The sound of the ocean is beautiful
In every swish and sway of the wind
With massive waves curling over
And crashing down
Beautiful but frightening
Peaceful yet ominous
It stretches far and wide
Immense and powerful
I feel the soft and grainy sand
Underneath my feet
It scrunches up beneath my toes
The briny air is thick with the smell of the sea
The fishy and salty smell of the ocean
The great tide sweeps in and out curling itself
I walk closer and feel my feet sinking into the wet sand
I remind myself that I’m only supposed to be looking for shells
Everyone else will be out here in a minute anyway
Why shouldn’t I go into the water?
It seemed to call me into it
I again noticed the tide coming up and pulling back out
Almost as if it was beckoning me to come in
The way the sun’s golden light was warped by the rippling
Beautiful waves astonished me
The waves looked like glass
Harmless,
Beautiful glass
That would gently nudge me with its waves
I turned
Trying to decide if I could go out or not
When I saw my brother coming over the grassy, steep dune,
I decided it would be fine for me to go out
I stepped into the ocean
I felt its gentle pull
So I went out a little farther
And a little farther
And a little farther
Until I could barely touch.
It was peaceful
Until there was no longer the small,
Harmless waves
The waves out this far were violent
Crashing down
Relentlessly
But when I went to get out
The current underneath my feet was too strong
I couldn’t go towards my brother
I couldn’t go anywhere
I opened my mouth to yell,
Took a deep breath of the salty air
Hearing the waves crash around me
But before I could shout a thing
The biggest wave yet crashed down upon my head
And without good footing
My feet were swept away
I was sucked under
I screamed as loud as I could
But I couldn’t be heard
I fought and panicked
The never-ending, unabating waves kept on
I hit rock after rock on the ground
I decided
The ocean is powerful
Dominant and strong
Every time I went up for air
It pushed me back down again
The salty sea went into my ears and eyes
My nose and my mouth
I couldn’t breathe at all
I was spinning out of control
When I felt hard ground and realized I could breathe
I realized I had made it to the beach
The salty air was no longer comforting to me
The sand between my toes wasn’t soft
But most of all,
The ocean was not beautiful
But powerful and frightening