Words like Sand

I would say that I felt cold with the water surrounding me but I didn’t notice it.

It just felt like I was floating through air, not fully there or anywhere.

That was until three strangers brought me out of the cool pond water and into a world. One where I don’t feel like I actually hard a part in.

Angels.

That’s what we were called. Those born of the Order and Object magic. Those gifted with the most fearful abilities, or that’s what I have been told. Devastation followed us where we would go but only to those who were unlucky to have met us.

Us as in me and the strangers. My sisters.

“Whatcha doing, Sandy?”

I let my pen hover above the page I had been writing on before I turned to find my sister, Midnight in the doorway of my makeshift room.

I lifted up my pen and she nodded.

“Ah, guess Mist did a good job teaching you to write then.” She grinned. Her dark lips paling her already pale complexion even more.

I nodded, unfortunately losing my train of thought but it would come back later.

“Did you want to head on a walk to clear your thoughts?” Midnight asked as if she could read my mind, which I guess she could but I don’t think she was.

I got up and stretched, leaving my writings on the crate I used as a table. The two of us left the shack that I called home and made our way through the small forest of palm trees and past my failed attempt at a garden.

As we walked Midnight told me about the adventures and stories about the world that she and the other two lived in. It sounded wonderful but it got me thinking about how inexperienced I was compared to the three of them. They had all either mastered or were close to mastering their abilities whereas I had barely discovered what I was capable of. The other problem was that I couldn’t speak. For lack of another term, I believed the people in my sister's world would call it being mute. Regardless of my lack of experience and my restrictions, the three of them helped me as much as they could. Each coming to give me company once in a while, like what Midnight had just appeared to do.

Soon we came across the pond that was at the edge of the oasis that I called home. It used to be frozen over but with our sister, Sunshine’s help it had thawed out, though the water remained unexplainably cold.

“Wait did you see that?” Midnight asked suddenly.

I shook my head and looked around.

“Huh… I could’ve sworn…”

I feel something touch my leg and quickly look down, but the shock is short lived as I find a small child. I smile at her and kneel down.

“Whoa wait what? Where?” Midnight lacked the ability to function for a bit.

The child smiled back at me then went to get her friends.

I laughed as the three of them came back to Midnight and I.

My three little friends. They had never shown themselves to anyone besides me, and even then I wasn’t sure where they had come from. Regardless of that they all had distinct features about each other, but they also had grainy complexions as if they were made of the sand themselves. I had named each of them based on how they appeared. Gold, Silver and Copper. They always hangout near the pond so I wasn’t super surprised that they decided to come out to play today.

Copper ran straight into my arms, it had been her who’d touched me earlier. Silver stood with their arms crossed and Gold was playing with the end of her hair. They seemed uncertain of Midnight.

Midnight managed to calm down enough to function.

“What are you doing out here?” Silver asked.

“Who cares, Sandquake is back!” Copper grinned. I scooped her up in my arms.

“Wait a sec.” Midnight said before going quiet. I turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

“AHHA!” Midnight suddenly grinned widely. “Sandquake, this must be a part of your ability. These aren’t people so I can’t see inside their heads. It's all dust in there.”

“Excuse me.” Gold glared at Midnight. “For your information, my brain is full of many things.”

Copper and I giggled as the two of them continued at it. However, what Midnight had said made sense. I could have unknowingly created these three because I had been left alone for so long. It would explain a lot of things about the kids, from their color schemes to their grainy complexions.

If I was controlling them could I do it in other ways?

I put Copper down and picked up a handful of sand. I watched the grains escape through my fingers, not really sure what to do with it, then it hit me. Well actually Silver came and bopped my head but it gave me an idea. I knelt down and took another scoop of the sand, before I closed my eyes. I imagined words like the ones that Mist had been teaching me. I thought about the pieces of sand becoming letters.

“SANDY SANDY!!!!! AHHHHHH! OPEN YOUR EYES!!!!” Midnight said excitedly.

I opened them to find that I had spelt out the word:

OW.

We all stared at it dumbfounded so I tried other words. I watched the sand dance around my fingers and into the air creating letters then words. It was amazing to see. I grinned so widely that my cheeks hurt.

I could talk!

Midnight came and knelt next to me grinning just as widely.

"THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!"

We tried more words, sentence even. It was just a small thing but it was so amazingly helpful. I couldn't stay quiet any longer. I don't think I stopped creating words out of the sand around me. Even after Midnight had to leave to go home.

I was able to find my voice and my magic and that was way more exciting than finishing a journal entry about my origin story.