, and she covered her mouth perhaps a moment too late.  The man sitting on the stone wall glanced back at her, but paid her no further mind than that.

 

The setting sun burned into her back as she watched the tide rush in.  It had been too long since she had been able to gaze upon such a beautiful sight; though exactly how long, she couldn’t say.  Fifteen years, maybe, give or take a little.  Everyone was rushing lately, what few there were left, and select few took this new excess of free time to do anything else.  They had to find the direction that had been so tragically taken away from them.

 

She had been a little girl, the last time she watched the tide roll in.  Her mother on one side, her father on the other, a teddy bear named Mr. Ruffles clutched in her tiny hand, they had strolled the sands of this very beach, their feet sinking a little every time the water washed over, smiling and laughing like the happy family they had been then.  Alongside them and passing them by had been more faces than she ever really had noticed before that moment.  An elderly couple who shared as many lines upon their faces as they had years together, young lovers absorbed into their own private world, strangers sitting among the rocks alone and thoughtful, other families with children younger and older than herself…and everyone seemed to smile at one another, whether they knew each other or not.

 

Now this lovely stretch of beach sat near empty.  She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, rocking to the left and right a little on her skateboard.  Only one other was near her, the man sitting upon the wall yards away from her.  It was impossible to discern anything about him from this distance; and even in these lonely times, most strangers preferred to remain strangers to one another.

 

The sensation welled in her chest again, and she was coughing, covering her mouth with one hand and holding onto the skateboard beneath her with her other.  As it subsided, she sighed softly, pale blue eyes focusing in on the water.

 

Nothing was the same anymore, nothing but the water.  It rolled in and out all day, washing away the footprints of the passing hours, however many there may be.  The water didn’t discriminate; it was there only to renew and erase.  Everything else was different.  No boats, no sails coursed through the horizon.  No feet left their temporary marks upon the sand.  No litter was strewn about the shore.  Even the sky seemed bluer lately, but that was to be expected.  No more factories, no more big business polluting their air and their way of life.  Everything that had defined society was suddenly gone, no one left to run it. 

 

And those who were left, were running from it.

 

From what had she been running in the first place?  Immune or not, running wouldn’t help.  There really was nowhere to run to.  Empty promises of domed communities down in Florida, out west in California, on the beaches where spirits were high and everyone could be happy again, the Sickness just a nightmare of the past that would eventually fade.  Why couldn’t everyone just stop for a moment and see the paradise around them?  The world was finally empty of greed, of the rich and the poor alike, of everything that once had troubled them, and they were rushing to rebuild it all again.  Everyone was suddenly, indisputably equal, and everything was beautiful, but no one would stop to look.

 

Her time for running had passed.  It had seemed important to her once as well, but this was her destination; she knew this beyond a shadow of a doubt.  This little stretch of sand and salt and rock, more beautiful than she ever had remembered it, was her slice of paradise, where she could finally rest.  Away from the dank city streets that now smelled of death and decay, away from the bustling life she once led there.

 

Her throat seized as another coughing fit overtook her, doubling her over.  She fell from her skateboard, a single hand still clutching it, and couldn’t find the strength to pull herself up again.  Her vision blurred on the horizon, on the man on the wall rising to stand against it.  He walked in slow, even strides across the rock, perhaps towards her, perhaps with intent to walk right past her.

 

Jenna.

 

Jenna….  When had she last been called that?  It had been so long.  Fifteen years, maybe.  Give or take a little.

 

“Jenna?”

 

He was no stranger.

 

Jenna sat up, and night seemed to have overtaken the beach during her brief siesta.  The urge to cough was gone from her chest, and the stars in the sky twinkled vibrantly overhead, blocked out only by the shape of the man hovering over her.  Though darkened by the night, his smile shined down upon her, brighter than any of the stars. 

 

“Come on, Jenna.  Mommy’s waiting for us.”

 

She was lifted by the man, as though she weighed little more than a ragdoll.  Her tiny hand clutched a small, ragged, black teddy bear, missing a button nose and a bead-eye.  There were people across the beach, all going about their own business.  Some watched the water, some walked in line with it, some were lost within their own private world.

 

Jenna looked back as her father carried her off towards the beach, watched as Jennifer and her skateboard washed away like footprints in the sand, and the little girl smiled. 

 

Her time for running had passed; this was her destination.

Author's Note

Criticize me, cap'n! No, really. How can I ever improve if I don't know what's wrong already? And I certainly do apologize if there are any grammatical errors, punctuation errors, etc. I already edited this piece half to death and I tried not to miss anything.

Reviews

[Old Heathen]

Well done! Hopefully more people will slow down enough to enjoy the beauty of the world before it is too late.

[Katiya K]

Hello! Just read this and I was left breathless! I absolutely loved the detail. You did a great job with that. Especially transitioning from describing Jenna and her thoughts from your assessment of the world in her eyes and others. One thing that I thought was lacking was the contrast of the rotting world and this new destination. It could be stronger with more imagery of dystopia. And one thing I found that was cute was that the man at the wall said "mommy". Other then that it was great! Please write more. I'm interested to see where this is going - if you plan to write more!