Sand Stings the Eyes

A girl named Cora remembers the laughs and adventures that her father and her had before he passed away.

                                                Sand Stings the Eyes

 

Cora’s deep blue eyes nearly matched the raging waters of the mysterious ocean. Her thin brown hair whipped across her face in the wind. She stared past the coursing waves out onto the serene waters. Two birds flew into the horizon where the world turned. Cora squinted her eyes trying to catch another glimpse of the graceful birds, however her eyes could not reach that far. She longed for that freedom. To just fly away, out of view of her problems. To escape the heartbreak and the pain that came with it. July 7, 2013, nearly 3 months ago, was the day everything changed. July 7, 2013 was when Cora’s father died.

            Slowly turning to her right, Cora trudged down the shoreline. She had made the same trip so many times before. Every Sunday Cora and her father would search for shells before church. They never missed a day.

            Cora slipped out of her flip-flops, and wriggled her toes in the cool sand. A small crab scrambled over her feet. Cora watched it for a few moments, then, continued walking.

 

That morning started like any other Sunday morning, except for one thing. Usually Cora’s dad would come in and wake her. However, on this morning she awoke on her own. She glanced at the clock. Her father should have been in by now. She grinned. He was probably just sleeping in. Cora popped on her slippers and skipped out of her room. Her little feet stomped down the hall as she neared her parents bedroom. She tore through the hanging beads that separated their room from the rest of the house. Cora came to a halt. Her mother was kneeling by her bed, her head resting on the tear stained sheets. Her hair was sprawled all over the bed. The body of Cora’s father laid across from his now widowed wife. Cora realized she was squeezing her father’s hand. She must have self-consciously wandered over. She stared at his closed eyes. He looked peaceful. However, something was missing… He was just a shell of his formal self. The body was soulless.

           

Cora reached the cove that she always walked to with her father. She let out a long heavy sigh as she reminisced about all the picnics she enjoyed there. Cora squeezed her eyelids shut until she saw spots. Then she turned away from the nostalgic cove and ran.

            She didn’t stop running until she reached the decorative stepping-stones that lead to her back door. Her family had made the stones for father’s day a few years ago. She looked at each one as she stepped onto it. She came to one with her fathers handprint, she stopped. Her throat burned. She wiped her face on her sleeve and walked inside.

            Her mother was in the kitchen washing dishes. She started to grin as she turned to face the door. However, her smile quickly faded when she saw Cora’s red face. Cora’s mother’s eyes drifted to where Cora’s stare was fixed. It was a picture of their family, Cora, her mother, and her father. Cora and her mother embraced. Cora’s weak voice broke the silence.

“Some sand blew into my eyes mom.”

Cora’s mother’s lips began to curl into a small smile.

“I know Cora. Sand stings the eyes.”

She squeezed her eyes shut to hold back tears. Then she wiped a tear from Cora’s cheek. They hugged again, and tried not to focus on the sand stinging their eyes. 

Author's Note

All comments welcome :)

Reviews

[Alisa Trudel]

This is wonderful. My only suggestion would be to edit the first sentence because there are so many adjectives in it. Other than that, it's great! Keep going!