Epicenter Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Merrick sat on the rock with his eyes closed and listened to the
waves crashing around him. It was a public beach, but often empty because the terrain
was rocky and dangerous and the waves were harsh and uneven. There was nothing
pretty about this beach. There was nothing safe. Merrick loved it. It was a
perfect place to get away and have a moment of peace and solitude.
The spray was getting Merrick wet, but he didn’t mind. The summer
had been extremely hot and a little bit of ocean mist was actually a relief.
Merrick put his hands behind him so he could lean back further. He craned his
neck and looked up at the sky and felt the warmth of the sun on his face. He
didn’t know what the next world held for him, but he assumed that he would miss
this. The direct sunlight could be brutal, and Merrick burned quite easily, but
still he enjoyed the warmth on his skin. He figured it must be primordial; some
connection to the life-giving powers of the sun and to his ancient ancestors
that worshipped it. It made him sweat, but it made him feel alive. He wanted to
feel alive. He wanted to feel hot and sticky and exhausted from feeling too hot
for too long.
Merrick wanted to drift away. He wasn’t going to fall asleep, but
he could hope.
Merrick had always loved the ocean, and now the ocean was going to
kill him. He felt a sad and stubborn betrayal, as if abandoned by a lover or if
it had stabbed him in the back. He knew the ocean possessed no such human
traits, but he couldn’t help but personify it. It had been his companion for
too long. It was like a lover or mistress, and like the scorned, it still had a
venomous bite left.
The wave was coming. The wave moved too fast and was too tall.
There was no time to escape inland. There was no way to get far enough away.
The city would be lost. Some people ran. Some people tried to drive, but that
just clogged the streets. The wave was coming and everyone was going to wash
away whether they wanted to or not.
Merrick walked out of his house and came here, to the same rock he
had sat on so many times before.
There had been chaos. There were plenty of people running and
screaming and committing final acts of distraction. Merrick could hear the
sirens and the smashing of glass and the million other sounds of desperation
and destruction.
He tried to tune them all out.
He sat and listened to the waves and the water as they crashed
against the rocks.
He kept his eyes closed tight. He didn’t want to see. He didn’t
want to know when it was about to happen. He hoped that by keeping his eyes
closed tight and his ears focused elsewhere then he really wouldn’t know what
was happening as it happened.
He hoped it would be quick. He hoped his body wouldn’t have the
time to register it or even realize it. He hoped it would just be over in an
instant. He hoped and prayed that would be the case, but he feared that this
would do him no good at all.
There was a peaceful moment of silence. Merrick wasn’t sure what
that meant. He didn’t want to think about it.
He had always loved the ocean. He had always loved the beach. The
water was his friend.
There was a moment of silence and Merrick felt a peaceful
serenity.
Then there was nothing at all.
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