The Sands of Time - dark fiction - day 7 MAC

merej99 (70)in #monthlyauthorchallenge • 6 years ago

I hope you enjoy the seventh flash fiction submission in the monthly author challenge. One week is in the books!

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The Sands of Time

by Meredith Loughran

Walking along the beach was a daily exercise. Jacob could feel the warm sand squish between his toes and listened to the breaking waves upon the shore. The scenery was majestic - breathtaking - and he had grown to hate it.

He'd made a deal with the devil to live forever to enjoy such moments but there was a price. There was always a price.

Every day, the sand disappeared down the center of the earth and Jacob's world was turned upside down.
For this moment of bliss on the beach and a the ability to live like this forever, Jacob had to succumb to the violence of drowning in the earth; the sand swallowing him whole, robbing him of breath.

Every day, the sands of time fell into the abyss to mark a new day, then the devil himself flipped the hour glass to mark the new day. But nothing was new anymore. The beach, once beautiful was now his personal hell. The sand, once so warm and inviting, left ribbon cuts on his feet and ankles. With every turn of the hour glass, Jacob left more blood on the beach.

He wondered if this slow siphoning of his blood was how the devil drained people of their soul. But he didn't have time to ponder that, for the last grain of sand fell and his world was being turned upside down again...and again...and again.