Short Stories

The girl and the Waves

          Julie Snow sat at the edge of the cliffs a mile away from her house with her dog Aki. She wanted to get away from the noise near her home, and so the 10 year old grabbed her dog's leash and left a note for her parents who were upstairs sleeping before walking out the door and following the familiar path that led to the cliffs behind the house. Julie has had a love for the waves that crashed against the cliff she sat atop for as long as she could remember.

          Everyday, Julie would sit at the top of the cliff after school and would continue to watch the waves and sometimes the animals that would jump from the waters. As Julie got older, she started to capture the pictures of the waves using acrylic paints and oils. Aki would sometimes accompany Julie to watch the waves, but as the years went by he stopped coming with her. One day Julie packed multiple paints, oils, cushions, and food into a bag before traveling back to the cliffs where she decided to stay for a couple of days to paint the waves from every angle she could given the narrow cliff she sat on. When Julie got to the cliffs, she stopped and admired the waves as some chaotically crashed against the cliff while others lapped gently at the rockface. Julie soon began to set up a spot for her paints and oils along with the sketchbook she kept all of her pictures in. After everything was set up she opened her paints and sat down before painting the waves and the chaos of the foam that formed as the water crashed against the cliff. Once she was done with one she would change her position and do the process over again. Julie did this process for many hours before she picked up her supplies and moved to the very edge of the cliff to get the closest visual for her to paint within her sketchbook and began to paint the waves before her.

          Julie was halfway finished with the painting when suddenly the rock underneath her gave way and crumbled leaving Julie to fall to her death. She braced herself for crashing into the rocks and waves below her, but when the pain did not come Julie was very confused and felt as if she were being cradled in the arms of many, though there was not a soul near her to do so. All was silent for a while before Julie heard someone whisper "Oh no...We cannot destroy something that has loved us so beautifully." She cracked her eyes open and looked down, what she saw shocked her. There were what looked to be multiple arms formed from water holding Julie in the air away from the rocks that would have surely killed her had she fell on them. "I'm glad we saved you young one." A voice from the waves said to her, causing Julie to look at the waves that held her in a caring way. "Thank you for saving me." She replied to the waves with a smile.