Short Story about a young girl escaping the confines of her family vacation at the seashore: installment 1
The boning from her corset was poking her in an especially irritating way today, but she had never felt more free.
There was warm sand in between her toes, the dry kind that made an uncomfortable pop and grind sound when stepped on, like chalk on a slate.
But there was a brilliant blue sky ahead of her, and so the corset and the sand went unnoticed.
The angle of the horizon shifted, and the sandy landscape swept up into a dune covered in thick sea grass with a path carved into the center like a pale snake. She hadn’t seen the water yet, but the dune appeared to be the highest point for miles which would, she hoped, give her a perfect view of the sea.
Her thighs burned with the activity of climbing, and the length of her dress required her to lift the skirt up around her ankles. She played the thin fabric with her fingers; a light day dress striped with cream and cornflower blue, a loose fitting empire waist that hid the secret of her bathing costume underneath. The stripes were a vertical interpretation of what she was seeing now; sand and sky, white against blue, stretching for miles along a never-ending coastline.
She lost her footing near the crest of the hill and fell to her knees, as if her body already anticipated her awestruck reaction at the sight she would soon see. Her naturally lazy inclination told her four limbs were better than two; standing was unnecessary. When she finally reached the top of the hill, she caught her breath at the view of the sparkling water, sloshing against the darkened sand where the sea grass stopped.
Also keeping her hands and knees frozen in their tracks was the dark figure sitting on the beach.
A masculine figure.
His head was turned to the side, not, for some reason, looking at the glorious heaven in front of him, but it allowed her a look at his profile. She was so far away that picking out specific details was impossible, but from this distance she could see that he had dark hair, almost black, with a furrowed dark brow and a triangular jaw line, and that he hadn't shaven. Perhaps ever.
Well, not never. But not recently.
It wasn’t that he was particularly handsome, or even striking as some men are. But it was odd that he wasn’t looking at the water. He’d clearly been here for some time, maybe he had been walking and decided to rest for a while. He wore what had probably been a nicely tailored suit at some point, but the jacket was missing and the shirt was untucked from his waist and rolled up at the sleeves. His pants were also rolled at the ankles, and he wasn’t wearing socks, but his shoes were lovingly placed side by side up the dune in the dry part of the sand where the water could not reach them.
At first, she was annoyed. Her family had come on vacation to the seaside, her father had insisted, to get away from the bustling of the city, and also for her mother and sisters’ health, but the entire trip so far had been all museums and house tours. She hadn’t felt the salty air on her skin until this morning when she had snuck out of the brightly painted yellow cottage under the cover of the foggy dawn.
She squinted in the sparse light, unsure of how to proceed. If she walked down to the shore, she could probably pretend she didn’t notice the man. He might even leave her alone.
Knowing herself, however, she knew she would never be able to enjoy a swim with a stranger possibly peering at her from just feet away.
Twisting her feet deeper into the sand, she turned to face the woods she’d just exited. In the exhilaration of her quest, she hadn’t noticed how dark they were. Downright menacing, they were.
And past the woods, back at the yellow cottage, nestled rightly in her empty bed in the soft pink room, awaited something worse: defeat.
She exhaled and dropped her head, letting it swing between her shoulders for a moment, hoping that when she turned around, the stranger would be gone, or was never there, or had turned into a seagull.
But the dark form was still there. It was looking at the sun now. Looking at the sun very intently.
With a grunt from her throat she hoped he couldn’t hear, she lifted herself first onto her knees and then upright. Calming herself, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and gave herself a small readying shake.
