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The Beach (very short story)

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Lon Dee
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The Beach (very short story)

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I wrote this about twenty years ago and happened to come across it recently. It's kind of amateurish and not well written, but maybe it will resonate with someone.

Memories and Photos – The Beach

The warm sun was still high in the afternoon sky, but it was invisible through the thin ocean clouds. Its effects were all around us, though, with a soft golden glow lighting the waves and sand. A few sea gulls were flying overhead, and a humid breeze carried salty mist from the water, across the short beach, and into the low bushes behind us. The beautiful weather amplified the warmth and friendship we were all feeling in our hearts.

The four of us, twenty-year-olds who had grown to love and trust each other over the past few months, came to this spot as a final outing together before I had to leave. I was going to be moving in a couple days, and the only way I could hide my sadness was to have some fun, and try to be happy.

We lived in a nearby town and had borrowed two motorcycles to make our trek out here today. We parked at the edge of the beach, where the pavement and thick trees turned into scattered bushed and soft sand. We spotted an old wrecked fishing trawler, half buried in the sand, and were standing on the deck, talking, laughing, and avoiding the one topic that weighed so heavily on our minds.

I had lived in this area about eight months, but it wasn't until my new roommate arrived three months ago, that he and I and the two girls became really close. During those three months, our little group worked, played, laughed and cried together. One girl was struggling with family problems, the other was struggling with being accepted by others, and I was struggling with my own life, wondering what I should or shouldn't be doing. My roommate, always happy and laughing, was the only one who seemed to have very few cares in the world.

Standing on the boat, looking out over the ocean, I began to wonder what my future would bring. Would I ever see these people again? I told myself that I shouldn't be thinking of this as a "goodbye party", but as a "see you later party". I knew I'd come back to visit, or that they'd come to visit me. After I got a degree and got a good job, I'd have plenty of money to travel and visit all my old friends. After all, I'd left friends before, and we still write, call, and even visit each other occasionally. Being young, optimistic, and even a bit naive, I really believed that time wouldn't affect our friendship. In my heart, I knew that we would always be pals.

Somebody wanted to take pictures, and I was jolted out of my thoughts. We set the camera up and took pictures of all four of us, then separate pictures in pairs and in threes. I took a few extra shots of the scenery and the trawler, wanting to save and remember every bit of that place that I could.

As I was walking along the brushline, trying to get a good view of the boat with the water behind it, I noticed some old garbage. I fished around until I found a bottle that seemed dry inside, and still had a good lid on it. I took it over to the others, who were dangling their feet over the edge of the boat. After explaining my idea, I passed around some papers and we each began to write a message to put in the bottle.

The sounds of the environment enveloped us as we wrote our own private messages. The methodic splashing of the waves, the occasional squawking of the sea gulls, and the soft breeze rustling the bushes, all combined to create our own world. A world with no other people, only the four of us, and our own thoughts.

I paused in my writing to look at the others. My roommate was chuckling to himself as he wrote down some private joke. The two girls were looking out at the water, one with tears in her eyes.

When it seemed we were all finished, I passed the open bottle around. We each rolled up our notes, and stuffed them inside. When it came back to me, I put in my own note and screwed the lid on tightly. We jumped down from the boat, and walked over to the edge of the water. I gave the bottle to my roommate, and he looked at each one of us, not saying anything. Not out loud, at least. He threw our little ark of messages far and high. It hit the water with a barely audible splash, and quickly disappeared, floating away from us into the waves.

That happened many years ago. Thinking about that time, it seems like it never really happened, that it was just a dream or a movie I saw. Now I'm back on that same beach. I have changed; I am married, have a family, and have grown up. The beach, though, is still the same, minus the fishing trawler.

Something else is missing, too. My three friends. I remember promising to myself that I would always keep in touch with them. A promise that was broken long ago.

It wasn't long after I moved away that my roommate also moved. The four of us kept in touch for a while, with calls, letters and short visits. Our little group never did get back together, though. I've run into my roommate a few times, and each time we say that we really need to get together and have lunch. But we haven't. One of the ladies is living in an unhappy marriage somewhere far away, and I haven't heard anything about the other one for years.

I'm sure we'll never all see each other together again. In fact, I would have to do a lot of searching just to find out where each one lives.

I don't know what brought me back to the beach today. I was on my way to some other destination, and realized how close I was to this spot. Now that I'm here, though, standing on the same ground that I stood on so long ago, I realize how far away I've really been. Even if I were to build a house on this beach and live here, I would still be far away from that time of innocence and happiness. I have a happy and fulfilling life now, but I wonder how different things would be if I had kept that note myself, rather than throwing it out to the sea.

To whoever finds this note: I want you to know that there is nothing more important in this world than a good friend. You should never take a friendship for granted; you need to cherish it and hold on to it tightly. If you don't, you could lose that friendship and all you will have left are memories and photos.
Lon Dee
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http://lon-dee.com

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heledd
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Re: The Beach (very short story)

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Nice post. Lon Dee. I enjoyed it.
Life's a glitch and then you die - The Simpsons
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JuliannaRuth
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Re: The Beach (very short story)

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I enjoyed that. The message is a great one and universal. We all have a "beach". Nice job
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