The waves rolled in, covering more and more of what was left of the water hardened sand. An hour ago the sun had made its nightly splash into the ocean and now, the seemingly endless miles of beach were darkening as dusk came to a close and true night began. The solitary figure of a girl walked purposefully down the beach towards the lights of the inns and houses that glimmered, marking the direction back to the place she called home for two weeks out of the year, for all of her 18 years of life.

Every summer, she made a pilgrimage with her parents and sister to her mother’s home state of Oregon. They always stayed at her grandfather’s beach house, which sat looking out at the sea and the massive form of Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. During the day, the view was always filled with birds flying and people playing in the sand. Yet once evening arrived, the beach became peaceful, with just a few small fires, the flourish of a flashlight here and there, and stars that filled the sky.

However tonight, as darkness descended on the long, stretching beach, the knowledge that the girl’s trip was drawing to an end became overwhelming and added to the loneliness she felt, having left her family somewhere behind her as they persisted farther into the growing night. She walked on an ever diminishing path between the incoming tide and the too soft, too cold sand, as the waves continuously crashed further in. Off in the distance, a shape began to grow directly in front of her narrowing course; a piece of driftwood maybe, she thought. But as she got closer, the shape stood and moved away from the ocean; only to suddenly lie back down.

Once she was nearly upon it, she realized that the shape in front of her was a sea lion. She had never been so close to one before and was unsure if she should be frightened of him, especially because he looked at least seven feet long. While she approached, he stayed completely still and for a moment she believed he was dead, until what could only be described as a “bark” escaped from his lips.

She jumped back unsure of what to do. Only when the sea lion again stood and walked farther away from the still incoming tide did the girl realize that he was injured; his back fin torn open. She couldn’t bear to leave him alone, so she sat at a distance and stared into his eyes, something that was increasingly hard to do because of the decreasing amount of light available. She wondered how long the sea lion had been lying there. Had others seen him, but just walked on, not caring a thing about him? Or had they too sat with him for a while, tears forming in their eyes as they were now forming in hers? Her vision began to blur with the continual welling of her tears and through the haze she thought that she could see them mirrored in the sea lion.

He did not move again, even though the water was past his tail. Every now and then the girl would inch up and away from him on the cold sand as the tide crept farther up the beach. The waves began to envelop the sea lion, whose eyes still looked filled with tears. As the tide reached its height, the sea lion was carried away by the waves. She looked out long after he had disappeared into the ocean.

Slowly she stood up, brushing the sand off her jeans as saw her family coming towards her. When they reached her, she joined their linked arms; part of a whole, and finished the final walk of the summer, back into the embrace of the gleaming lights. But not without taking one final look back at the sea.