Breathless

This story is inspired by the fog that I see when I go swimming with my goggles on.

The water was icy cold as it brushed my face. I swam for around a minute, then took a breath of warm fresh air. I still had my googles on so I couldn’t see straight. On the pier sat a girl around the age of seven, she had long black hair that covered her eyes, her feet were dangling in the water as she sang a charming sad tune. Strange people usually sat on the pier and this wasn’t the first time that little child had got lost.

The next day I set out to go swimming once more, having completely forgotten about the small girl. I had my morning swim not having noticed anything out of the ordinary. I got out the water and dried myself, with my googles still on. And again I saw the odd looking girl sitting on the pier with her legs dangling in the water.

I walked up to the little girl with my googles still on. I taped the small girl on the shoulder. With no warning the little girl let out an ear piercing scream. I put my hands over my ears and took off my googles. The girl was gone, and I found that it was me screaming not anyone else. When I realised I was the one screaming I stopped at once.

On the very same evening of that day, I went down to the pier with my googles on. I wasn’t intending on swimming though. I was going to find out who this strange girl was and why i could only see her with my googles on. I went straight to the girl sitting by the pier and sat right next to her.

I then asked “what’s your name little girl?” “Wind.” She replied softly. I took in everything about her from the way she dressed to the way she had replied. “Do you want to get a Hot Dog?” I asked. “That would be quite pleasant.” She answered. We set off side by side to the nearest Hot Dog stand. It only took a few minutes to walk there. “Two Hot Dogs please.” I said to the man at the Hot Dog stand. “ Not that I mean to be nosy or anything, but why do you need two.” Inquired the man at the Hot Dog stand. “One is for my friend here.” I said. “What friend?” Said the man at the Hot Dog stand.

After that, he left me alone and gave me the two Hot Dogs. Then, we went to sit on a bench, everyone kept looking at me. “Why can’t they see you?” I asked. Were these people going a bit crazy? The little girl seemed to read my thoughts and said “No, your not going crazy, you are the only one that can see me.” When I still looked confused she said, “ Your special, thank you for the Hot Dog.” Without another word she vanished, and I took of my goggles.

That month, I went on holidays. I went to Greece, the scenery was beautiful, relaxing and refreshing. There was nothing on my mind just total bliss.When I got back home and opened the door, there was an envelope sitting on the kitchen counter.

Dear kind person,

I have moved, I have gone to a far away land. I am also going to wipe my memory of you. We probably will not meet again, but if we do just note, that I will not know who you are.

Kind regards, Wind.

Years afterward, I had kids and got married. People always asked me why I looked so sad when I looked out at the lake. I never told them the real reason, so they probably made some assumptions.

One day I took my kids out to go shopping with me. My children were all around the same age. My children were called Ice, Honey and Holly.

After my children and I had finished the shopping, I looked up at the hill above. On the hill was an orphanage, my children had always wanted to visit the children there. My kids had always wanted more siblings. I thought that today we could go visit and maybe adopt.

It took quiet some time to get up the hill, because of the fact that I was carrying three bags of shopping, plus one children on my back. And one child on my front, and because my other child couldn’t be bothered to walk any faster. When we finally got there I was out of breath.

I knocked on the door, an old kind looking lady opened the door. “Come in, come in!” The old kind lady shut the door behind us. When the door shut, all the kids inside quickly assembled into a straight line. All the children looked well cared for, but it didn’t look like this was a nice way to live your life.

“ The way things work in this orphanage, is that you tell me which kid you would like to know about and I will tell you their backstory.” She said in a business like manner. I looked up and down the line, then I saw her. The same little girl that I had seen many years ago. The very same little girl that had been sitting on the pier, with black, long, shiny hair that reached her knees.

I pointed at the girl. The old lady told me her name was wind. She had been living at the orphanage for six years. And that she was thirteen. The old lady also said that they had very few records of her past life, and that she had always had a very quiet life her at the orphanage.

The adoption papers were signed, and I took her home the very next day. I husband was quite shocked that I had made such a big decision without him, but nonetheless he treated wind like his own.

Now every time I look at the lake I smile to myself and say “ it couldn’t have been a coincidence I met wind, I think it was a quite a lucky coincidence.”

The End- thanks for listening ☺️