Sand

Written for The Writer's Tower, January 2016.

Theme : Awakening
Medal Words : Lollygag, Scavenger

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Like every other haunted mansion in every other story, this one was dark with cobweb everywhere. The wind was blowing as gently as how a mother would blow the sand out of her daughter's eye, causing the sand and dead leaves to rise a little from the ground before falling back down almost immediately.

Moonlight is an indispensable element in every fantastical tale and this one is no exception. Yes, a full moon rose on the night this story happened. As the moonlight shone in through the window, a stronger gust of wind caused the sand to spiral up into a little tornado. When it died down, a naked girl was seen standing on the previously empty ground, trying to cover her body with her hands, looking around nervously.

Her skin was as pale as the moonlight and her long, uncombed hair as dark as the night. She couldn't have been older than twenty three, yet she emitted an aura so ancient that she seemed as old as the mansion. But she didn't seem to remember this mansion at all. In fact, she didn't even seem to remember who she was, or what was she doing here. The only thing she knew was that she was feeling really cold and she wished to be clothed.

As if answering her wish, another gust of wind caused the dead leaves to rise and engulf her, turning into a long white kebaya around her. The kebaya's condition was far from satisfactory - there were holes here and there and it was soiled, making her look like a scavenger - but sand girl was happy and satisfied - maybe because she really liked the leaf motif on the dress, or maybe because she was no longer shivering, or maybe because she was just completely thrilled to have a human body, or all of the above.

She lifted the flowy sleeves to moonlight for a closer examination and twirled around slowly, thinking to herself: so this was what it felt like to be a human, a human girl, a human girl in a dress, a human girl dancing in a dress. What a wonderful feeling. If this is a dream don't wake m-

The door opened. Sand girl instinctively hid herself behind the bookshelf that was nearest to her. A man and woman walked in hand in hand, laughing.

Sand girl might not be able to see it, but apart from the fact that the woman was wearing a bright red long ceongsam with a split that reached high up to her left thigh, both ladies were strikingly similar in terms of physical appearance. They were both very thin and fair, with eyes so adorable that they could attract any soul that looked into them for more than a second, tall and dignified nose and contrasting weak lips in need of a reassuring kiss.

The man had a face that spelled heartbreak - to sand girl, at least. She didn't know why but the sight of him made her sink to the ground. The way he conducted himself gentlemanly around the ceongsam lady made sand girl's heart ache. She clenched her fists as they danced away. This rushing pulse, this reeling head, this flushing face that was fervid as a flame - what was this feeling?

Loathing. Unadulterated loathing. Sand girl hated his disgusting sweet voice that sounded like nails on blackboard to her and the way his repulsive long fingers placed themselves on ceongsam lady's waist, but most of all, as tears began to roll down uncontrollably from her cheeks, she suddenly realized that what she truly hated was how his affection was not directed to her.

With each tear that she shed, a memory was found : she remembered talking to the man, laughing with the man, being hugged from behind by the man, and dancing with the man in exactly the same way he was dancing with ceongsam lady.

But what happened next? How did the ceongsam lady come into the picture? She wanted more memories, she needed more memories, and as she focused on bringing back memories she lost the strength to hold herself together. The next thing she knew, she was flying in the air as sand and leaves, circling the loving couple who were intertwined in an embrace so tight that she could not interfere with, falling onto the ground beneath them and trampled as they moved around, cushioning them as they fell.

What happened between us, love? She whispered as she shifted her sand particles closer to him. The sleeping man made no response.

I couldn't be here just to lollygag. Did you bring me back to life? She rolled quietly, forming a sand blanket on top of him.

Why am I here? Why am I even here? She resisted as the man pulled the sand blanket to cover the woman and brought himself closer to her.

You belonged to me. Don't you remember me? The sand blanket fell from their bodies and turned into a humanoid form again. Kneeling next to the sleeping couple, she reached out her trembling hand to touch the man's face. With his left hand still holding the ceongsam lady's hands, the man brushed sand girl's hand away like how he would have brushed off a mosquito, causing sand girl's hand to turn into sand and flew out of the window. In her attempt of retrieval, sand girl was turned into sand in entirety and was blown out of the mansion.

The story ended here. Nobody knew what happened to sand girl. But we knew what happened to the couple. They left the mansion the next day and went to the beach. They had a fun time there, playing kites, collecting sea shells, building sand castle. Before they left the beach they both gathered some sand into an empty hour glass. The man presented it as gift to the ceongsam lady and all subtle movement in the hour glass stopped when they kissed.