sea foam
12/14/22 - image prompt of an art piece by si_ku.k, pictured below!
Once upon a desolate night, a silent wave spat out a human being from its sea foam. The tide washed over them like a blanket, drawing in and out and dragging thin particles of sand and shell over their untouched skin.
They awoke as if from a deep sleep, yawning and stretching with half of their body sunk into the wet sand. None of it seemed to cling onto their body, and it morphed back into place once they sat up, as if it were plush foam. They blinked their eyes twice and stretched again.
It had been three years since a human had walked the sand of Earth and breathed its lonely air. The flora had become overgrown, slowly eating away at all they had left behind. Office buildings had been left perfectly preserved from the moment the human race had vanished, like a resin cast of what life was like down to the second they had been here. But now, spat out by the sea like some sort of last plea, was a perfectly new, untouched being.
“You’re awake,” said the ocean, a calm roaring voice that came and went as the tide swept by. “You’re just what we had needed. The moon had allowed me one wish, and you are that wish. Do you know your purpose?”
The human, finally upright and blinking away ounces of drowsiness, shook their head.
“Your species is gone from this Earth,” said the ocean, “but the moon granted me one last human as a gift. Humans once tended the grasses and flowers of our beach with utmost care. They kept us trim and pretty. Once they had left it became wild and overgrown. Being free is great, but sometimes we miss the little things. Do you think you could collect the seaweed on our shore, and pick our flowers?”
“Can I keep the ones I pick?” They asked.
“Yes. Put them in your hair and dance along our shores. We haven’t felt the touch of human step in ages. Could you do that for us?”
“Okay,” said the human. “And can I collect the pretty shells in the sand?”
“Yes,” said the ocean, as the human began to stand unsteadily. “You can collect them and create something new. Your ancestors used to make castles out of our sand.” The ocean kept them company, rolling waves beside them as they traveled the edge of the sea and picked up batches of seaweed left untouched by the rest of the Earth.