A single cloud ambled its way across the empty sky. The sun shone and sparkled, sparkled and shone onto the beach, people scattered across its everlasting golden sand like a shoal of fish darting around the cool, refreshing ocean - truly tranquil.

The cerulean waves lapped against the scorching sand, glittering gently as if it was a sea of gems; diamonds, sapphires, agates and more, all united in a harmonious rhythm of forward and back, forward and back, forward and back. Every feeling of stress, anger or darkness just melt away into the calming currents like a gentle breeze.

A single cloud ambles further, and the sun still shines brightly.

The hermit crab scuttles up the beach with speed. Its shell bedazzles the eye with flashes of crimson, vermillion and deep ruby as it darts along the shoreline like an arrow shot from a bow. Its carapace resembles a shard of topaz etched out of a geode that was once sealed underground in sordid solitude until being given life by a generous jeweller and embedded into the necklace of life.

A single cloud ambles further, and the sun still shines brightly.

A solo sea urchin patiently awaits its next meal. Its spines are daggers of obsidian, armed like a battalion ready to protect the inner or strike food and secure its meal. It relentlessly rolls along the quiet seabed with the waves, bouncing and leaping over raucous rocks and cowering coral, past shimmering shoals and fumbling feet, the feet of a child playing in the ocean like its a bathtub, splashing water all over the tiled floor. But here, there is no floor to get wet and the child is free to play.

The single cloud ambles over the horizon and the sun still shines brightly.

Out to sea, a coconut drifts slowly towards the beach, carried from a foreign land far away. Its brown hair is soaked in the sea as it solemnly sways like a forgotten beach ball. Its hard outer shell seals away its treasure from the rest of the world, the milk of life. The ivory milk offers a scent of summer, a taste of the tropics and echoes of the East where it grew gracefully until plop! Into the ocean it goes and drifts away towards the future.

The cloud is no more to be seen, yet the sun still shines brightly.

A seagull soars over the vast expanse of open ocean and towards the beautiful beach. It signals to its friends that food is aplenty, and dives onto the beach. A fresh cucumber sandwich? Crunch! A large portion of chips, gently salted and drenched in vinegar? Swallowed! The perturbed parents running towards them? Flee! Flee! Flee! They take to the air once more, leaving feathers floating down that will be displayed pride of place on the mantlepiece of a suburban home alongside the other treasures of today.

The single cloud that once ambled across the azure sky is gone now. The sun retreats behind the horizon, going to bed for the night - soon it will be the moon's empire. The waves still lap along the beach forward and back, forward and back, forward and back, but all is silent - truly tranquil.

Score:

21/24 for Context and Organisation

14/16 for Technical Accuracy

35/40 Overall