Seashells

They were making castles in sand, enveloped in the heat of summer that bronzed their skin as they went on, oblivious, with their eyes scrunched tight enough to just know where the stray sand, thrown from their tightly clenched fists, would hit the other.

The sound of laughter broke the quiet lull of the river as she suddenly jumped up and ran across the banks, unable to dodge the pellets of warm, moist sand that he threw from behind, tumbling into a heap of uncontrollable joy that shook her body and soothed her soul.

Covered with the silver grey, her eyes fell upon a seashell, curled into the soft bed of the bank, right next to where her face lay. It was pearly and irresistible, so she picked it up with curious fingers and held it to her ear. It was murmuring softly, above the rush of the waves that it seemed to carry with it, like the yearning of a displaced heart that knows where its home lies.

"The sands of time will carry you into a world that will bathe you in magic
Where pain and suffering is a distant dream of bubbles that will burst on their way to you and dissipate before they touch you
Where your eyes will run with naked feet to the titans of greatness 
Where the drumbeat of your heart will pound the way for adventure
Where your hands will discover love as they turn the mud, 'palms cupped like shovels'
Where your soul will taste the rejuvenation of loss bid goodbye
Where you will have finally come home."

She looked around her and sure enough, all that was left of the elusiveness of memory were the fast fading footprints in sand that seemed to tell her to keep walking because the road must not lie untread. There were more footsteps still left to be imprinted.