Prompt: Start or end your story with a character seeing something beautiful or shocking.
Chasing Shadows in the Sun
It’s a beautiful summer day. Savanna drives down a long, rugged, winding road in California. More accurately, she is traveling through Big Sur. It’s a 90-mile stretch of California’s Central Coast and very well known among travelers. This is the spot she has been waiting for since she started her trip in Southern Arizona. The heat leaves her with shortness of breath, but the views alone have been worth the drive.
She looks out as she crosses the old, rusty, but obviously sturdy bridge. The vastness of the ocean amazes her. The aqua blue waters are calling out her name, begging her to dip her toes in. But she doesn’t stop, not yet. She wants to soak in all the wonderful views first. She looks to her right, noticing the tall hills and valleys in between. The birds overhead are flying gracefully.
Savanna chuckles, smiles really big, and reaches over to nudge Heather so she notices the birds as well. When her elbow contacts nothing but thin air, she immediately feels an emptiness in her chest, swallowing back her tears. She can’t believe she had almost forgotten why she decided to take this trip in the first place.
Heather was Savanna’s best friend since elementary school. She was being bullied at recess one day; Heather came out of nowhere like a superhero to stand up for her. They have been inseparable ever since. In their adult life, they began taking road trips together. At least one big trip a year. The Big Sur was their big trip this year.
It was a late Saturday night when Heather was at the bar alone. She was alone because Savannah had been surprised by her girlfriend with tickets to a now irrelevant concert in the city that night. She was walking home that night, alone, and was hit by a drunk driver. She died upon impact. Savanna was devastated and felt guilty. She felt guilty because there had been a missed call from Heather on her phone from just moments before it had happened.
There was a lot of push-back from her family and from her girlfriend when Savanna decided to go on the Big Sur trip alone. She had to do it alone; she needed closure. She needs time to herself and to think.
Savannah sniffles and wipes her eyes. As she continues driving along, she notices a pull-off spot in the distance and immediately pulls in to get out and rest her legs. Oh, Heather, it’s so pretty. I wish you were here. Looking around, she notices that nobody else is pulled over. She leans against the old, wooden railing, as it slightly wobbles.
Below is a small beach. She looks out and swears she can physically hear the ocean calling her name again. I’ve got to dip my toes into that water. Savanna looks around one more time before throwing a leg over the rail, carefully. She climbs the rest of the way over the railing and begins down the steep hill. Savanna steps into a small hole, causing her to lose her footing. She tumbles quickly down the hill, hitting every bush on the way down. Once she reaches the bottom, the back of her head slams down on a rock. Above, where her pale blue Toyota 4Runner sits, cars drive by, not knowing.
Confused and in pain, Savanna finally comes to. She tries to sit up, but she’s so weak she falls back, hitting her head on the rock again and yells in pain. Wincing, she reaches back and feels a wet warmth. When she looks at her hand, her fingers are crimson red. Savanna sighs deeply. Is this how it all ends? She looks out at the water. The red-orange sun is dancing in the aqua blue waters; what a beautiful sight.
I do not own the rights to this photo.
Local Adventurer. (2023). 11 things you can't miss in Big Sur California [Photograph]. Local Adventurer. https://localadventurer.com/things-to-do-in-big-sur-california/
Big Sur is a real area in California. However, this story is a fiction piece. I hope you enjoyed reading it!
