Existence: A Seaside Encounter Between Nothingness and Life

A Short Story by Saber El-Ganzoury from Adam in the Parallel World

In “Existence,” writer Saber El-Ganzoury takes the reader to a seemingly tranquil shore where some of humanity’s most persistent questions quietly surface: life and nothingness, beginnings and endings, solitude, and the longing to find someone capable of understanding what words alone cannot contain.

The sea is far more than scenery. It becomes the protagonist’s silent companion and a mirror reflecting his inner turmoil. He returns to it when others have gone, bringing questions and stories he believes no one else could understand. Then, against the fading light of sunset, an encounter with a woman reading by the shore transforms simple curiosity into a philosophical exchange between two contrasting ways of seeing the world.

Through meditative language and imagery shaped by the movement of waves and the changing sky, El-Ganzoury turns a brief encounter into a reflection on the books we read, the ideas we carry, and how easily another person may glimpse what lies hidden within us.

Existence

Between him and the sea were secrets and stories he told it whenever they met.

Whenever he was away, he longed for it. The sea was his discreet companion. He visited it at times when everyone else had left, coming in autumn and winter with stories and countless questions inside him—questions he believed no one but the sea could understand.

As soon as he reached the place where he was staying, he went to the shore to catch their favourite meeting time: sunset.

Only two families were scattered along the beach. From the behaviour and laughter of the first couple, he understood that they were newlyweds on their honeymoon.

The other family, closer to him, consisted of a woman in her thirties and two children playing around her. She was playing ball with them, tossing it back and forth as they struck it with a wooden paddle.

He took a chair and a small table and placed on it a small bag, a bottle of water, some juice and a book he had brought to continue reading from the night before.

The chair sank slightly into the sand. He relaxed completely.

Then a voice rose from somewhere deep inside him:

I am not one. I am two, three, perhaps more.

You always enchant me, sea, with this extraordinary beauty—the blue, turquoise and silver shades of your water, your pure cool sky joining the water across the distant horizon.

The struggle between your waves and your shore continues. The waves never tire, and the shore never moves.

Nothing new, my friend.

I wish I could rest. I wish life would accept my resignation.

I am terribly tired.

Do you understand that?

The sea answered with a violent surge, throwing thick foam onto the sand.

Calm down, my friend. Do not be so angry.

The sky became like a flawless blue crystal with a golden sphere at its centre, sending its cosmic rays and messages towards him.

He listened as though he were hearing the symphony of his inevitable destiny.

He picked up his book and read for only a short while before suddenly stealing glances at the beautiful woman.

She had left her children to play and was stretched out comfortably close to the sand, holding a book and reading as though nothing around her mattered.

The newlyweds, meanwhile, were enjoying their moments of life and the delight of existence.

He stopped reading.

Curiosity about the woman overtook him, especially his desire to know which book she was reading.

The minutes passed rapidly, like everything that passes and dies.

The sun put on its purple robe and moved farther across the horizon, struggling against the grey clouds attacking it. It fled, manoeuvred and slowly began to disappear.

The newlyweds continued playing, apparently with no intention of leaving the beach.

The woman, however, called to her children and began preparing to leave.

He decided to approach her and satisfy his curiosity.

She noticed him coming towards her.

His approach did not surprise her. A woman's instinct and perception were keen; she had already noticed his stolen glances.

She welcomed him with a confident smile.

“Here I am waiting for you. What do you want?”

He immediately asked:

“What is the secret behind your love for the sea at this time of year?”

She said:

“Visitors come to the sea in summer. Its companions and lovers come in autumn and winter. And you?”

He replied:

“I am one of its lovers, and it is my companion. There are many stories and secrets between us.”

She said mockingly:

“Stories and secrets—all at once?”

He replied:

“Every one of us carries a story and a great secret, as great as existence itself, and we find no friend but the sea to whom we can confess. Existence is not a secret. It is a love story.”

She asked:

“What love is there in existence? I see nothing but absurdity and chaos in the universe.”

He said:

“Do you love sunset?”

She replied:

“I love sunrise, and in sunset I see the magnificence of an ending.”

He agreed:

“Yes—the magnificence of an ending at sunset. That wonderful scene always compels me... The story is too large, and there is not enough time to discuss it.”

Then he continued:

“I would like to get to know you. Perhaps we could meet and continue our conversation this evening?”

She smiled calmly and looked at the book in his hand.

She read its title—and in doing so seemed to read what was hidden inside its owner.

With a faint smile, she said:

“I don't think we can meet... You are reading nothingness, while I am reading existence.”

He stared at the sea for a long moment...

The disc of the sun had disappeared beyond that imaginary boundary between water and sky, while the waves continued striking the shore.