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Realisation

when reality ceases to be real

By LouisePublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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I shiver as I pull myself out of the water and sink down onto the soft sand, that was way too close for comfort! My wet clothes stick to me and I try to pull them away from my cold body, a pointless exercise as they immediately cling yet again like a sodden second skin.

A woman a little further up the beach nods sympathetically towards me, I dismiss her concern with a nonchalant wave of my hand, I shout over to her, "Never mind, worse things happen at sea, eh?" The woman stares at me for a moment then slowly turns away. I thought it was quite funny, no sense of humour some folk.

I look around me, where are the others? I know David jumped in after I fell, he had tried to drag me back to the surface but lost his grip on my arm. I can already picture him teasing me later about that second croissant making me sink like a brick, I smirk to myself as I look back towards the rocks where I’d fallen a short while ago. David as usual was completely right, those flip flops weren’t suitable for a coastal walk, I guess he was also right that I shouldn’t climb on wet rocks, but still no real harm done, except of course to the rather flimsy flip flops which were now floating out to sea somewhere like little sparkly, white rafts. I stare down at my bare feet, they look so pale against the golden sand and my cherry red toenails. My mum had said red wasn't suitable for a bride but I loved how it looked against the silver sandals so I ignored her advice...

I glance back up towards the rocks, hoping to catch a glimpse of the others, I think there must be people snorkelling or something, close to where I fell, I can see their torches moving around under the water, giving off an eerie green light through the gently floating streams of seaweed. I should probably go and look for the others but it's so peaceful here, five more minutes then I’ll go face the music.

My clothes are almost dry, I've stopped shivering but I still feel a bit chilly, that’s just great, now I am probably going to have a stinking cold to go with my multiple scrapes and bruised ego. I stand up and brush the sand from the backs of my legs, I thought I’d have felt more sore than I do, I hit that first rock pretty hard, I must be made of tougher stuff than I thought.

I start walking towards the cliff path where we’d started out earlier, only feels like an hour or so ago my new husband was giving me a piggy back over the pebbles, but the sun is already starting to set, I must have sat on the beach longer than I thought. As I round the corner I see the same woman who was stood on the beach earlier, I follow her gaze towards a group walking towards us. They are walking slowly, heads down, it almost reminds me of a funeral procession. As they get closer I see David’s red baseball cap and awful green Hawaiian shirt and I call out to him but he doesn’t hear me. I start walking towards them, as I pass by the woman she touches my arm, I stop and look at her questioningly. She doesn’t say a word, just looks at me and shakes her head.

“No, it’s fine, my husband is over there.” I reassure her, but she continues to hold my arm as they approach. As David walks towards me I can see he has been crying, I reach out to tap him on the arm, “Hey it’s ok, I’m here, I ended up on the beach.” He keeps walking. “Come on, don’t be mad at me, it was an accident, I'm fine.” He doesn’t even turn his head in my direction.

“He’s not mad at you.” I swing round to look at the woman who’s hand still lingers lightly on my arm.

“He just completely ignored me.” I reply, slightly irritated this stranger is trying to involve herself in my impending domestic.

“He didn’t see you,” she whispered sadly, “nobody will see you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snap back, “You see me.”

She points up towards the road, where emergency vehicles I hadn’t even noticed before are starting to pull away from the parking bays.

“Yes,” she says faintly, “I see you, I didn’t make it out of the water either.”

Fantasy
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About the Creator

Louise

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