21 Catching sight of his reflection in a pool of water, he paused to look. A strange face, belonging to a boy he did not know, peered back at him. His eyes, like his hair, were as black as coal, with scattered flecks of gold. His ears, which were almost triangular and pointed at the top, seemed oddly large for the rest of his face. Likewise, his brow rose high above his eyes.
Yet his nose looked narrow and slight, more a beak than a nose. Altogether, his face did not seem to belong to itself.
22 He mustered his strength and rose to his feet. Head swirling, he braced himself against a pinnacle of rock until the dizziness calmed.
23 His eyes roamed over the desolate coastline. Rocks upon rocks lay scattered everywhere, making a harsh black barrier to the sea. The rocks parted in only one place-and then only grudgingly-around the roots of an ancient oak tree. Its gray bark peeling, the old oak faced the ocean with the stance of centuries. There was a deep hollow in its trunk, gouged out by fire ages ago. Age warped its every branch, twisting some into knots. Yet it continued to stand, roots anchored, immutable against storm and sea.
Behind the oak stood a dark grove of younger trees, and behind them, nign cliffs loomed even darker.
24 Desperately, the boy searched the landscape for anything he might recognize, anything that might coax his memory to return. He recognized nothing.
25 He turned, despite the stinging salt spray, to the open sea. Waves rolled and toppled, one after another after another. Nothing but endless gray billows as far as he could see. He listened again for the mysterious voice, but heard only the distant call of a kittiwake!
perched on the cliffs.
26 Had he come from somewhere out there, beyond the sea?
27 Vigorously, he rubbed his bare arms to stop the shivers. Spying a loose clump of sea kelp on a rock, he picked it up. Once, he knew, this formless mass of green had danced with its own graceful rhythm, betore being uprooted and cast adrift. Now it hung limp in his hand. He wondered why he himself had been uprooted, and from where.
28 A low, moaning sound caught his ear. That voice again! It came from the rocks beyond the old oak tree
29 He lurched forward in the direction of the voice. For the first time he noticed a dull ache between his shoulder blades. He could only assume that his back, like his head, had slammed against the rocks. Yet the ache felt somehow deeper, as if something beneath his shoulders had been torn away long ago.
30 After several halting steps he made it to the ancient tree. He leaned against its massive trunk, his heart pounding. Again he heard the mystenous moaning. Again he set off.
31 Often his bare feet would slip on the wet rocks, pitching him sideways.
Stumbling along, his torn brown tunic flapping about his legs, he resembled an ungainly water bird, picking his way across the shoreline. Yet all the time he knew what he really was: a lone boy, with no name and no home.
What happens to the boy next?
maintain a consistent point of view and voice of the narrator
At least 4 paragraphs
Consider exposition, rising action, climax, falling action Simple story
As the boy approached the source of the moaning sound, he saw a figure huddled against the rocks. It was an old man, his face weathered and worn. The man's eyes met the boy's, and there was a recognition that passed between them. The boy felt a surge of hope as he knelt beside the man, who whispered words that seemed to echo in the still air.
The old man spoke of a time long ago, when he had been a sailor, sailing the vast ocean in search of lost treasures. He told of a great storm that had torn his ship apart, leaving him stranded on this desolate shore. The boy listened intently, feeling a connection to this stranger who had also lost everything.
As the old man's story unfolded, the boy began to piece together fragments of his own memory. He remembered flashes of a life once lived, of laughter and love, of adventures on the high seas. And as he looked into the old man's eyes, he saw a reflection of himself, a shadow of the man he might become.
With a newfound sense of purpose, the boy made a vow to help the old man find his way back to civilization. Together, they would brave the harsh landscape and uncertain future, bound together by a shared history and a shared journey. And as they set off into the unknown, the boy felt a glimmer of hope ignite within him, knowing that no matter what lay ahead, they would face it together.