-Shania Mathew

we’re standing at this beach and she’s quivering and tears almost escaping those eyes. i’m pulling my sister’s arm towards the waves as they creep into our flip flops.

she’s petrified, squealing and shrieking and i could never understand why, until today, two years later. they’re roaring and as they swell they form this intimidating tide that’s ready to wipe you out clean. the uncertain is sprinkled in the sea and as it rises it brings those hopes up and in those precious six seconds, you’re holding your breath. it crashes against the sand, so powerful that everything below it gives in, the crabs scrambling and those hopes nudged into the sand like the half chipped sea shells. i tell her to dip her feet into the white froth and the moment the tide forces itself forward, run. don’t look back, don’t pick up the pieces and don’t bother having hope. it’s been two years, yet only one of us still sees this as a game.