Edited by RedPandaChick

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Wind brushes against our will and pushes us in the direction it travels. Most people control the flow of its current, even if it stems from the eye of a hurricane. As for the rest of us, we grew tired of trying.

 

The wind soothed me for the first time in my life. It brushed my body and swung it back and forth after I had climbed the tallest tower, yet I didn’t fight it. I merely let its current push me through its flow. That was what I had been missing. That was what I was looking for.

All pressure vanished. Only gushes of wind grazed my ears as I flew toward the clouds. The flight lasted an eternity until I reached them.

Prepared to pierce through their silk, my reflection molded above me and wouldn’t stop growing.

My unguarded face shattered the glass before my entire body went through it, just to be received by a void. I was expecting to feel something when I hit the clouds, but there was only emptiness.

I kept falling and falling until I couldn’t tell which way was up or down. I felt like I had been falling for hours, but it could have been days, weeks, months, or even years. The only thing that was certain was the emptiness.

Then, I started to feel something else. Heat emanated from my core and spread through my body. The longer I fell, the hotter it grew until I was surrounded by a comforting warmth.

Light emerged above me. I thought it was the sun at first, but it was even brighter than the sun. It was pure light, and it was reaching closer and closer. I felt myself being drawn to it.

Before I knew it, it flashed past, along with a horn. It was a train, which didn’t stop for some reason, but it was even weirder to be standing at a platform of a train station.

People seemed distressed, and with reason, since they were going to be late for school or work. Only then did I wonder, why am I here?

My clothes were those of a school I didn’t recognize, and I didn’t recognize the station either. I looked around to try and understand what was happening, but pressure crushed my chest when I saw a girl who wore the same uniform as me standing on the train.

My eyes were drawn by a guy running past me and into the train. He wore a uniform with the same colors as the girls’ and mine, and he stood not too far from the girl, with a crowd in between. I still couldn’t understand what was happening, nor could I explain why I was only drawn by them.

Before I realized it, I had climbed into the train as well. The acceleration made me hold onto one of the poles as I still observed the two unknown students. They glanced at each other uncountable times, yet they never crossed gazes. Every time they looked away, their heads would lower to stare at the floor.

The train went past many stations and they hadn’t moved a centimeter. It was announced through the speakers that only two stations remained to reach the end of the line.

I hated when people meddled in my business and I hated to do the same to others, but even I ran out of patience with those two. So, when the train stopped at the second-to-last station, I waited until the last second to run past the girl, purposely bumping against her shoulder bag.

There was barely enough space for me to go through the sliding door. When I turned around, the windows allowed me to see the guy handing the bag back to the girl. I couldn’t hear them, but it was enough for me to see them smile and talk to each other as the train accelerated away.

It continued to blur as the speed built up, then it disappeared, only to reveal a landscape filled with grass and leafy trees behind. Many people jogged over the concrete paths, whether alone or accompanied, while others walked with their families or their pets. Such was my case, as I was now holding the leash of a huge and fluffy dog.

The confusion kept piling up, but a couple sitting at a bench distracted my thoughts. Although they weren’t the same couple from the train, they still were easy to read by the long pauses between their laughs and the averting of their eyes.

I looked down at the dog I was taking care of, sitting on the concrete, probably waiting for me to resume the walk. Its tongue wouldn’t stop moving as it breathed, and it even seemed like it was smiling. I stared at its eyes and it stared back at me as if we could communicate despite the lack of words.

Not giving it a second thought, I let go of the leash, and the dog didn’t hesitate to run away. I followed it as it ran past the bench where the couple was sitting.

“Help! My dog is loose!” I screamed.

As soon as the guy heard me, he ran behind the dog. Both the girl and I tried to keep up with them, but they were too fast.

The guy was able to catch up with the dog, but he was getting tired. In a questionable lapse of judgment, he threw himself forward to seize the leash, and he succeeded. However, although he landed on grass, he didn’t consider that the spot was surrounded by dozens of pets. Therefore, it was filled with…

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” I apologized as we reached him.

“Don’t mention it, I was the one that decided to help you.”

“Are you okay?” the girl worried.

“I’m physically okay, but I don’t know about my dignity,” the guy laughed nervously. “How am I supposed to ask you out like this?”

“Huh? You wanted to ask me out?”

The guy’s eyes opened wide when he realized what had come out of his mouth. Fortunately, he doubled down.

“Yeah…”

“I… wanted to ask you out too, but I didn’t know how,” the girl added.

Somehow, the plan I had poorly formulated in a few seconds had a better outcome than I could’ve imagined. I didn’t want to disturb them anymore, so I bent over to grab the leash of the dog and walk away.

However, the leash was gone, and so was the grass and the light of the day. Instead, water and muddy sand wet my hand. The city lights illuminated the night river in front of me as the wind almost pushed me over.

Out of nowhere, something plopped into the water next to my feet. It shone with the light of the moon, so I grabbed it before the current washed it away. It was a ring, wrapped with beautiful diamonds.

I turned around to see where it had come from. At the same time, a couple peeked over the fence atop the wall behind me, although farther down the river. It didn’t take long for me to connect the dots, so I walked upstairs and approached the couple.

“Excuse me, is this yours?”

Their eyes sparkled as soon as they saw it.

“Yes!” replied the guy as he grabbed it. “Thank you so much! I can’t believe I was so careless to drop something this important.”

“I don’t blame you, the wind is so strong right now,” I smiled. “Regardless, it’ll be a funny anecdote to tell to your kids.”

Their cheeks flushed as they glanced at each other, then they laughed.

A sudden gust of wind brushed my hair against my face. By the time I was able to see again, I was back to the beginning of the end.

The wind soothed me once again. It brushed my body and swung it back and forth on top of the tallest tower. Nothing had changed, so what was the point of fighting back?

…

“Amy!”

A scream came from behind me, along with a loud bang.

“Mom?”

She had just arrived from the emergency stairs.

“Amy, why do you want to leave me too? Is it my fault? Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No, not at all. It’s because of… me. I’m causing you more trouble than anything. It’ll be better if you have fewer things to worry about.”

“But I want to worry about you. Don’t you remember all those stories I told you about your father and me?”

Images flashed through my eyes. Every single one of the images was a picture of the places I had just been to. I wasn’t helping random people, I was helping my parents. I was the one at fault for our miserable lives.

I stepped off the slope and ran toward Mom to hug her, but I went straight through her. She was gone when I turned around, then the same horn from before woke me up.

This time, the girl standing inside the train wasn’t any random girl, she was Mom when she was younger. Knowing the guy was about to run past me, I turned around and saw Dad as I had seen him in photos.

There was no time for me to reflect on things. In fact, I had already made up my mind.

I stepped in Dad’s way, making us both fall to the floor. He raised his head, only to see the doors closing and the train accelerating away.

“I’m very sorry,” he apologized. “Are you…?”

By the time he turned around to see me, I was gone.

I thought the impact had been strong enough to take my breath away, but no, I was actually drowning. I hastily sat up, just to see an unending ocean surrounding me as I recovered my breath.

“Are you alright, young lady?”

A man wearing a military uniform approached me and offered his hand to me. I reluctantly grabbed it, then he helped me stand up.

“Where are we?” I asked.

He smiled, “I’d like to know that as well, but that’s not a bad thing. The landscape is beautiful, and it gives you so much time to think. Tell me, young lady, how did you arrive here?”

I didn’t mind telling him, but a lump in my throat prevented the words from coming out.

“Don’t force yourself,” he comforted. “As I told you, there’s plenty of time to think. What is your name?”

“Amy.”

“That’s a beautiful name. Why don’t we take a walk, Amy?”

Despite standing in water, the tightness of my chest was slowly replaced by warmth. I looked around again. Aside from clouds and mountains, there was nothing more than the ocean. There was nothing to fear or worry about anymore.

“Sure,” I smiled.

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