500 Words 2025/26: read a finalist's story from the 5-7 category

This story was chosen as a finalist for 500 Words 2025/26.

Remember, spelling, punctuation and grammar are not taken into account for a 500 Words story, therefore all the top 50 stories have been published how they were submitted.

Erosion by Zachary B.

It was a scorching summer's day in Norfolk, on the English coast. Rushing on to the beach, Alfie and his sister started building an enormous sandcastle with their bucket and spades. Set back from the beach, a lighthouse soared into the vast sky like a candy cane. Alfie loved the sea. Even though it was a summer's day, the temperature of the water was artic. He went up to his ankles, but when a wave came, he sprinted back towards the lighthouse, and the safety of the warm sand. He did this over and over again, until his mummy called him to come and have his lunch.

Alfie and his family sat eating their lunch in the shadow of the lighthouse. "It's open for visitors today," Alfie's mummy said. "Do you want to go up?" "Yes please", answered Alfie. Together they climbed all 112 steps. Alfie couldn't take his eyes off the view. He could see a church in the distance, and some buoys bobbing on the calm sea. "This lighthouse is unique", said the lighthouse keeper. "The light flashes instead of turning around. Worryingly, the sea is getting closer and closer to the lighthouse each year", he said, sadly. "Soon the land around us won't be here any more. But the lighthouse is built on a rock, so when the sea crashes into it, it will stay here."

Copper coloured leaves were falling under the smoky autumn sky. A little boy sprinted along the beach. Alfie felt like a snail, struggling to keep up with his son as he attempted to carry a host of beach games and rugs on his back. The sea was now lapping at the lighthouse like a hungry dog wanting to be fed. "LIGHTHOUSE NOW CLOSED" the sign outside said. Alfie and his son played cricket, the little boy slapping the ball with his bat over and over again until they were both exhausted. Alfie wrapped a blanket round them both and they fell asleep. When they woke up, the tide was coming in and the sea was now totally surrounding the lighthouse. It was time to go home and they left the beach, holding hands.

The fields were snugly tucked under a thick duvet of snow. In a cottage, a small boy with chestnut brown hair stared out of the frosty window towards the sea. "What's that light blinking in the distance?" he asked. He turned around to look at his grandad. Alfie was sitting in a comfy brown chair. He had lines on his face and he couldn't walk properly, but he reached for his walking stick and haltingly stood up. He shuffled to the window. "It is a lighthouse. The sea has eaten away the ground underneath it, but the lighthouse lamp still shines." He walked slowly back to his chair and sat down. The little boy climbed into his grandad's lap and closed his eyes. Alfie stayed awake, watching the lighthouse lamp blink, until he too drifted off to sleep.

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