Pebbles
Rough, Rigged and Rocky- an expanse of sand or pebbles along a shore. Every beach I have ever walked along filled me with serene happiness. The pads of my feet meeting silk sand whilst my worries washed away with the waves. I had always loved beaches, most of my fond childhood memories were set at the beach- being chased by seagulls laughing until tears were as defined as the sand that coated my chips. I haven’t walked along this beach for 5 years, to this day. Here I am, stepping onto cold pebbles that unnerve my soul. Each step like ice to my chest. The sea haunts me, its screams flickering harshly against the pier. The pier that taunts my nightmares and shattered my whole being.
Allow me to take you back, to the first time my life altered forever. Nine years ago, I fell in love. I had just graduated from University, I got a first in my degree. I was hopeful and ready for the world to unleash itself upon me. As a naive northern twenty-one-year-old, I assumed I had mapped my life out before me. I was ready to roar in the industry I had finished my degree in; business, ready to make millions and be the next self-made Sara Blakely- only without the restricting material- I left my hometown and went down south. To Brighton to be exact. I found a nice little one-bedroom apartment, almost on the seafront. I say almost because I can see the sea from my window, alongside a rubbish tip. But, nonetheless, the stench could not overpower my eagerness.
A professor from my degree put me in touch with a small-time business, who were eager to hire graduates. I attended an interview, smartly dressed with bravery on a broach and wisdom around my chest like a sachet. That day I did not get the job but I did get the number of the male assistant who followed the boss around. This is where life took me in a whirl, to pay rent I started working in a bar. The office guy who gave me his number kept trying to make a date with me but I had always been too busy to make the time for him.
One night he wandered into the bar, I remember his face beaming at me to finally see me again- and it was purely an accident. I was still busy but every other night he would come back to the bar just to sit and talk to me. He was my distraction from the drunk men ogling at me and the abuse that was hailed at me often. It was two weeks into this when I finally agreed to let him take me on a date. I didn’t want anything acentric so we walked along these very pebbles eating fish and chips as the sun began to fall asleep. All of the most significant moments in our relationship took place on Brighton beach, it is where it all began. It is where it all ended.
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In the introduction week of University we were asked to write a 500 word piece of prose, we were allowed to write any genre as long as it was set in Brighton. So I came up with this little fiction piece,w hich essentially would be an opening chapter to a novel.
