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Down by the Seaside Essay

Decent Essays

Seaside Epiphinies
Sand squelched between Megan’s toes, gritty and grounding as she waded further from shore. Gentle waves lapped at her ankles, calves, knees, and she simply stared out at the blinding ribbon of pink that encompassed the final chapter of sunset. Further down shore, Megan could barely make out the gleeful squeal of over-excited vacationers, igniting smoky plumes of bonfire and living these precious few moments of sundown without a care in the world. She envied them. For her, these final moments of day represented a losing battle—failing health, lost partnership, and the empty pang of a lost love that rattled in her chest like the chirping of cicadas—ever present, unavoidable, and certainly something she could never grow …show more content…

And Megan couldn’t help but grin herself, thinking back, smile threatening to split her face in two.
But time came to open her eyes, and Megan was left staring at the horizon, the only music the gentle crashing of waves against her bare thighs as the tide drew cool ocean spray up towards the hem of her skirt. The evening air was cool and pleasant. Megan usually delighted in the playful way it caressed the sharp panes of her face, reaching behind to ruffle her thick plaits of messy midnight, but not today. She squeezed her eyes shut once more: let tension spread from her eyelids out past her temples, tighter and tighter until bright spots appeared in her vision. She thought on Arthur so intently that Megan was sure she’d never wanted anything harder in her entire life. And once more she found herself engulfed in the instantaneous escape of performance. In certain moments, she would improvise the accompaniment—just notes and chords based loosely on orchestral recordings she had heard maybe once before. It was exhilarating to know that whatever she played, it would be alright. It would be right, because no one was going to care if it was different. It made her want to kick off her shoes and play standing up, the better to experience all the vibration in the floorboards. From her sustained notes to the tremulous thrum of Arthur’s vibrato, to the thunderous applause of the audience, Megan wanted it all. She wanted it forever.

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