Pebbles

Is it worth to know?

He lived in a small seaside village, closed off from the rest of the world by sea on one side and endless dunes on the other. Maybe it was just the weather that was always cloudy and cold, but some whispered everything there was grey, even the flowers.  But to him it was paradise. Eyes that have always been looking at the same things, learn to love them as their own. 

Every day little Nicholas would walk to school, but first he would make a detour by turning left towards the beach. There he would pick up the best preserved pebbles and shells, the most beautiful ones, the shiniest ones. He would carefully place them in his pocket and then he would continue to school. Always on time for the first class, mathematics, he would sit at the desk next to the window. His teacher, lovely, with soft, auburn hair and rosy cheeks would greet him with a smile. He was quite fond of her. Though he had been having some problems in solving most of the mathematical problems, she was always willing to help him. Hence the pebbles, it was her idea. She thought he could learn better by using them to count them, divide them, and such...

Every day, with such pleasure he would walk on that beach in order to find the best pebbles. One day, however, something happened that would change the life of little Nicholas. While he was walking on the beach, careless, on his way to school, he saw the tall, dark figure of a man, standing ahead of him. He was cloaked in a long, brown cabardine, he held his head low and his long hair covered his eyes and most of his face in the wind. He signaled Nicholas to approach. Nicholas was reluctant, but his curiosity drove him forward...

       He was now standing right in front of him. He felt even smaller in the presence of this dark figure. But the man went on his knees, smiled to Nicholas and asked, in a deep voice, that sounded as if all the ages of the world had passed over him, too old to match his face: 

- I have something very special and very rare in my pocket, young man. Would you like to see it? he already put his hand in his pocket before the boy could reply. For a reason Nicholas could not explain, he nodded, bewildered. With his black leather glove the man sunk his hand deeper in his pocket and slowly took it out. He held it hidden, cradled in his folded hands. Nicholas could barely wait, his heart was pounding so hard he thought the man could hear it as well. The man looked deep inside his eyes and asked one more time:

-Are you certain you want to see this? It could change your life...

Once more, Nicholas nodded, never taking his eyes of the man's folded hands. 

And so he revealed it to Nicholas. It was a diamond that looked as if it had been crafted by angels, as if it held within it the very light of the creation of the universe. It radiated a comforting, otherworldly warmth and was as big as a grown man's fist. Nicholas could neither describe its colour nor its glow. It was magnificent. Confounded, Nicholas stretched his arm to reach it. Inside him rose an undeniable longing to own it. It almost took over him, he needed to have it so much that it frightened him. However, when Nicholas was less than a second away from reaching it, the man rapidly covered the diamond with his other hand, placed it in his pocket and stood up. With no single word, he turned around and wandered off, until he vanished in the grey. For a moment Nicholas stood there, trying to grasp if he had just lived a very lucid dream. The silence dissappeared and all the everyday sounds around him returned. Without saying a word he headed for school.

  This morning, Nicholas was late for class. The teacher stood in the doorway, waiting to see a glimpse of him before she'd close the door and start the lesson. In the distance she saw him, running, with half of his books in his arms and the other half in his open bag, hanging loosely from his shoulder. 

-I'm sorry, he uttered and walked in. She merely smiled, padded his back and went inside along with him. 

After about twenty minutes the teacher posed a mathematical problem to the children, which drew her attention to Nicholas. She then noticed he did not have any pebbles with him that day.

-Nicholas, where are those beautiful pebbles you bring us every day? Nicholas?

Nicholas kept his head low. She walked to him and with a tender smile asked again.

Nicholas looked up with the saddest eyes she had ever seen and replied:

-''No. Never again. They are just stupid rocks.''

(For the rest of his life, Nicholas did everything in search of that unreachable diamond, to no avail. He devoted his life to finding it, to seeing it again. Nothing would bring him joy. Nothing was ever good enough. Still, when he was lying on his deathbed in his old age, he sighed with his last breath that it was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on and was lucky to have been among the chosen ones to see such beauty, even if it was only for a moment. He felt deeply moved to have seen what he called ''the truth'' , even if it made him live his whole life as  a lie.)

Do you think it is worth to see?

Reviews

[Sir Drift & Mr. Pulse]

well well well, this was a very good read, a boy who was astounded by pebbles then is captured by the beauty of jewels, how a mind could deceive beauty for materialism. I like it and I wanted to see how the boy would search for it. I think it is really good and teaching how sometimes we let everything we once thought was beautiful and important behind for something of illusions and smoke. There is a story I wrote somewhat like this it is titled Reflections, maybe you could look into it, it is driven by philosophy and greek mythology in some sense, let me know what you think. I say it because I read your profile :D thanks

[.:Arianna:.]

Thank you so much for your kind words and for taking the time to comment. I am really glad you enjoyed it and will definitely read it. I love Greek mythology and philosophy, looking forward to it. Have a great weekend :)

[Calwarr]

Wll written, I am impressed by the use of simple language and sentence structure. I am curious if you were intentionally keeping the word count short. I wanted to see the protagonist's change after his brush with the dark stranger. Wanted more action for his arc, it was all described in the past tense which takes away some of the tension. otherwise enjoyable read. Thanks.

[.:Arianna:.]

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and thank you for your constructive criticism. I did intend to keep it short, since this was my first attempt to write a story, so I was afraid to bore the reader with long,slow unravelling of the story. I might come back at this one and extend the last a bit more when I have time, I think I'll take your advice, thank you again!

[J.L Hunter]

This was a very interesting story. The prose was well crafted. Each paragraph made me want to read the rest, which is a very good thing, probably the most important thing when reading someone's work. Though I do not believe that symbolism lies within every story (which is usually a good thing, because most of it is misinterpreted by the reader and I won't insult you with such a far off theory), there was a little hint at the end. Though perhaps it was simply the moral.

Beautiful story altogether. One of the best that I've stumbled across on this site. Thank you for the opportunity for me to have read it.
- J.L Hunter

[J.L Hunter]

..... and yes, it is worth to see.