Washed Away
By Neel Anil Panicker
Nina squeezed the last of the drops down her throat and tossed the bottle.
It landed neck down on the sands, its mouth kissing a star fish that couldn’t find solace even in death__its insides scraped clean by other claimants to the sea.
Nina thrust the last of her cocaine-laced Camel cigarettes in between yellowed teeth, remnant of a life spent chasing drugs and alcohol.
Oblivious to the angry waves, she began to blow concentric rings into the evening sun that seemed adamant about calling it a day.
Her gaze swept past the heads of revellers and fell on the star fish.
Her mind flashbacked to the past.
There she was: a cherubic ever smiling girl of six in a cute pink headband over a mop of curly golden hair.
“You are a star”, they all chirped in unison; Poppa, Momma, her friends and, when she turned thirteen, every single boy in town.
And then a year later, a birthday party, a late night drive, a car accident and, the end.
In one moment she turned from star to “poor orphan”.
She heard the shrieks from all around.
‘…run…run…it’s a tsunami…’
Nina got up slowly, and headed towards the sea.
(C)neelanilpanicker2017 #fiction #short story # 200 word story
neelwritesblog 
Great story. So much potential lost. I like that you don’t tell the reader exactly what happened to her in the accident.
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Thanks. I deliberately left it open ended for the readers to conjecture.
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