Horrific

Hefty Shore

Linda Canady walked down the beach, admiring the sunset. She walked and walked, carrying nothing but her tattered and nearly empty backpack.

She stopped for a moment and began hacking but soon resumed her pace. She kept walking until she came across a worn and nearly destroyed beach chair. But it could still hold her weight and so she sat and rested.

She pulled her bag up onto her lap and after a minute of difficulty, she extracted a single apple, a battered piece of cardboard, and a red expo marker. Her bag was empty now and she so she tossed it carelessly off her lap with no intentions of retrieving it.

She decided this would be the place. Although the smell was far from pleasant, it was far better than the toxic odor she had walked through on the busier side of the beach.

She looked around warily. In her presence were a few umbrellas with people laying still on towels beneath them and a green rubber-coated wire trashcan. On the side a sign read:

Thank you for keeping Hefty shore clean! Enjoy your visit!

She laughed at the bittersweet humor in it and looked onwards. The shade of the broken pier above her was soothing to her burning skin and she was grateful to have found such a place to rest. She had heard sharks lived in these waters but things like that no longer mattered to her.

She looked to the incoming waves and was soothed by the calming consistency, she almost didn't notice the head begin to wash up and get closer with every wave. Soon a whole body was recognizable and she looked away quickly.

She was getting very sleepy and supposed it was time to make her sign. She reached for her cardboard and marker and another set of coughs attacked her. Eventually they passed she got to work writing.

With a gentle hand written on the cardboard, the sign read:

Linda Canady
1997-2029
The Green Plague

She sat the sign on her lap facing the waves so that anyone who was left could see If they walked past.

She was very sleepy now and felt like closing her eyes. Even after she was asleep the sounds of crashing waves echoed through her ears. She did not wake back up.