Copyright Anurag Bakhshi
The weather was changing, the sun already less fierce, mellowing gently towards autumn.
Fewer families on the beach, but there was the usual backdrop of noise, laughter, gulls keening, and the thwack of tiny spades against even tinier sandcastles.
Then, something else… a murmur of concern, barely audible at first, but then rising in volume. People glanced up, scrambled to their feet, hands shielding their eyes from the glare as they scanned the glittering surface of the sea. Dogs barked in worried anticipation, racing up and down the shoreline, venturing cautiously into the creaming waves to greet bathers who’d begun running from the water, scooping up kids on the way.
One lone woman could be seen, heading in the opposite direction, jostling through the oncoming crowds towards the waves, an anxious whimper escalating into a crescendo of abject terror.
We abandoned our ice creams to melt into the sand, snatching up our towels and picnic baskets as we shepherded our family from the beach, resolutely closing our ears to approaching sirens, and the screams and thrashing water behind us.
Within minutes the surface of the sea was calm once more, a fin circling lazily in a spreading bloom of crimson.
A second stab at an old (2013) Friday Fictioneers 100 word story, revamped to indulge in the luxury of a further 100 words for Sunday Photo Fiction.
castelsarrasin 
As I was just basking in the pleasure of a second Sandra story, double-length at that, in the space of a few days, you do the dirty on your poor reader.
A build-up of anxiety into fear, a moment’s respite, and the coup de grace.
Superb.
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Never bask, CE. That’s for sharks… 🙂
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Not something I would wish to witness.
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Nor I, Keith Thanks for reading.
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Brilliant! Just as is in real. Thanks.
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Thank you!
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Excellent suspense.
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Thank you, Violet.
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If you will go swimming at the beach in Amity, what do you expect? Like the calmness at the end.
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Thanks for reading, Iain.
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A tsunami, like in Pearl Buck’s The Big Wave?
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A shark, making waves.
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Makes me want to avoid the ocean again.
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Yes I’m not wild about swimming in the sea. 😦
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You snatched calamity from the jaws of calm Sandra 🙂
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Thanks for an inspiring photo! 🙂
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The shark had found its prey. You have built the scene so well. Nice story.
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Thank you.
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I thought at first it was a tsunami coming in, until the person going in the opposite direction… What? A death wish?
Love how you build up our tension and then give us a face sense of calm.
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It must be awful if your child is in the sea when something like that kicks off. Unimaginable, rather.
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I can’t imagine. We “lost” our son on a beach once… my poor husband searched for 45 minutes and we couldn’t tell him we had found him as this was before we all had cellphones…
He was a mess by the time he returned…
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Was it a mother trying to rescue her child, Sandra? Beautifully written.
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