Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday
By Stephen A Abell

Number of Words: 298


Mandy and Martin looked at each other and giggled with delight. Roger had just suggested, to their mother, that he should take the twins to the beach so they could have a chance to “bond”.

An afternoon at the beach was a great idea, even if it was with Roger.

“Can we, Ma? Please!” They chirruped excitedly.

“I don’t see why not,” she beamed at them, “but you pay heed to Roger, okay?”

“Okay.”

Heading out of the holiday cottage and through the gap in the fence, she heard them ask if they could build sand castles. Roger nodded, as they crested the dune and descended from her sight.

Coming out of the long dry grass onto the golden sand, the twins skipped towards an open area of the beach. Roger smiled happily at the cloudless blue sky and the distant bluer sea.

As the day passed, Roger and the children built sand castles, kicked them down, built bigger and better ones, and kicked those down, while laughing happily.

Mandy noticed a family burying their father in the sand and pointed this out to Martin: They both crooned, “Roger…”

Within minutes the hole was dug and Roger knelt within it, as the children shovelled sand back in with their plastic spades. Sand piled about his neck and Mandy started to stomp it down around him; her feet millimetres from his head.

“Careful,” he chided.

All he could hear were the children giggling. The sand continued to rise and he became worried. It covered his mouth. A trickle of terror ran down his spine.

“She’s our mother,” were the last words he heard.

As the sun set, the tide came in, washing the sand away from around his mouth.

It was too late to scream.

The beach was deserted.


For the contest "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  based on the prompt “Include Twins, Fence, & Sand in your story.”