Who has posted? | | View a Printable Version

caliginovsCvre · 03-09-2018, 08:21 PM

Quote:>Examine your surroundings

Nice to see this adventure return. I really miss it.

Show Content

Ever since the earthquake that created this cove, it has been one of my favorite places to play. A long time ago this whole patch of land sank downward, creating a large, shallow semicircle protected by cliffs on three sides. When the tide is high, the waves thrash against the rock walls, but right now things are pretty calm. Too calm, almost. I look out across the water and see only a few white-tipped crests in the distance, which is unusual even at low tide. The water itself is shallow, but goes on as far as I can see. My island is only one of many, spit up by the giant volcano that even now looms up on the distant mountain range on the other side of the island. I hope it doesn’t erupt again anytime soon. I’ll miss this place if it gets covered over with lava.

I look around some more. There’s a small crater in the rock nearby, a memory of a shooting star. This one was smaller than most, almost burned up by the atmosphere. Where it landed, the rock is fused into a hard, clear substance. On the rest of the beach, the rocks go from large to small as I’ve already mentioned. Underneath them is a layer of clay that can be fun to dig up and mold into shapes sometimes. I showed Mother, once, but she was disappointed in me. She said I needed to have more imagination; that I was playing with it the way a baby would.

Quote:>Recall family
>Trace shapes in the sand

I live on this island with my mother and twin brother. We’ve been here as long as I have clear memories of anything, ever since Mother stopped carrying us around with her like two little pebbles. Now she goes on her journeys without us, and never tells us what she’s doing even when we insist we’re old enough to understand.

As I think about my mother, I draw her as a large circle in the - sand? Yes, I think I’ll call it sand. Then I add a smaller circle inside her, a two-dimensional representation of me. Reluctantly, I add my brother, but make sure he’s as far away from my little circle as possible. When we were really little, we were almost the same, but ever since we came to the island he’s grown more and more different. I don’t like to play with him anymore.

Quote:>Build a rock fortress.

(I giggle at the fact I succeeded in naming someone practically "I don't know.”)

Show Content

As I admire my secret cove, the sun moves slowly along the horizon. It’s high noon now, and the yellow orb radiates its warm energy down through the orange-tinted sky. A towering wall of clouds has appeared in the distance. Already? I sigh. I bask in the last moments of sunlight before the ever-present clouds return, spreading myself thin to absorb the maximum amount of energy. And that gives me an idea. What if I make myself a little cave to hide in? And, if I build it well enough to withstand the tides, then I can really make a mark on this place.

I start to gather the largest rocks and scoop them up into a pile, then stack them on top of each other in an interlocking fashion. Sometimes the rocks want to fall down, but I give them a stern talking-to, a little steadying, and - aha! They fit together as if they were made that way. This is child’s play, really, sticking together such big rocks. The small stuff is much harder, but it’s still satisfying to watch something come together.

By the time I’m finished, it’s nearly evening. The shadows slant long and the clouds have almost fully covered the sun. But I now have a dome-shaped fortress of exactly my circumference, large enough to be comfortable but small enough for me to simultaneously touch every stone. Thunder rolls faintly in the distance. I guess there’s going to be a storm. What should I do now?

Show Content