The Old Ocean Road And The Girl From The Sea

• Tavia Jensen, Grade 5, Ipswich Junior Grammar School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'Write As Rain 2014' competition

The street was quiet and nothing stirred. The bells of the church were not ringing as they used to on Sunday morning. The scents of chestnuts and roast potatoes no longer lingered around, everything was still. The waves crashed against the rock wall around the town. The villagers weren't in their little humble cottages anymore. The wood was rotting and the lamps occasionally flickered trying to light back up, but the wind was too strong. It seemed as though nothing could save this town from dying out.
Then the perishing winds stopped blowing and the sound of the waves was drowned out by a girl singing a lullaby. She sat out on a rock half submerged by the ocean, wearing a lacy dress white all over. Her hair was blonde and her voice sounded like flowers swaying in the wind. Her voice echoed through the buildings bringing with it a sense of hope and raising powerful memories for anybody listening. Time turned back; suddenly the smell of chestnuts became clear and the bells of the church were ringing once more. The sounds of people laughing and shouting soon filled the cottages and the girl from the sea vanished almost as though she had never been there.
Now the old ocean road attracts people from all over the island, as they are drawn to the spirit of the girl from the sea.