A Lone Man
Nicole Rappaport
2024 – September 28
A lone man stands on the rocks looking out at the Pacific Ocean as it swells and crashes beneath the gray sky.
2023 – September 28
A lone man stands at the edge of the ocean shore. He breathes in the salty air, and heaves out a sigh that feels heavy like the massive boulders beneath his feet.
2022 – September 28
A lone man pulls his hood over his head. It doesn’t do much to keep the sideways rain of the harsh coastal storm from soaking his face, mixing with the tears.
2021 – September 28
A lone man scrambles over rocks to reach the isolated ocean cove. He gently eases his backpack to the front of his body and holds it for a moment like a baby, his eyes closed. Slowly, he unzips its cavity. His breath had stopped for a few seconds and he suddenly gasps for air. He pulls an urn from within the backpack and approaches the shoreline to release its contents, like feeding it into the mouth of the angry sea.
2020 – September 28
A man and his brother raced up the rocks to the water’s edge. The sun – a rare sight this time of year in the Pacific Northwest – shone down on them while the waves taunted and dared them to enter. With their boards held above their heads, they plunged into the cold waters, eager to ride the waves.
They didn’t notice the thick clouds rolling in the distance.
2025 – September 28
A lone man walks on the trail in the woods towards the cove. As he approaches the opening in the trees that separates quiet forest from ferocious ocean, he pauses. A woman is standing on the rocks ahead, staring out towards the water. He continues walking and begins heading to a corner of the cove away from the woman. There he remains, the sound of the crashing waves masking the woman’s footsteps as she nears the man.
“Hello,” she says.
He startles, saying nothing. He continues to look at the water and breathe in the cold, damp air.
He feels her hand on his but chooses to remain still.
She squeezes.
Without thinking, he squeezes back.
He feels a warmth in his heart he hasn’t felt since the day his brother died, five years ago.
Nicole Rappaport
Nicole Rappaport received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Sociology from the University of Michigan, and a law degree from Wayne State University Law School that she decided not to use long ago. When not working to pay off law school loans, she enjoys outdoor adventures, meditation, chai lattes, and writing pieces that dig into the tender unguarded corners of being human - work she hopes readers will love as much as she loves writing them. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon.