"The Lost Voice"

The nostalgic scent of it, the crashing roars, the hustle and the bustle, the whiff of a roasting fire…they reeled her in before she laid eyes on it.

Like a dark mantle streaked with white, it spread out as far as the eye could reach, merging into the darkness at the horizon. Gently lapping forward, it was welcoming her back.

The ocean…her ocean…

The stairs that led down into the undulating sand were worn down with age, and the absence of patient footsteps. She halted at the top. The wind caressed her hair, her figure silhouetted against the silvery gleam of the moon. Running her hands through her hair, she readied herself for a final flight, like the phoenix that surges into the ashes.

Slowly, without haste, she flitted down the stairs peppered with the golden grains of the ocean’s sands. Each grain clung to her, the fierce power of reminiscence drawing them to her. Her steps leaving golden furrows on the sand, she walked on.

Like the flicker of the thousands of spheres of electricity lighting up the streets behind her, memories surged in.

…..A little girl crouching on the sand, staring in awe at a tiny seashell,

             …..Two young girls splashing water onto each other as a distant figure kept his eyes trained on them from the shore…

            ….A family, laughing,…the children running in glee along each new wave…

The crash of the waves brought her back. The wet sand under her feet had begun to give way. Walking forward, she braced herself, staring at the churning waters racing towards her.

As the first warm wave hit her, the bittersweet taste of reunion flowed through her, lingering long after the foamy blanket had retreated into the black waters.

She walked still forward. She stood there, a silent sentinel among the millions that thronged the street, the warmth of the ocean seeping into her feet that sank deeper and deeper, a silent song escaping from her lips.

She felt as though all time could pass, and yet she could remain there; as though her body could crumble into a million tiny fragments of sand, and yet her soul could live amidst the gentle, roaring waves for all eternity.

And then, with all the suddenness of the breaking dawn, five faces crossed her mind. Tears stung her eyes, while in a frantic, desperate attempt to keep the faces from fading, she traced their names on the sand.

Almost as if they would not let her mortalise on the fickle sand the immortal memories of the five, the waves surged with new vigour and erased all which she had traced.

The ocean won. The sands remained the same. Fresh tears hit the sand, fallen from her eyes…and where the warm drops fell, there she etched an indelible mark of the love, the pain, the hurt that she felt within. Once again, the silent song broke free of her lips..

“I love you more than I did before….”

            The endless skies spanning the dark ocean, the waves and the sand that melted into it – every soul joined in her lament as she sang. The skies burst open and the sea fell silent under the grief that resonated through her broken voice that again, and again, endeared them to let her stay..

            Time had come, as she knew it would. Her insides tearing her apart, she wrenched herself away and retraced her steps. One last moment. The white streaks galloped in an effort to feel her warmth but once more, to caress her but once more, to remember her forever more..

She stood atop the stairs, her hair streaking around her in the sudden gust of wind. She had lost the chill of the winds, for the warmth of the ocean now coursed through her.

For a moment, silence rang all around as a silent goodbye was voiced.

With a final gaze of longing, she turned and retreated into the cover of darkness…