Competition Twenty-Nine Winning Flash Fiction: All That the Tide Carries by Harry Humber

He sat with marram grass whispering behind him, blades bowing and lifting again. Far beyond the breakers, grey seals rolled slow in the swell. Salt pressed thick in the air, and under it, the low, wild musk of dune flowers.

Down the slope, his wife ran, skirt wet to the knees, chasing the children into the foam. Their laughter rose above the far cry of terns. She caught the youngest, swung her wide, then both dropped laughing into the sea’s lap.

Something opened in him then. A door unlatched, swinging wide. The day was full. More than full—it was enough.

He reached into the bag and lifted his father’s urn. Cool weight. Matte silver against his palm.

The children slowed, watching. His wife’s laughter stilled, eyes following as he passed them without a word.

The sea rose to greet him, cold biting his knees, his thighs, until the tide rocked against his waist. He turned the lid, felt it loosen under his hand.

Ash unfurled in a pale ribbon, caught first by the wind, then loosened into the green-blue. It spread and thinned, dissolving until only the sea knew where it had gone. Waves pressed around him, steady as breath.

He stood a moment in that embrace. The air felt changed—cleaner, as though something had lifted from him and gone out to join the deep.

When he turned, they were there at the water’s edge, framed in gold light. The children’s feet danced in the surf. His wife smiled, and he felt it reach all the way to him.

He strode from the tide, scooped his daughter high into the air. She shrieked. His son’s splash soaked them both. His laugh came fast, certain.

Behind them, the sea kept its counsel, folding the gift into its endless blue.

Harry is an amateur writer, which is just a fancy way of saying no one’s paid him yet. He builds fictional worlds mostly so he can escape this one, and occasionally uses them to wrestle with grief—because therapy is expensive.

Instagram – writtenoffharry

Image by Nathan Osman from Pixabay

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