Never Again

I run
Fists of waves claw the sand as I force one foot to pound after the other. Scramble up, slip down, and repeat. Faster. Eyes fixed on dunes ahead. Don't look back. Mustn't look. Ragged breath; in out, in out. Still I run.
Just when lungs might burst and heart might explode, a crimson star on the sand, I stumble.
A man turns back. He pulls me to my feet and urges me on.
It's getting closer.
I cannot stand, and fall again. I can run no more.
He kneels to hold me, and looks in my eyes.
"It's time. Quick, now! Put up the wall."
Closer.
So I build it, brick by brick. Row by row. A high tower, like Rapunzel's, but this has no window, nowhere to lower my hair.
No chance of rescue.
A blanket of terror obliterates the sea. The sand. His words, the bruises on my arms and pain in my chest and legs
It's here.