Published Monday, June 6, 2016 in
Microfiction Monday Magazine

“Surf Guitar,” a 100-word story was published by Microfiction Monday Magazine. The soundtrack for the piece came before writing it. I happened on a band I hadn’t heard before: Daikaiju. The word in Japanese means “giant monster,” but to me, as inspiration for this brief, grizzly tale, it was the band’s giant surf-rock sound. Please do not read this less than hour before swimming.

Surf Guitar

by DL Shirey

My little sister’s screams filter through salt water like the tremolo of a surf guitar. Who knew the undertow had a soundtrack? It crouches out where the slant of sand drops deep, always moving, crabbing sideways behind bones of coral, peeking up, pulling hard.

I call to my sister. The words skitter up the frets of my throat into a useless strangle of bubbles, left behind with scratched strings of flesh, cut by coral, picked by fish.

Black-green stands of seaweed block what little light remains. The last thing I see are long shadows swaying to the strums of riptide.

END