Echo

Here is my first attempt at a 30 minute writing session inspired by the above photo taken at Perranporth Beach last summer. Please forgive errors.

Annie sat on the soft warm sand looking out at the shimmering blue sea, crashing large white crested waves on to the shoreline. Groups of seagulls circled in the sky and the parting sounds of happy holiday makers filled the air after a long sunny day at the beach.

Annie hugged her knees and screwed her eyes tightly shut, refusing to allow the tears to flow, scrunching sand between her toes in desperation. The golden bay had always been a place of joy and delight for Annie. She had played her with Harry through seemingly endless summer days in the warm sea and delicious sunshine. Harry loved the sea and was a particularly good surfer, riding the waves as if he was on the back of a dolphin. Annie had never got the hang of it, usually ending upside down with her mouth full of salt water and ears full of sand. Harry had promised to teach her how to do it, but now he was gone.

Annie swallowed her grief and blinked blurry eyes as she looked around her. The beach was now virtually deserted, with only the odd piece of rubbish left amongst the dug outs and unfinished sandcastle projects that littered it. Mum was so withdrawn now. All her sparkle and magic had disappeared when Harry died. her brother's sense of humour and his capacity to tease his mother to exasperation had only made her loss more unbearable. Dad hid his pain behind piles of paperwork and long hours in a demanding job.

"Why did you leave Harry?" whispered Annie, a sharp pang of grief clutching her heart,

"Why did you leave me?"

The pain was too much to bear and Annie buried her head in her knees and wept uncontrollably.

Suddenly out of the blue, a gull screeched and flew low over Annie's head - startling her and causing her in despair to angrily turn on the gull.

"You rat with wings, get out of here," she yelled, hurling a nearby pebble at the bird, which simply banked to avoid the missile and called insults back to her on the wind. She had never had a good aim and the taunting of the gull reminded her of the good natured teasing of her brother at her pathetic efforts in ball sports.

Annie wiped her blurred vision and turned her head slightly to look across the beach to the great sea cave. It was a magnificent work of nature, carved and shaped by the sea for many hundreds of years. Its doorway and ever watchful eye had guarded the beach through time. Annie and Harry had loved the cavern because of its amazing echoes and all the crevices to hide and explore in.

Inexplicably Annie felt herself drawn to the cave. She wandered over to it, slightly dazed as if as if drawn by some hypnotic, unknowable force. As she got closer, wading across the small stream and over the rocks, Annie looked up at the sheer stone face of the cave. It appeared to her as if the face was inviting her in to explore and play again. She had been unable to go into the cave since Harry's death, in fact she she had not even been able to go into the water. The sea had taken Harry and Annie could not forgive it for that, no matter how awesome and beautiful it was. The sea had taken her big brother and now she would never see him again.

As Annie stood in the cave breathing the damp salty air and observing the carpet of shells and pebbles, such powerful memories were evoked that Annie could no longer stand and she collapsed onto a nearby rock. Through swimming eyes she looked out of the mouth of the cave towards the incoming sea, which had already begun to lap gently about her feet.

All of a sudden it came to her. She could not be without Harry and so she would let the sea come and take her to be with him. She had raged at the sea for the past six months and now it had become the only pathway to being reunited with him. A peculiar peace came over her as she sat like a mermaid, sideways on her rock expectantly looking out to the incoming tide.

"I'm coming Harry," she called, her echo resounding around the cave. She knew Mum and Dad would miss her, but they would have each other and she would be with Harry. Time passed slowly but the water was beginning to cover the rock.

"Soon Harry," called Annie, ignoring her increasingly wet legs and keeping her eyes on the horizon.

"No Annie!" replied a whispering echo in her ears.

Shocked and terrified Annie froze, unable to turn around to see where the words had come from, "You don't want to let go yet," continued the soft gentle voice.

"Harry?" gulped Annie, "I need you, please let me come to you."

"Not yet Annie, not your time," the voice carried on the waves and in the echo of the cave.

"I can't bear it without you," wept Annie, "I don't want to be alone"

"You're not Annie, I am here in the waves in the cave," replied the soothing echoes

"Harry, I'm afraid," sobbed Annie

"No need Annie, you love and are loved, you do not need to find me"

Annie looked up out of the top of the cave and saw the gull that had dive bombed her earlier now circling, oddly silent, almost reverent.

"How do I go on without you Harry, show me?" she asked in a breaking voice between sobs.

"Come back Annie, follow my echoes, come back Annie...Annie...Annie"

Annie turned her head to follow the echoes of her brother's voice and looked straight out of the doorway of the cave and into deep green eyes of her father. He was standing just beyond her reach on a large grey rock looking fearful.

"Come back Annie," came the pleading whisper of her father, holding out his arms, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Dad...I heard Harry, I did, I heard his voice. He wanted me to come back," Annie said simply.

Annie's father nodded his head trembling, "I heard him too sweetheart, listen to him, come back."

Annie took one look back out to sea and saw the gull soaring out towards the horizon. Harry was going back to the sea and she would see him again, but not today. With tentative steps Annie picked her way back across the slimy rocks, taking her father's hand to help her out of the water and the cave. Her father enveloped his daughter in a tight embrace and for a while they held each other weeping.

"Don't leave us dear Annie, we can't lose you too, we need you," pleaded her father in a broken voice

"I need you too Dad, I'm sorry," whispered Annie.

So with arms wrapped around one another, father and daughter walked away up the beach, bidding Harry farewell and leaving him to the care of the waves under the watchful eye of the cave guardian.

End