The Great Weight of Ordeals

By Ben

We watch other people’s children mourn their futile endeavour as the tide engulfs their sandcastles. Slowly, the beach disappears and the people drift away to unchanged lives. Ellie lies with me and as the water laps at our feet we find his ghost in the high clouds that dot the sky. A seagull hangs in the breeze. The water is cold, but welcoming as it breaks lazily over us. The sandcastles are gone. We hold hands and wait for the tide to take us, too.