The Beach by Shelby Litt (learn to read books .TXT) 📖

All I want is to go back to the day I spent with my grandmother. That was 10 years ago, but it felt like 20. I had felt so free. 10 years ago my grandmother, Masha, had taken me and my brother, Jeremy, to the beach. Back then we had to wear tons of protective clothing so then we wouldn’t burn to crisp. The scientists have completed successful remedies.

Now we can finally go outside in minimal gear. Today, the world isn’t scorched. Today, we can feel the sand and the water.

This may sound wonderful but we still don’t have an ozone layer . It’s coming back piece by piece. All we have to protect ourselves is the remedies and those only allow us three hours without protective gear. We do have the ability to stay longer outside than the two hours we had with my grandmother. One day Jeremey accidentally stayed outside too long and ended up getting severely burned . We have tried everything we can. Now all we can do is pray.

A month has passed since he got hurt. We were coming up on grandmother’s birthday. She passed away a year after we all went to the beach. My brother was devastated. He was the closest to her. Even now, he’s still depressed. You see, the reason he stayed out too long was that he was on the beach mourning our late grandmother. I found Jeremy covered in 3rd degree burns. I rushed him to the hospital. He slipped into a coma. After one month of waiting, he woke up.

When I finally got to the hospital, the doctors told me I would need to be careful due to the fact that he would need a minute to fully wake up. When he saw me Jeremy said “Grandma?” I remembered my grandmother's face. Beautiful complexion, long auburn hair, and her amazing smile. People have always told me I looked like her. I started to tear up. All of a sudden he started to flatline. 

Everything went by so quickly. The nurses rushed me out while the doctors were trying to save my brother. I was so scared. I kept screaming “NO!” My brother was the only family I have left.Then I remembered the day on the beach.

10 years ago, my grandmother, Jeremy, and I went to the beach. My grandmother had insisted that we go. I wasn’t too excited, but my brother was. Although he didn’t show it, I could see his dark brown eyes darting around in his too large for his head goggles. Our grandmother had told us what she used to see here. Our grandmother told us that she used to always build sandcastles with her father when she was younger. We built a sandcastle together. The castle was already beautiful but then she pulled out her special shells. She said “Today we will decorate our sandcastle with the most beautiful shells in the world,yes!” That was the most wonderful day of my life.

Then I snapped back to reality. My brother was still flatlining. The doctors said there was very little possibility he would survive. One hour later, one of the nurses said Jeremy would make it but he’s in critical condition. It was like the day I brought him in. Tons of waiting and hoping he would wake up. I went home after visiting hours. Luckily it was dark so I didn’t have to wear any gear. While on the bus I had thought about life without my brother. It wasn’t very bright. I really just couldn’t lose him.

The next day, I visited the hospital. He was conscious! This was amazing! I could talk to him and ask him how he felt. Maybe I could have a calm day for once. “Anna.” It was barely audible. I said “I’m here, I’m here, don't worry.” He was still very groggy, so he couldn’t talk much. I burst into tears of happiness. “How are you feeling”, I asked. “I’m perfectly fine. How about you?” He asked slowly. I said through tears “I’m much better now that you're awake.” He laughed dryly. I slapped him playfully. He said “Hey, what did I do to deserve that?” “Everything you idiot.” 

Two weeks later he got discharged from the hospital. We went back home. My brother was very happy to be home. He did suffer from a little bit of amnesia. So I explained to him what happened. “Wow, you must hate me for putting you under so much pressure,” he sighed. I replied “I don’t hate you, I was just very worried. I would never hate you, except for a few reasons.” “Whew. That’s a relief,” he said, relieved. I’m so happy he’s home, it feels like it’s been forever.

It took a lot longer than expected for the burns to heal. The doctor said one to two months. It took three and a half. Most likely because they were almost direct burns from the ultraviolet lights. The doctor didn’t admit it but I could see that he knew my brother would most likely get cancer or already has it.

One day, he asked “You know something. What is it?” I panicked. I told him “Nothing. I don’t know what you mean.” He knew I was lying, I’m a terrible liar. “You’re lying.” “No I’m not!” I shouted. I didn’t want him to know I thought he may or may not have cancer. He looked hurt. I felt so bad after that. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to yell,” I apologized. “No, it’s ok. I know you didn’t mean it,” he lied through clenched teeth.

You could tell we had tension between us after that day. It devastated me that Jeremy didn’t trust me anymore. The only time we talked was dinner, deciding who should get the groceries, and breakfast. I just couldn’t handle the tension anymore. So I tried to talk to him about the argument, but he just ignored me. I tried again. Jeremy didn’t ignore me but he did brush it off like it was nothing but it wasn’t nothing and we both knew that. He was just trying to find a reason to not talk to me.

One more long month, and the tension still hasn't been relieved. I know it’s hard for him too but he’s just not the type of person to apologize first, and I was too scared to apologize. I feared he hated me. I couldn’t lose him whether it’s emotionally or physically.

For the next few weeks I kept trying. I still had no luck. This was an extremely difficult time for me. All of a sudden after the argument he hated me. Before that he was the kindest most loving person you could ever meet. He found out that I suspected something. Then, I ended up saying too much and it became pretty obvious. All he knew was that it involved him, luckily. 

One day he came up to me and asked why I’m keeping secrets from him. “I - I just want to protect you from any harmful information,” I said. He sighed. “I know.” he said quietly. It got really quiet. Wait. Does he actually know, or is he just bluffing to get me to say it? He said “I know I may or may not have cancer.” I replied “Oh, how do you feel about it?” He got real quiet for a couple of minutes. “... I don’t have it. The doctor confirmed it. He also said I am very lucky that I got out with just severe burns.” he said very slowly almost like he was scared.

We decided to go to the beach together to celebrate the good news. “We should build a sandcastle.” I looked over to see Jeremy standing there. My face lit up. “Yes!” He looked so excited. I saw the eleven year old kid from the beach. We made the sand castle but we didn’t have anything to decorate the castle. “What about decorations?” I asked. Jeremy pulled out a plastic bag. I gasped. It had grandmother’s special shells! “What? Where did you get these?!” He happily said “Grandma gave them to me after we went to the beach!” I can’t believe it. We decorated the sand castle. It was absolutely beautiful. “I love it.” I said looking at it in complete awe. It looked exactly like the one from twenty years ago. “Me too.” my brother said. 

We ended up going almost every month and built a sand castle with grandma’s shells. It was so much fun. Apparently the tension released when he asked why I was keeping secrets. It felt like I had the weight of the world in my shoulders. When he finally talked to me, the weight on my shoulders left. 

We lived happily after that. We never fought again. I lived to the age of 90. My brother lived to 85. We both lived to our fullest. I became a scientist helping to find ways to build the ozone layer up faster. My brother became a police officer. We both married wonderful people. It was like we never spent weeks not talking to each other. He still had the scars but it didn’t bother him. Scientists got the ozone layer back. The world is back to normal.

Publication Date: 09-17-2020

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