Ficlets

Ella and the little boy

As the little boy neared Ella, he looked up at her on the dune. Ella had the odd sensation that he was looking through her and not really at her and had to suppress an urge to look over her shoulder.

The boy’s right arm reached out towards her and his hand opened and the shell Ella had watched him pick up fell from his palm. Abruptly he turned and ran back down the shore line in the direction from which he’d come.

“Wait, hey little boy, wait,” Ella shouted after him. Getting to her feet she began running in his direction. As she neared the spot where the boy had been standing, Ella realized that she could no longer see him. It was as if he had vanished into the sand. She could clearly see the pier which was only several hundred yards away, but the little boy was gone. She was certain he had not gone into the water.

Ella stopped dead in her tracks when she saw, lying atop the sand, the shell that had dropped from the little boys hand moments before.

“This can’t be,” Ella stammered.

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