The Sound in the Shell, page 12 of 12

Pip walks away down the tiny worn steps with the small curled shell left inside his doorway behind him, the sky changing over the dry sand, unhurried.

On the tenth morning he took the shell out and set it inside the door, and went down.

The sky changed over the sand as it had always changed.

The sea stayed where it was. The sound of it went where he went.

© 2026 A.J.Sharpe