There, on a rock, a solitary creature sat on the lonely beach. It neither spoke nor moved. It just sat there. Several minutes later its head moved first to the left, and then the right, looking at the beach in which it, and apparently it alone, inhabited. The beach was seemingly endless in either direction, thin, gray, and dull. It was made not of sand but of rounded stones beaten by the ever pounding waves. Behind the creature was a thin row of tall grass and behind that were barren hills with nothing more then scrub grass and brush. Farther still was a hill, and facing the ocean was a vertical rock face, seemingly ever-watching the horizon like an old castaway hoping for a ship to pass by, undaunted by neither time nor weather. This gave the creature a strange feeling, one it could not identify, and for a long while it too watched the horizon, undaunted by neither time nor weather.
The only noise was that of the waves rolling along the shore and the waves breaking against the rocks. There seemed to be only two constants here, where-ever that was, the waves and the rock face. The creature stirred as a cold wind blew, rustling the grasses behind it, causing it to shiver and huddle up. Again a cold wind blew and the grasses rustled, but it wasn?t caused by the wind. The thing jumped instinctively, poised ready to attack. Attack? No that would be foolish. The thing was small and most likely no match for whatever it was. Run? Attack? Whatever it would do it was poised and ready to do it. Again the grasses rustled and a figure stepped out. The original creature flinched but did not move, it just sat there, trying to seem as calm as the rock face. It wasn?t working; as the figure sensed the fear and how tense the creature was.
?Hello? the figure said, but to no reply. It waited a little before talking again.
?Hello, who are you??
The creature eased a little but refused to talk, it simply stared at the figure before it.
?Can you talk?? the figure futilely asked.
For a long time the two things just stared at each other, sizing each other up. The original creature was small, short and thin, with short dark hair. His skinny arms lay at his side and his eyes. His eyes lay set on the figure with wonder and bewilderment. The didn?t move, they stayed there and seem to burn holes in the figure, each second seemed to be more and more uncomfortable for it. The creature?s eyes were wild and full of life, they were young, yet, they seemed old and worn. He figure was larger, he was a little overweight and maybe a year older, his hair was longer and black, his thick arms carried a thin piece of driftwood, his eyes to were full of life, but they wandered, not as intent as the creatures.
?What?s your name?? he asked again.
?Alex? said a voice, the voice confused the figure but it came across more as agitated, as though he hadn?t wanted to be disturbed.
Alex did not ask the figure his name, but began to walk down the beach away from it. The figured followed Alex, but stayed some distance behind. Alex returned to his thoughts, his thoughts of what brought him here, and if him and the figure were the only survivors, he hoped not. What if they were? Where was the wreckage? Where were they? The figure spoke and snapped him out of his thoughts. Again.
?My name is Dave? he said.
?I can die happy now? Alex replied, sarcastically, his eyes remained focused on his feet, his stride unchanged. He could sense David studying him, and tried to ignore it. Dave was already on his nerves, and he earnestly hope that he wasn?t the only one.
?Where are you from?
?What?s it to ya??? Alex was sincerely annoyed now, and wished Dave would just walk away. Of course he didn?t.
?I?m from New York? he said, apparently unfazed by the obvious jeer, this gave Alex a pause. He turned, and studied Dave, somehow, more closely then he had before. Dave was pale, and large, and there was something about him, it didn?t seem right. Alex was puzzled, annoyed, and curious; but he just turned around and kept walking. Dave walked a little faster as to be side by side with Alex.
?Do?ya suppose we are here alone??
?I hope not?
?Yeah?
This ended there conversation, and all talking, for a long time, they just kept walking, except for David, who seemed to mumble to himself as he walked. Suddenly, Alex stopped, paused, then turned around. The walked quickly, as though rushed by some invisible force beckoning him back to the rocks on the beach.
?Where are you going?? Dave asked, but with no answer. Alex just kept walking, passed the rock face, passed the rocks upon which he first sat, to a small trickle of gray rising up, barely visible among the backdrop of the nulling gray of the clouds.
?What?s that?? Dave asked, pointing to the barely visible stream of grey.
?Probably smoke?
?People!?
?I don?t know, maybe, could be from the wreckage?
?I hope there?s food, I?m hungry? Dave said, with what seemed to be pure enjoyment, but why perplexed Alex.
?Yea I am too? Alex noticed his hunger for the first time, and hurried his step. His mind wandered off into daydreams of the food back home. And yet again Dave snapped him out of his thoughts, as thought he waited until Alex were in the middle of a daydream.
?Its far away isn?t it??
?What is??
?The smoke!? he grinned.
It was farther then Alex had figured. He glanced over at Dave who wore a grin, ear to ear. What was up with this kid? He thought. Maybe he has some disability, should I ask? No, that wouldn?t be right, but who cares? So far there is no one else but him here. And if he is disabled, he is dispensable, he joked, letting out a grin himself and a quiet chuckle, and as he turned at looked at Dave, the chuckle turned into an irresistible laughter from deep within the psyche that scared and puzzled Dave.
?What?s so funny?? he himself was chuckling now, oblivious to the joke, or him being the subject of it.
?Oh, nothing, I just thought of something funny? Alex talked willingly for the first time since he met David
