Taking a seat on the edge of a dune, Ella once again placed the shell to her ear. She barely took notice of the small sand crab that scurried away from her as she once again heard the voice.

It was a voice she knew, yet she could not place it. It didn’t help that the voice came in waves, much like the ocean itself. It would start hushed but a little too quickly it would rise to an audible level before fading out again. The only words she was certain of were ”...there is time…”.

An unusual sensation began to overtake Ella as she felt tears welling in her eyes. She had never been very emotional as a little girl, and much less so as a young woman. The emotions that began to course through her were as foreign to her as the taste of her tears as they began falling to her lips.

Ella laid the shell gently on the sand as she looked out to the crashing waves where she took notice of a very young boy picking up a shell that the retreating water had left behind.