nothing 4

An infant lays on the beach in the early hours of the morning. The sun yet to rise, the baby yet to open its eyes. The warmth from the previous days sun radiates warmth like a blanket, protecting against the cold air flowing in from the sea. Waves crash rhythmically a few dozen feet away as the tide reaches its lowest point. The dark sky flecked with stars blends into the horizon as it is reflected back by the water, no cloud is seen in the black sky.

Slowly the horizon starts to tell a story. The story of the day begins quietly and swiftly with the hint of separation of sky and sea. The darkness starts to slowly fade into deep purple as stars begin to withdraw from view. The first to depart were so dim they almost weren't there to begin with, only with their departure was their presence made evident. The gradient of dark purple flows and flows until the black sky is no more, replaced by the dark purple hues of morning. At the line formed between ground and sky, the most pronounced contrast forms. The sky's purple is becoming more and more warm, warning of an impending truth. Even the brightest stars one my one take their leave as the light coming requests their leave, thanking them for their watchful presence all night long.

From the horizon a ruby red sky transitions overhead through pinks, dark blues and purple until once again meeting in the distant hills in a monochromatic shade of cold. The waves have continued in their own rhythm paying no attention to the story told overhead. The infant sleeps soundly for now, cradled in the warm sand which refuses to stick to the soft skin of the child.

Quickly the next chapter arrives as a bright ray of light pops up over the horizon, the top of a gigantic ball of fire emerges covering the beach with warm light. The beams awaken the child who cries into the morning its first breaths of consciousness. Tears stream down the face as light enters its being.

The sun climbs now half visible above the line previously agreed to by sky and sea, the orb of fire starts to send heat along with light. The sky takes each second with stride and melts darkness away like a candle burning down from flame. The colors contort from dark cold to warm and bright in a crescendo of the visible spectrum of colors.

Birds start to sing a morning song as the child cries loud. Tears have stopped for now, then the sound. Quiet contentment falls over the child's face as the sun's light bathes the little one in its love. The sun finishes its last climb above the line and sky once again is united with the sea, the ocean reflecting a long wide line of bright red and yellow all the way to the beach where the waves crash, pushing and pulling back in infinity.

The child's hair provides evidence of a slight breeze as it moves here and there in dance with the trees on the hills behind. Sleeping in the early light the child rolls over, thumb in mouth. Teeth gently hold on to the digit for a time before the hand moves to hold the head. Slow breaths continue in quiet slumber.

The sun has painted the sky light blue gradient to darkest blue with a pink red ribbon in the middle. As it climbs the ribbon starts to dissolve and the dark cold blue fades with it. Morning is in full effect as the child sits. It rubs sleep from its eyes and starts to perceive its world. Sound, sight, and the smell of the salty air mingled with latent smells of the sea.

The sun continues to climb above the distant ground beneath in a slow steady procession. The day was bringing life and death after all. Light chasing the dark away in a lose lose stalemate affair as darkness was destined to return on the heals of day.

The color in the child's eyes darkened from light blue to dark green with flecks of brown. As the sun finally illuminated the world around in a proper days light, the face of the child showed innocence and thought. Recognition of itself being in this world arrived along with curiosity. Slowly sifting sand between the fingers, feeling each grain of sand as it fell, watching the grey, brown and white specs fall into place creating small mounds surrounding the kid. Hair threatened to block sight was brushed to the side, the kid stood and looked around.

The sun's progress brought with it a rising tide, waves started to encroach neared to the child as the sun moved a forth of the way overhead. Standing some five feet tall, the kid walked down the shore, hair flowing gently in the breeze. Birds walked about pecking at driftwood and sea shells, seagulls scavenging and small piper birds pecking into the sand wet from waves, looking for a snack. As the sun rose higher and higher to its pinnacle above, the young adult started to jog. The increase in speed caused the warm air to pass over perspiration formed from the exercise and cool the skin. An ocean breeze now and again sent wisps of ocean spray into the air further cooling the human who jogged.

The beach was long and once the sun sat upon midday the human had covered a mere fraction of a fraction of its immense size. The sky and sea in the distance were greeted by another presence. A long grey cloud emerged being pushed by distant winds. A layer of fog whipped up on the ocean far from land wanting to tuck the world in its grey color for a time. The fog quickly ran between the sky and sea, covering the sky from view and washing over the beach as the human picked up pace to a run.

The sun was out of view and cold took over. The human felt the stress of the change upon their skin as they ran quicker in a false attempt to escape the fogs coldness. Higher above clouds had arrived bringing with them a darkness the fog could not achieve. The sun had little power anymore. Any warmth would need to be created by energy exertion by the human.

Dark started to fall from the clouds as rain met the sand and sea. The humans face now showed a few creases and lines. The rain flowed through them. The humans face contorted into concentration as the run continued and their hair flew behind them like a small cape in the wind. The pace was steady and fast but ultimately bringing them nowhere.

The sun was unseen yet continued it's trip across the sky, now finding itself halfway to the ground. The fog rolled out and soon out of sight as it chased the sun it could not see. The rain stopped as the clouds continued to flow up above. Dark grey remained.

The human felt the creeping tiredness of the days journey and slowed, the stress felt before melted into sadness. Their face showed more lines now and their hair grew grey.

The clouds separated. Light fell down in beams highlighted by the moisture in the air. The human stopped to watch it unfold.

The clouds shifted from dark grey to white and held irregular shapes as they moved across to land. The sun peaked out and saw the ground again, in the distance the blue sky embraced the sea along the horizon once more. Blue, white, yellow, orange, tan, brown, green made up the pallet of the world above and below.

The clouds shifted absent of care from the sun who dissolved them with heat and light. The sun cast colors as the clouds one by one disappeared.

Pinks and reds emerged to blend with yellow and blue. In the distance the horizon darkened. The sky there was more dark blue than before and getting darker, the sea responded in kind. The sun was threatening to touch land on the other side now having eliminated all clouds.

The old human stood, back slightly arched taking it all in. The beauty they had failed to observe in detail before was beginning to be hard to see as their eyesight failed. They slowly sat down on the beach as the tide moved away. Warmth of the late day sun bathed all.

The sun did not stop to preserve the beauty formed, it continued towards the ground and the human, old and tired, forgot their sadness and tiredness. They felt more then saw the scene now. Warm smooth soft sand beneath, pleasant clean breeze around, the rhythm of the waves nearby and birds making their last days song in the air. All sound floated away as the old human lost their ability to hear. The warm colors around started to darken.

The sun touched the ground, diminishing the light projected with every passing breath. The sky's colors had blended to pinkish red, dark blue and finally a purple at the horizon. The sea tried to blend its colors to match but could not quite do so. A dark line separated them still.

The sun was halfway hidden when the old human slowly layed down, back to the sea feeling the light of the sun fall away, feeling the embrace of the warmed sand.

The sun had one last word of light before falling behind the hills. A small peak at the human laying down, eyes closed, breathing slow. Then it was gone.

The sky showed from dark blue to reddish purple to dark purple and the human felt finality. The embrace of never ending sleep fell like the veil of darkness on the land around them into their mind. Breathing stopped. The only sound was the steady rhythm of the ocean.

The sky darkened more and more into a uniform dark purple before the encore. In the distance, a bright white orb appeared on the horizon bringing cool light to the beach and the body. It bathed all in a soft glow. As it rose. With it, it sang the tune of light that pulled the stars into view again. A blanket of shades of white and blue peppered the dark sky behind the moon. The body lay still and cold.

The moon shed its light on the beach, tucking the body into the landscape with a knowing glow. Soon it would be gone after all.