She made her way along the narrow path just as they had done the day before he left. The warm scent of Coastal Rosemary hung in the summer air while the ‘tick, tick’ of Dune Ticker Cicadas cut through the silence. It had been twenty-four hours since he left, and the sound of their laughter was now a memory.
The soft sand under her feet deepened as the path opened onto the vast expanse of deserted beach. In front of her, a continuous rolling of waves unfolded onto the warm sand at the shoreline. The patterned sand formed by the tide was dotted with shells and bundles of seaweed.
It didn’t take long for her to find ‘their spot’. The gull feathers used as markers were still sticking out of the sand, placed high enough up the beach to avoid being washed away at high tide.
She rolled out her beach towel and laid it between the feathers. Looking at the sand around her, she could still make out what remained of his footprints. She smiled, remembering how they had run into the water, laughing, splashing each other with the refreshing water.
They had cooled off in the surf. Later, they had popped the tops off cans of cider, breathless from the thrill of it all. She smiled at the memory now while feeling sad that she was alone.
Checking that her keys and phone were tucked safely into her pockets, she took one last look at his footprints and wondered where he was now. With tears in her eyes, she turned towards the beach and the long walk ahead.
Waking the Wombat 