Waves

• Youmoon Nahar, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2019

The cold, coarse sand of the white beach seeped between her bare feet as the blue waves crashed onto the shore. The only sound Meredith could hear was the sand crunching between her toes. Her long fingers clutched onto her father’s purple surfboard as she ran into the ocean. Meredith had longed for this opportunity since her leg had healed.

She lay down on the surfboard as the glacial water lapped onto her stomach. The sun rose slowly and beams of yellow and orange reflected into Meredith’s eyes. She could hear the surging of water, building up behind her and lifted her head. Jumping up onto the board she steadied herself as a riptide curled over her. Meredith’s lavender surfboard skimmed the top of the water and created ripples in the water. She escaped the riptide easily and sat down on her board, paddling back to the shore. Ever since Meredith was a young child at the age of 3, she would watch her father surf on these waters, seamlessly gliding through the waves, until the fatal accident.

Meredith sat down on the beach, the sand sticking to her swimsuit. After a few minutes of watching the waves roll onto the shore, she stood up dusting off the sand. Meredith’s eyes scanned the vast ocean once more as she walked back.

For a few more weeks, she continued this routine, arriving at the beach and practicing her surfing skills.

One particular morning, Meredith ran into the shore, eager to enter the water. The breezy air ruffled Meredith’s brown hair as it jumped up and down from her rapid movements. She dashed into the water and hopped onto her board as she paddled into the ocean.

She could hear the distant rollings of wave and bounced onto her board. She waited patiently for the wave to create a riptide. As it came closer she placed her feet apart ready to surf away. A riptide curled over her but before she could get out, darkness took over her.

Meredith could feel her body gradually sinking but she still hadn’t realised what was happening when all of a sudden it hit her. She flailed her arms and legs trying to reach the surface but it was no use. I can’t, no, I won’t, I won’t die the same way as dad, Meredith thought to herself as she violently shook her head, tossing and turning it.

A flower of flaming heat bloomed in her chest the more Meredith struggled but she couldn’t stop herself. Meredith was trying to move, desperately endeavoring to cling onto her precious life, but her body was a statue. The more Meredith breathed in for oxygen, the more water entered her lungs.

Accepting her fate, she stopped moving, stopped searching for air and let the sea take her. Just like it had for her dad.