A breath.

A wave rolls in, pulls out, digs furrows beneath my heels that drag towards the sea. That’s the direction I go. Always, always, to the sea.

“Marie!” Mom calls. “You know better than to listen to the waves. Come on.”

My coat, shiny gray, drapes in her hand.

Alexa Donley is a speculative fiction writer from Federal Way, Washington. When not writing, she enjoys traveling and walking in storms.