The Rock Castle By Sommer Nectarhoff

We stood together on the shore. The sand was coarse. It cut into the soles of my feet and became lodged in the cracks of my blisters. I wanted to go back to the dirt and grass we had left behind.

“Look there,” he said. He was pointing far out in the sky above the sea, but there was nothing to be seen. The sky was clear.“Why? There is nothing there.”

He looked at me. “But there’s a castle in the sky! You don’t see it? It’s floating on a rock high above the water. I can see little people and animals and fish mongers.” He laughed. “The fishermen must make a wonderful living with such great access to the sea.”

I squinted, but there was nothing there. The sky was empty except for the sun. There weren’t even any clouds.

He raised his hand, pointed towards nothing. “I think I will go visit that castle and see if I might join the fishermen. They must make a wonderful living with such great access to the sea.”

He approached the water’s edge and turned to me. “Don’t wait for me here. If I don’t enjoy life as a fisherman, I’ll come back and find you.” With that he turned and walked out on top of the water.

I ran after him, my eyes wide, but I stopped at the end of the beach. He was still walking across the water.

I looked at my feet, took a deep breath, and stepped out over the sea, but my leg plunged down beneath the surface, and I found myself standing up to my knees in the salty water. It stung the cuts in the bottoms of my feet that the sand had made.

I watched as my friend left for the sky without me.

© 2014 Sommer Nectarhoff

Sommer Nectarhoff has published one book titled 22, a collection of twenty-two short stories and twenty-two poems. He has had stories published in Smashed Cat Magazine, Weirdyear, and Yesteryear. He also writes at http://www.nectarhoff.com

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