Day One

Walking on the beach is one of a long list of things which seems so incredibly romantic until you actually do it. Well, that's not true; walking on the beach can be really romantic, but after about hour four of said activity, your feet are rubbed raw and life sucks. There's nothing worse that hurt feet. With the sun pouring down on her mercilessly, Rebecca Steenam was beginning to think walking along the beach was one of her least favorite activities. She wasn't exactly sure how long she'd been walking though, and maybe that was a big factor in the pleasurableness of the activity. Yesterday when she'd walked along this same area, she'd had a different starting point, and of course that made all the difference in the world.

There was something else that was very different about yesterday, something she couldn't quite bring herself to admit. Perhaps she thought as long as she was walking she wouldn't have to compare today with yesterday, but it was impossible not to. She felt like she was standing in a room full of blackness except for one tiny light, and she was trying to look everywhere except at that light.

Over one more dune. Almost there. She remembered with an icy pain in her heart that this is where she had tumbled down the dune and dropped her keys along the way. She had thought then that they were as good as gone; what are the odds of finding a tiny clump of car keys in a giant pile sand anyway? It was ok. She didn't really need the car. I'll sell the car and walk, she thought, I have the beach, I have everything I could ever want and I don't need a stupid car. But that wasn't necessary because her keys were eventually found; he had helped her look for them.

Pain. It came over her like a series of waves that went on forever and ever, eating away at her soul. Even the greatest mountain is eventually worn down to a pile of sand, she thought. She turned abruptly and began walking up the beach, over to the small cliff where they had sat drinking, laughing, and loving the night before. She sat herself down on the rock, and, looking out over the water, tried to think of something deep to say. Who would she say it it? No one. No was was with her now, and that was the big, horrible difference between today and yesterday. Yesterday they had been two, and now she was alone. It was bitter.