Season's End - mood exercise

The end of the season, when silence falls early on the sea-side cliffs, the idle crowd hiding from it indoors, in noisy bars and cozy rooms, afraid to disturb it or become a part of it.

When the dry, intense heat turns to darkness dressed in fine translucent mist, moon shining through thin swirling clouds, painting a faint path of light on tiny waves. Just as silent as the rest is the sea, resting from the season's festivities, the noise, the excitement and the crowd. A few tiny lights from tiny distant boats and a few equally tiny distant stars shimmer faintly through the fog. The air is warm and damp and heavy with the smell of the sea, of the humid earth, and of the wet and empty boardwalk. The last sounds of the passing season fade, drowning in the sea, the darkness and the mist, and silence reigns.

The night waits, silent, warm, alien and inviting, waiting for something, something new to happen, something to to start the new season - a sound, an event, an accident; a frightened bird's scream, a pair of hissing cats, a drunken crowd. The first sound of the season, what will it be?

And then it comes, faint at first, coming from below, from the sleepy dark town. It's quiet at first, but it grows louder, and louder - two voices, as though one intends to outdo the other, contesting which would disturb the silence the most. A laughter.

The darkness shrinks, giving room to the shining mist as the lanterns light up on the empty boardwalk; the waves splash harder to drown the singular sound, and the boardwalk sweats harder, to make sure the duo won't linger around too long, nor try to sit comfortably on any of the many benches. The two don't seem to mind too much, with frequent pauses in their walk, leaning on the guard railings and trying to sit on the surprisingly wet benches. Tiny spiderwebs built by hundreds of industrious spiders all over the boardwalk hang broken in their wake.

The laughter leaves the boardwalk and the shore, giving way to new sounds, those of drunken crowds, disturbed birds and meowing cats, cheery music and splashing waves. The laughter's sound fades, growing distant, as it retreats gradually back to the sleepy town - the first sound of the new season.