#74 Maria And The Whale

by Ryan Cullinane

The sky turned red as the whale let out a booming cry. “Is it all over?” Maria quietly asked. The whale’s dark eyes stared into Maria’s as she began to kick up the sand with her feet. The ocean’s water was receding farther and farther back each minute and there was neither single person nor gull to be heard on the beach that day. “You’re the only one who ever lets me talk so, I guess it’s only appropriate for me to spend these last few hours with you.”

A heavy sigh came from the whale as the ground began to shake. Maria watched silently as the boardwalk in the distance seemed to crumble into thin air. She quickly got up and began to run around the quaking beach, laughing and smiling. She felt a rush of euphoria watching this cage she had been trapped in for so many years finally fall apart.

Another booming cry from the whale as a deafening tone took over the air.

Maria fell down on the sand next to the whale as a piercing light appeared in the sky. It began as a small dot, but rapidly grew larger and larger right before their eyes.

“This is it, this is it!” Maria screamed over the tone. “This is the best part!”

The light soon consumed the whole sky, bringing the world into an inescapable dome of white as everything that once existed was washed away. There on the beach sat Maria and the whale.