Micro Fiction March Day 1

Today was, frankly, one of those days. The kind of day where you get swept up in stuff and have literally no time to yourself. So, I was thankful that I got up at 5.30am this morning to tackle Day 1 of my Micro Fiction March challenge because, otherwise, there's a good chance that I'd have ended up flunking on the very first day. As it is, it's still taken more than fifteen hours since writing before I've had a chance to sit down and actually post this.

Creating something vaguely complete in 300 words or less is tough. Today I came in at 298 words, but it definitely required I be at my most concise.

I originally planned to write something completely different but, when I sat down and looked at the blank page this morning, this is what came out. I hope you enjoy it...

The Tide

The sand was cold beneath my feet as I slipped my shoes and socks off and began a slow walk down the empty beach. Air thick with brine, the only sound was that of white tipped waves as they rolled in and then crashed themselves against the shore. The sky above a rich, dark purple as the barest hint of the morning sun began to creep across the horizon behind me; the moon hanging high and bright.

The tide was still rising, and I stared at the moon and wondered if it knew the effect that its presence had on us; that its gravitational pull raised and lowered the seas and oceans across our entire world as we rotated and our surface drew nearer, then further, from it. Did the moon know? Or was it entirely unaware of the power that it exerted?

Sharp fragments of shells prodded against my feet as I took five steps closer to the sea. A large wave washing a foamy sheen across the sand until the last tendrils of cold water seeped around my toes.

I wonder if you knew the effect your presence had on me. Like the moon, you exerted a power over me; your gravity serving to raise and lower my spirits, to tug at my heart. But I can never ask, because you’re no longer here to answer. The oceans within me now stilled and stagnant. 

The sea took you from me that day three months ago. And took so much of me in that same moment.

I feel the hotness of tears against my cheeks as the frigid water laps at my ankles. And I wonder if this will be the day I cannot bring myself to step back. To submit to the tide and join you.