Help! - Part One

Lena stormed out banging the door shut behind her.  Tears streaming down her cheeks, mingled with the salty air and whirled away into oblivion.  A strand from her disheveled hair swayed with the wild wind, veiling her eyes.  Her footsteps on the soft, slick sand quickly erased behind her by the efficient waves as they surged, nudged by the stronger gusts.

Lena marched on, blinded by her strand and determined to reach the far end of the beach to climb up the cluster of rocks and face the angry waves head on.  She gave no mind to the changes around her as she struggled to take control of the tempest within her.  Her anger had been justified, she kept telling herself.  He had no right to decide what she could not wear.  It was her body and she could choose how much or how little to wear.    She forged ahead brushing off white-tipped waves and clingy sand.  Light diminished and sparkles from the water disappeared as storm clouds began to roll in to cast a dark shadow over the island.

Placing one step after another, her feet dug into the wet sand, while the edges of her long skirt dripped from its close encounter with the constantly moving water.  Reaching the edge of the beach, she skipped over the gravely portion by placing her bare feet one big toe after the other until finally hopping onto the first big boulder of a cluster.  She leaped between rocks, skirted slippery moss, dodged the raging waves as they crashed and sprayed as if determined to soak her.  She climbed head on, challenging the seas, the rumbling sky, and the mighty rocks until a misstep, or perhaps it was not.  A piercing shriek evaporated in the ocean’s rage and thundering anger of the sky.

Sitting down on a solid rock, Lena held her left foot in her hand.  A sharp, rusty object partially stared at her, its other half inside her foot.  She screamed, unmindful of the ominous grayness around her that was gradually fusing into darkness.  Digging deep within her she found a morsel of strength and used it to pull the offending object out of her foot.  Her previous emotions forgotten, her differences with her man suddenly becoming insignificant, she slid back to the beach, rock by rock.  Hobbling on one foot she started her trek home.  Less than half-way up, her legs submitted to the wet sand as she crawled her way up the beach while the storm drew closer above and around her.  Flashes of lightening signaled her to move along, to rush home before the hungry waves start to gnaw at her and the vast ocean consumes her.  She dragged her injured foot, her trail of blood washed away by the over-efficient waves.

 

To be continued…