The Tidal Wave

Going from a harsh dream into reality.

She walked along the beach and felt the sun beam down.  It was the perfect weather to be outside.  The air was warm but had a cool breeze that made the day feel refreshed with each wind.  She moved down the beach at a leisurely stroll, feeling the sand move between her toes.  Looking down the beach, she could see children playing in the sand while their parents relaxed in chairs under the bright sunny day.  Today was perfect.

It began as a dull roar that sounded like a strong gust of wind but began to grow louder.  She looked out over the ocean and saw a dark shadow in the distance.  The sand shifted at her feet as the water at the shoreline drew away back into the ocean.  Suddenly she knew what she was looking at �" a large tidal wave!

She called out to the children playing with their sand castle, but they didn’t seem to hear her.  She yelled at the parents sunbathing while their children played, but they paid her no heed.  She looked around her in desperation for anyone that would listen, but any other people on the beach had no idea what was coming.  They were oblivious.  She ran along the shoreline screaming at anyone who would listen, but the people around her could not see her.  She ran out of breath.  Stopping where she was she turned and looked toward the impeding tsunami.

The giant wall of water roared its way towards the shoreline.  She could see inside the enormous wave countless bodies of dead sea life.  She could make out fish, squid, and other small things, but mostly what she could see was sharks.   There were countless sharks of all kinds rushing with the water towards the shore.  It’s as almost the dead from the depths of the ocean were coming to claim the living on shore.  Fear struck her and she froze where she stood, helpless to do anything against the impending death that was coming for her.  She couldn’t help but think that the last image she would see was the ocean that she loved so much crashing on her with the rotting animals that she was fascinated with her entire life.  How cruel an end would this be?  The roar of the ocean water was deafening now.  She was the only one who saw, the only one who could hear the ocean coming to destroy everything on the beach.  With one final tear she closed her eyes and let the water hit.

She woke with a start and sat straight up in bed.  It had been a while since she had the dream of the tidal wave on the ocean, but it was always the same.  She couldn’t help anyone and she saw the dead animals in the water every time.  She put her hands to her face to help her mind come back to reality.  She took deep breaths to slow her heart rate.  No matter how many times she had the dream she still felt the same way when waking.  She heard her husband stir beside her. 

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

She covered her face with her hands again trying to hold back her tears.  She hated feeling like this.  She knew it was a dream but the emotions of panic and fear were just as strong no matter how many times she would dream the same dream.  After a few slow breaths she replied, ‘I had the dream again.”

Her husband rolled over.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.  I just hate that it happens.  What time is it?”

He rolled over to his cell phone charging beside him and checked the clock.  “It’s a little after 2:30 in the morning.”  He opened his news app and checked the headlines.  He was hoping he wouldn’t find the news story that he was expecting to see.  Please let me be wrong, he thought.

“Ugh, well there goes the rest of my night.  Can you hand me the remote please?”

He handed her the TV remote beside him while he scrolled through the headlines.  Suddenly he stopped.  “Hun.”

She looked at him with a look of disbelief.  “Are you serious? “

He read the high points of the news story.  “Authorities off the coast of Indonesia report an earthquake eight miles off the coast registering at a 7.8.  The whole area is under a Tsunami watch.  It looks like they expect it to be pretty dangerous.”

She turned the TV on to try to find something to distract her.  Every time she had the dream about the tidal wave somewhere within the next day would be a news story about a tidal wave hitting somewhere off the coast of some country somewhere.  It would never be near them, but it would happen.  “I just wish I knew why I get them,” she said.  “It would make more sense if there was some kind of purpose or something I could do, but I can’t.  I just have the dream.”

The rest of the night went by as she finally fell asleep to an episode of Family Feud while her husband kept his eye on the news.  He didn’t’ know why these dreams were coming to his wife, but he was determined to find out why.

Reviews

[Deason]

The twist was unexpected, and the pacing was done excellently to build the proper suspense. The wording was a little choppy when switching focus from the wife to the husband, but other than that the story was structured well and flowed smoothly. The cliffhanger makes it sound like there is more to this short story, and an extension of this could be very successful. Well done!