The wind comes up a bit more, whipping my hair across my face, my heart starts to beat faster and I feel an invisible force pushing me forward. Dropping the coat, I break into a jog. The plastic boots feel like weights as my speed increases. Clumsily I pull them off, tossing them in either direction, and I keep jogging.
Once free of the boots, I can feel the soft damp sand between my toes. The wind continues to toss my long hair around and I start running toward the dark water. The ocean rumbling seems all around me and in my head.
I pull my night dress over my head and carelessly toss it onto the sand. My mismatching underwear crosses my mind for a moment. Then I chuckle wildly to myself and keep running. Faster and faster, kicking up lots of sand as I leap forward. My feet hit the water at a great speed, spraying up lots of salty liquid against me. The intense icy feeling instantly sends a shock wave through my body, but I don't stop. Jumping head first into the waves my body goes numb.
For a moment everything is silent, except the thudding heartbeat in my ears.
I emerge from the water in seconds and everything begins to have a sound again. I suddenly feel wet, exposed and reckless.
Hugging myself, I head toward the beach grass in search of my clothes. The first thing I notice is my crumpled nightdress laying on the sand. I shake it off and put it on. Then I remove the wet underwear from under the clinging nightdress. I scan the beach looking for my coat. Now where did I leave it? I ask myself in a whisper.
As I begin to walk in the direction of the house, I notice the rain boots a few steps away. Once I put them onto my sand caked feet, I head off to where I dropped the coat. Thanks to the full moon I can navigate my way across the beach quite easily. After dusting off as much sand as possible, I put it on. I instantly feel warmer. Though, the combination of wet skin, wool and fine sand cause my skin to itch a little.
“Next time bring a towel” I mumble to myself as I rub my hand against my sandy neck. After buttoning all the buttons and securing the belt I shove my wet underwear into one of the pockets. As I do my hand bumps against something. I pull the box out and see it’s a old packet of Marlboro cigarettes that the previous wearer must have forgotten. Inside are three slightly bent cigarettes and a little silver lighter. Having never been a very dedicated smoker in the past I feel reluctant to try out the filthy habit again, but since tonight is a rather momentous night, being my first underwear beach swim and all, I think why not.
I light up the cigarette and take a drag. The smoke is harsh and burns my throat instantly. Coughing, cursing and spluttering I throw the cigarette to the ground.
While stomping out the ciggarette, I begin to give myself a mini lecture on why that was bad idea, when suddenly I hear a rustling sound to my left. My breathing speeds up and swing around to face where the sound is coming from. There, on a nearby dune, I notice someone watching me. I strain my eyes to see, and I realise the shape is a man. As I stare a bit longer I see the faint light of a cigarette as he inhales....
*NOTE: ALL THE ABOVE WRITING IS ORIGINAL AND WRITTEN BY ME
(from my work in progress)
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